INTERSPEECH 2019: Call for Special Sessions & Challenges

Important Dates

Proposal submission deadline: Friday, November 30, 2018
Notification of pre-selection: Tuesday, January 1, 2019
Final list of special sessions: Monday, June 17, 2019

Special Sessions & Challenges

Submissions of Special Sessions & Challenges proposals are encouraged for INTERSPEECH 2019, covering interdisciplinary topics and/or important new emerging areas of interest related to the main conference topics. Submissions related to the special focus of the conference, Crossroads of Speech and Language(http://www.interspeech2019.org/about/conference_theme), are particularly welcome. Apart from supporting a particular theme, special sessions may also have a format that is different from a regular session.

Each special session proposal must contain the following information.

• The title of the proposed special session.

• The names and affiliations of the organizers, including contact information and a brief biography for each organizer.

• Up to five bullet points explaining what factors make the proposed session special.

• A summary (up to one page) stating the importance of the session’s topic and objectives. Furthermore, the session format should be clearly defined. The summary should also explain why the topic cannot be properly covered by regular conference sessions.

• A tentative list of researchers who could contribute papers to the session. Note that with a nominal 50% acceptance rate for Interspeech papers, this means that special sessions should have a minimum of 12 anticipated submissions, unless their format allocates time to something other than paper presentations.

• Additional or non-standard resources (e.g., data, equipment, poster stands, etc.) required for organizing the special session.

Proposals will be evaluated by the organizing committee for relevance and significance. Papers for approved Special Sessions have to be submitted following the same schedule and procedure as regular papers; the papers will undergo the same review process by anonymous and independent reviewers. Special session organizers will be involved in the reviewer assignment and in the final decisions.

Special session proposers are invited to submit a proposal via email to the Special Session Chairs Tim Fingscheidt (TU Braunschweig), Mariapaola d’Imperio (Aix-Marseille U), and Franz Pernkopf (TU Graz) at special_sessions@interspeech2019.org no later than Friday, November 30, 2018. Please do not hesitate to ask before submitting your proposal if something is not fully clear to you. Notification of pre-selection is scheduled for Tuesday, January 1, 2019. Final acceptance will take place shortly after paper decisions are completed, depending on the number of accepted papers submitted to each special session.