Welcome to INTERSPEECH 2019 -  Willkommen in Graz, Austria, Sept 15-19, 2019
https://www.interspeech2019.org

INTERSPEECH is the world‘s largest and most comprehensive conferen ce on the science and technology of spoken language processing. INTERSPEECH conferences emphasize interdisciplinary approaches addressing all aspects of speech science and technology, ranging from basic theories to advanced a pplications. In addition to regular oral and poster sessions, INTERSPEECH 2 019 will feature plenary talks by internationally renowned experts, tutoria ls, survey presentations, special sessions and challenges, show & tell sessions, and exhibits. A number of satellite events will also take place a round INTERSPEECH 2019.

Crossroads of Speech and Language - Our conference theme comprises three key elements important in speech research today: language diversity, diver sity of applications, and diversity of representation.  A complete lis t of the scientific areas and topics including special sessions is availabl e at » www.interspeech2019.org.
Important Dates Coming Up Soon

- Paper submission deadline: March 29, 2019
Our paper submission portal is open -  see https://www.interspeech2019 .org/authors/paper_submission/

- Proposals due for Show& Tell: April 26, 2019
See Call for Show & Tell Demonstrations at https://www.interspeech2019. org/calls/show_and_tell/

Proposals due for Survey Presentations: May 3, 2019
See Call for Survey Presentations at https://www.interspeech2019.org/calls/ surveys/

Paper acceptance/rejection notification: June 17, 2019
Graz Convention Bureau hotel booking deadline: August 1, 2019
Rooms will go fast - don't delay your booking! See https://www.interspe ech2019.org/venue_and_travel/accomodation/

- Early-bird deadline for exhibitors: March 31, 2019
See http://www.interspeech2019.org/sponsorship_and_exhibition/letter_to_our _partners
INTERSPEECH 2019 is the 20th Annual Conference of the International Speech Communication Association ISCA and this anniversary edition will introduce several innovative features. These innovations will certainly contribute to raise the attractiveness of the conference beyond the high levels develope d already over the past two decades:

With the highly appreciated support by our generous sponsors, we are abl e to lower the fees for both full and student registrations. As ISCA will c ontinue its tradition of supporting a sizeable number of student travel gra nts, we are confident to raise the number of participants to a new all-time record.
Childcare – the INTERSPEECH Kids: Bring your family along to Graz, Au stria! Childcare will be provided free of charge for conference participant s. For terms and conditions, see the conference webpage https://www.intersp eech2019.org/venue_and_travel/childcare/. Furthermore, an INTERSPEECH paren ting community will be set up on the collaboration platform Slack. To secur e a place for your kids, we recommend to apply for either service at your e arliest convenience by sending email to childcare@interspeech2019.org.

For our Show & Tell Demonstrations we have evolved the submission fo rmat in order to improve the reviewing process. Therefore, next to a two-pa ge description, we ask for the upload of a simple video of your demonstrati on that will help deciding which demonstrations will raise the highest inte rest at the conference. For more details see https://www.interspeech2019.or g/calls/show_and_tell/.

Survey presentations  are a new addition to the technical program. They will be scheduled at the start of suitable oral presentation sessions, and will be allocated a 40-minute time slot for presentation and discussio n. Presentations should aim to give an overview of the state-of-the-art for a specific topic covered by one or more of the main technical areas of the conference. The presenters will also be invited to submit survey papers to the ISCA supported journals of Computer, Speech and Language and Speech Co mmunication. For further details, see our Call for Survey Presentations htt ps://www.interspeech2019.org/calls/surveys/.
Hackathons will set a stimulating atmosphere for the most creative develope rs in our community and beyond: through jams and challenges, we will bring together some of our brightest minds, students who are speech science and t echnology aficionados and who come to Graz as conference participants, as w ell as students who are representing the highly interdisciplinary community of several partner universities in Graz and beyond. Watch out for details to appear soon on our website and if you are interested in particpating, ge t in touch with our hackathon chairs at hackathon@interspeech2019.org.

We look forward to receiving your submissions and to your participation in INTERSPEECH 2019! We strive to make this a memorable event for all of yo u - one highlight to watch out for will be the Dancing INTERSPEECH Soir&eac ute;e, An Austrian Ballroom Extravaganza at Congress Graz. If you have time to arrive a few days earlier, you can enjoy the 'Aufsteirern' fe stival of Styrian folk culture https://www.aufsteirern.at/aufsteirern/engli sh-information/
and right after the conference the 'Steirische Herbst' takes over - a contemporary arts festival of all genres https://www.steirischerherbst .at/en.

Gernot Kubin and Zdravko Ka?i? (General Chairs)  &nb sp;              ;
Thomas Hain and Björn Schuller (Technical Program Chairs)