Fwd: [SemEval3] SemEval-2013 Workshop dates finalized

[Ted Pedersen]

I don't know how many of us are on the general SemEval 3 mailing list,
but I thought I would pass this along regarding the scheduling of the
SemEval workshop. I'm not happy with the plan to have SemEval on Jan
14-15, and if you aren't either I'd strongly urge you to join the
general SemEval3 mailing list and register your concerns :
seme...@googlegroups.com

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Ted Pedersen <tped...@d.umn.edu>
Date: Mon, Apr 22, 2013 at 10:01 PM
Subject: Re: [SemEval3] SemEval-2013 Workshop dates finalized
To: seme...@googlegroups.com


Sigh. This really does trouble me. I guess there are two main reasons.

1) The decision to extend to the 15th ends up costing participants
money (extra night of hotel, meals), and it could end up costing NAACL
money too (presumably the room, A/V, and coffee breaks aren't free on
the 15th, are they?)

2) The timing of the decision is remarkably bad. Early registration
has been open for perhaps 2 weeks, and people have already registered
and made travel arrangements (me among them, as mentioned). Dates for
events need to be firmly committed to and widely announced prior to
the opening of registration, and that just didn't happen here. That's
just not an acceptable way to organize events like this.

Well, there's a 3). It really does feel like SemEval is getting second
class treatment here. Yes, it does get its "own" day, but it's on the
15th when nearly all other NAACL participants are gone, and when some
percentage of SemEval participants aren't there either (me included I
fear). By pushing SemEval off the end of the conference onto a day
when nobody else is around, we are reducing the visibility of the
event and also making it less likely that participants will attend,
and eliminating the chance for visitors from other workshops to stop
by. I don't know what SemEval has done to deserve this sort of
punishment. :)

BTW, if you want to see the worry about money matters, take a look at
the NAACL Executive Board meeting notes (
http://naacl.org/minutes/2012/index.html) and don't neglect the
Treasurer's report. There is interestingly some discussion about
options for extending workshops, and what was mentioned there was
overlap with the tutorials. That seems like a much better solution,
although because of 2) I would say not for this year.

I will hold out some (faint) hope that creative solutions exist to fit
all these events in the 13th and 14th, simply because I think it's
fairer to the participants, and it's also more cost effective both for
individuals and the NAACL organization.

Cordially,
Ted

On Mon, Apr 22, 2013 at 7:09 PM, Suresh Manandhar
<suresh.m...@york.ac.uk> wrote:
> Dear SemEval 2013 participants,
>
> After detailed consultations with the NAACL and *SEM organizers the dates
> for SemEval have been finalized as June 14-15.
>
> *Sem will take place on June 13-14
> SemEval will take place on June 14-15
>
> There is a single registration for both *Sem and SemEval. Please note EARLY
> registration deadline is MAY 10.
>
> Regards
>
> Suresh and Deniz
>
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[Ted Pedersen]

Well of course I mean Jun 14-15, I'd be *very* unhappy with Jan. :)