[D] First time NeurIPS

Submitted by innocentgilbertsmith t3_z48t6e in MachineLearning

I am going to NeurIPS next week. This is the first time I am going to an AI conference, and the first time I am going to a very large conference. I did my PhD in pure math, so I have been to plenty of academic conferences, but they were all smaller (less than 100 people) events. I am presenting a workshop paper and am going alone from Europe.

Anyone have any general tips when going to a large AI conference for the first time?

It would be nice to find some people to have lunch with, or eat dinner with, because in my experience you learn at least as much by talking to people as you do from academic presentations. So I am curious on how the social interactions at these conferences are: do people hang out mostly with their own crowds, or is it easy to get in touch with new people?

I am also vaguely looking for interesting people and places where I might go on a research stay (paid by my job) some time in the future, so that is another motivation for meeting people.

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FutureIsMine t1_ixptu4q wrote

take advantage of the happy hours, thats the real place to meet people and find out all the cool things getting worked on. Always be going to a session, even if something doesn't seem interesting you never really know if that session will give you a creative spark to try something new. Lastly, there will be booths in and around NeurIps for all sorts of exhibitors, go ahead and stroll through it, you never know what you may find

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CursedCrystalCoconut t1_ixqzip5 wrote

Oh wow I am also going to NeuIPS from Europe alone ! I have just graduated with my PhD, and with the COVID crisis of the last few years it is my first conference as well.

My supervisors advised me to try and not be shy, find new people at meal times, and to not skip the workshop sessions as they allow real discussions.

Do you mind me asking what workshop you'll present at ? If you want to swing by the InterNLP workshop, I'd be delighted to talk your ear off with Active Learning ;)

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innocentgilbertsmith OP t1_ixtteoe wrote

I would like to keep my account sort of anonymous, so prefer not to post it, but I'll PM you.

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MalekithTheWitchKing t1_ixq7byc wrote

If you have anyone you want to meet from your field, you can also email and ask if they would like to meet at NeurIPS.

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sharky6000 t1_ixqhqq7 wrote

If they are using Whova (or some other app) for the conference, I strongly recommend using it and connecting through there in addition to the rest. It makes it easier to coordinate meetups and you can contact authors through it.

Go to the poster sessions and talk to people, it's a lot better way to make real connections than talks (though in the years just before covid, they were starting to get a bit over-crowded). If you see someone alone, approach them. A lot of this comes down to "don't be shy". You will get a lot more from NeurIPS if you engage.

It will be overwhelming. NeurIPS is a huge conference in an already large field of AI / ML. So it helps if you prepare with this advice people are giving in this thread. Don't try to attend absolutely everything, it will be too much, take some down time. But most of all, have fun and learn stuff!

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shellyturnwarm t1_ixqt31q wrote

I’m going there alone, too. Final year PhD student in deep learning in medical imaging, projects on landmark localization, interested in uncertainty estimation.

Would like to meet up with people, too!

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CatapulticHaplotype t1_ixsztjg wrote

If Timnit or Bender are there just follow them around and when they inevitably start a fight egg it on and record it.

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CactusTheCoder t1_ixt0tr6 wrote

Oh man I am so jealous! Three people from the company I work with are supported to go there. I missed it because I completely got the date wrong. First timers or not, just approach people and started asking what they work on. Your PhD is in math, so there are so many things to talk about/suggest/brainstorm with people. Don't sabotage conversations, I find that be a great listener really help in engaging in conversations across multiple topics solely because you've heard some common terms being thrown around. Relax and have fun!

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dat_cosmo_cat t1_ixratyz wrote

In the past there's been an app where people set up events / group meetups. Also hit up the industry hall and get invites to the after parties.

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Responsible-Pick-541 t1_ixxl925 wrote

First time attendant and going alone as well! I’m a 3rd-year phd student coming from cali and I work on AI in biology. I’m presenting a project in causal machine learning and genomics in the causal ML workshop.

Hit me up if you or anybody want to meet up! :)

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shellyturnwarm t1_iyaharu wrote

Is there a meet up at 9pm at the local bar still? I got a private message by someone on Reddit but I can’t reply to them.

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