2017 ACL 2017:START Invitation

Subject: [ACL 2017] Important: Invitation to be part of the program committee of [acronymYR]

Dear [invitefirstname],

PLEASE READ THIS ENTIRE EMAIL. WE ARE DOING THINGS DIFFERENTLY THIS YEAR.

We would like to invite you to serve on the Program Committee for
[confName] [confYR] ([acronymYR]).  [acronymYR] will be held in
[confLocation], on [confDate].

The success of the conference and the strength of the technical
program depend very much on the expertise, guidance and judgment of
the many reviewers who serve on the program committee.

Would you be willing to serve as a reviewer?

We realise you are very busy and have many commitments, but we are
trying to keep the load reasonably low, and it is expected that each
reviewer will be asked to review at most 4 submissions in total (both
long and short, as the deadline is joint).  A key difference from
previous years is that the initial reviewing timeframe is shorter --
two weeks, from 13-27 February 2017.

Additionally, we would strongly encourage you to review what
additional changes we have planned for ACL 2017, including the use of
the Toronto Paper Matching System.  Please do visit our PC Chairs Blog
to stay up to date (subscribe!) about the changes and our push for a
transparent conference organization process:
http://chairs-blog.acl2017.org

Here is the reviewing schedule.  Please take note of the key dates, or
import the conference calendar (link below).

KEY DATES

- Long + short paper joint submission deadline: 6 February
- Paper Bidding: 9-12 February 
- Assignments out to reviewers: 13 February 
- Reviewing period: 13-27 February (two weeks)
- Reviews due: 27 February 
- Author response: 13-15 March
- Reviewers to read author responses, update reviews: 16-20 March 
- Notification of acceptance: 30 March
- Camera ready deadline: 15 April

You will note that the initial review period is short and that more
time has been allocated for discussion, as we feel discussion should
be a key part of the review process.  The shorter timeframe also means
that reviewers need to be absolutely committed to turning in reviews
on time.  Please consider this charge carefully when accepting this
invitation.

To respond to this invitation to join the ACL 2017 program committee,
please first accept or decline by following the below link, within a
week of receiving this email.

  [invitelink]

where you can also make a START V2 account if you don't have one.

Then, if you are willing to review for ACL, please complete this form
where you can specify your reviewing preferences over different areas:

https://knmnyn.typeform.com/to/guN7TT

Note that you have the option to express a preference for multiple
areas. We will assign you to a single area, based on your area
preferences as well as the requests of the area chairs. We will try to
select your primary choice(s) over your secondary choice(s), and will
not assign you to an area for which you do not want to review.  

With your help, we know that we can make [acronymYR] a success.

Best Regards,

Regina Barzilay and Min-Yen Kan
for ACL 2017