2017Q3 Reports: EACL 2017

EACL 2017 Conference Report

Introduction

EACL 2017 was the largest ever EACL in terms of the number of papers being presented. The scientific program, included 14 workshops, six tutorials, a demos session, and a student research workshop. EACL received a record number of sumbissions this year, approximately 1,000 long and short papers combined, which reflects how broad and active our field is. The conference had three invited speakers: David Blei (University of Columbia), Devi Parikh (Virginia Tech), and Hinrch Schütze (LMU Munich).

The Program Committee Chairs, Alexander Koller and Phil Blunsom put together a team of 27 area chairs who in turned assembled many reviewers and handled a large number of papers. The Workshop Chairs, Laura Rimmell and Richard Johansson, coordinated with the workshop chairs for ACL 2017 and EMNLP 2017 and succeeded in putting together an exciting and broad programme including 14 workshops. The student research workshop was organised by the student members of the EACL board -- John Camilleri, Mariona Coll Ardanuy, Uxoa Iñourrieta, and Florian Kunneman. With the help of Barbara Plank (Faculty advisor), they issued the call, organised a team of reviewers, assigned papers, coordinated and mediated among reviewers, and finally constructed a schedule consisting of 12 papers. The Tutorial Chairs, Lucia Specia and Alexandre Klementiev, put together a very strong programme of six tutorials, all well attended.

The publication chairs, Maria Liakata and Chris Biemann undertook the complex task of producing the conference proceedings. The conference also show cased 30 demos, selected by the Demo Chairs Anselmo Peñas and André Martins. David Weir, our publicity chair, actively advertised conference announcements in appropriate vernues. And the ACL business manager, Priscilla Rassmussen, offered advice on many issues ranging from invited speakers to the conference handbook.

The local organising committee worked tremendously hard to make EACL 2017 a success. The Local Chair, Paolo Rosso and Andrea Aldea from Groupo Pacifico, brought together a fantastic local team and dealt with many of the day-to-day tasks arising in organizing such a large conference expertly and efficiently. They also designed and printed the conference handbook. Several people commented on how good the organisation was and enjoyed the conference dinner and fireworks!

Program Chairs report

Alexander Koller and Phil Blunsom

In progress

Organization chairs report

Paolo Rosso, Francisco Casacuberta (Co-chair), and Jon Ander Gómez (Co-chair)

Local organization was in cooperation with a PCO: Pacifico Meetings. Tasks undertaken by the local committee included meetings with several PCOs; selection of Grupo Pacifico as PCO; visit of possible venues for the conference and selection of Valencia Conference Center as the venue of EACL 2017; selection of "Campo Anibal" for the social dinner; several meetings with PCO and Valencia Conference Center about the organization of logistics, social program, website, and about budget; communication with General Chair, Program Chairs and Workshop Chairs; creation and maintenance of EACL 2017 Twitter account; providing ten student volunteers to help during the workshops and conference; and daily contact with local technicians and PCO for solving unexpected issues.