All of NeurIPS 2020 will be accessed through the main webpage. You can access all parts of the conference using the top menu bar or use the map symbol. Check the Schedule to get an overview when the live sessions for all events are taking place. You can navigate all the papers in the Papers section: you can search for titles and authors, looking through all papers by skimming titles, or using the visualization tab at the top. Feel free to explore the many parts of the webpage and NeurIPS events - just by looking around. We also encourage everyone to visit the sponsor hall just like you would at the physical conference and then to participate in as many socials and using the chat tool. If you need any help you can ask one of the on-call helpers on the chat channel.

Please select a timezone in the calendar tab -- all events will then be converted in your time zone.

If you have any technical difficulties, please contact #helpdesk on Rocket.Chat. If you have a problem with inappropriate conduct, please see below about Accessibility and Safety.

NeurIPS.cc login is required. A NeurIPS 2020 registration is required to access most content, although some videos are available without a registration: tutorials, invited talks, orals and spotlights. The pre-proceedings are available without a NeurIPS account or registration.

Registration is not necessary for Rocket.Chat. All attendees with a paid registration automatically have access to Rocket.Chat

Registration is not necessary for GatherTown. All attendees with a paid registration automatically have access.

Zoom is used for video sessions, which you can watch using the Zoom app or within the browser. Clicking on the link will ask you to open the video in the Zoom app. If you want to use Zoom in the browser, simply wait a few seconds after clicking the Video link and it will open a browser-based session.

Click on the “Sponsors” section header for more information on how to visit the Sponsors Hall and Expo.

Chrome, Firefox, or (the new) Edge are recommended for registered users experiencing virtual interaction. GatherTown does not support Safari. A 10 mb of inbound bandwidth is recommended. Javascript must be enabled. A registration is required to participate in Zoom, Rocket.Chat and GatherTown, or any sessions other than tutorials, invited talks, orals and spotlights.

You can engage in Rocket.Chat, our social space in Gathertown, join some of the social events, the meetups, the affinity workshops, or find/create a mentor session in the Mementor system.

Find authors in Gather Town! If you see them on the Zoom side, it means they started their Zoom meeting and you can join them there. We recommend you watch the intro video. Note that the Poster Towns can only support large crowds during official poster session slots.

Each invited speaker has a Rocket.Chat channel. Questions for the invited speaker can be posted there. Other participants that are also interested in the question can Thumbs Up the post, to increase the visibility of particular questions. Eventually the moderator will select questions to ask to the speaker. Invited speakers will continue answering questions on Rocket.Chat after the end of their talk for approximately one hour.

Not in Zoom, but you can use the corresponding Rocket.Chat to submit a question to the session moderator.

All participants are bound and expected to uphold the conference’s Code of Conduct, which can be found online at https://neurips.cc/public/CodeOfConduct. We have taken several steps to safeguard against `Zoom Bombing` by restricting zoom links only to paid registrants, by securing our calls as much as possible in zoom, and by having moderators with ability to evict participants, amongst others. For text chat, the authors and event organisers are leaders of their chat and can take steps to prevent trolling, and ensure meaningful conversation. Individual chat entries can be reported as well within the Rocket.Chat tool.

The Code of Conduct has several reporting methods listed; choose the one you are most comfortable with. You can email at NeurIPShotline@gmail.com or call the Neural Information Processing Systems Hotline phone number at 858-208-3810 where you can speak with an HR Consultant. You may also use our Contact Form. Your report will be addressed by our independent consultant who will handle it in an unbiased manner.

We have selected technologies we rely on to run the fully virtual NeurIPS carefully in order to maximize its reachability. If you have are having difficulty accessing any of these services, please report it to us at #helpdesk channel in Rocket.Chat (note that people watching for free without a registration cannot access Rocket.Chat)

This site records a very limited amount of data. Data as text in Rocket.Chat is accessible only to registered conference attendees and will be removed two weeks after the conference. GatherTown interaction will not be recorded. Zoom meetings will only be recorded for SlidesLive purposes. Videos are hosted by our video partner SlidesLive; more details on Licensing is available from SlidesLive (https://slideslive.com/). All data from live interactions will be destroyed 30 days after the conference.

Please watch our intro video. The main gist is: 1) go to your presenter spot (the star) in Gather Town and present there with up to 4 people; 2) more than 5 people, hop on the Zoom side star to show people that you will be in Zoom, and present there!

All conference content that is restricted to conference attendees are not meant to be shared. For keynotes, orals and spotlights, we use Zoom in webinar mode which won’t allow arbitrary participants to disturb the video presentation. SlidesLive and talk moderators will also be present to moderate these events. Otherwise, we have changed all the defaults for Zoom to prevent disruption to video sessions. This involves changing several settings for greater control, including host-only screen sharing, disabling joining a session before a host, disabling file transfer, and disallowing removed participants to rejoin a video call. Also see answer to question on `How do you ensure safe online engagement?’

Posters have been allocated taking into account authors time preferences to the best of our abilities. Be mindful that changing your presentation slot at this time is very difficult and time consuming. If you have very serious reasons of concern, please email us at neurips2020pcs@gmail.com