Information for Participants

About Brussels

Situated in the heart of Europe, the city of Brussels is an international, multicultural city with a rich historical past. Brussels is the home of various European institutions, and is known for its gastronomy, architectural heritage, and comic book heroes.

Grand Palace Grand Sablon

Brussels is easy to reach by air, road and rail, but also easy to move around in. In this compact city, many places are within walking distance, or a short ride away by tram, bus or metro. And if you’re staying near the city centre, walking is a wonderful way to discover historical Brussels. More details about transportation to and within Brussels can be found on this page.

Here are the top 20 things to do & see in Brussels.

Conference Venue

EMNLP 2018 will take place in the SQUARE Brussels meeting centre:

rue Mont des Arts/Kunstberg 
B-1000, Brussels, Belgium

Phone: +32 2 515 13 00
Web: http://squarebrussels.com/en/
E-mail: info@square-brussels.com

SQUARE, located in the vibrant Mont de Arts cultural quarter in the heart of Brussels, is a modern meeting center with 7 halls, 5 auditoria and 23 meeting rooms. It is only a 2-minute walk from the Brussels central train station and less than 30 minutes from the Brussels International Airport.

SQUARE - Front SQUARE - Top Lecture Hall Gold Hall

Floorplan

A printable version of the SQUARE Floorplan can be downloaded by clicking on the icon below.

Square Floorplans

WiFi Access

SSID (Network Name)
square-guest
Login
emnlp
Password
emnlp18!

Instructions

  1. Enable your Wi-Fi.
  2. Join the SSID (Network Name) : “square-guest”.
  3. If not automatically asked by your computer, open a web browser.
  4. Try to connect to any website and then you’ll be automatically redirected to the authentication page.
  5. Enter the login & password.
  6. Check the box near the disclaimer to accept it and click on the locker icon.
  7. You should be connected to the Internet.

Important Notes

  • Active from October 31, 2018 through November 4, 2018.
  • Connection through a captive portal (Web page).
  • Users will be automatically disconnected after 30 mins of inactivity.
  • Bandwidth is limited to 1 Mbps upstream & downstream.

Conference App

There’s a companion app for the conference published on the Guidebook platform. If you already have Guidebook on your device, click on “Find Guides” and search for “EMNLP 2018” or scan the QR code below. If you do not, click here to get set up.

image-center

There’s also a web version of the guide available here, although that’s not as full-featured as the app version.

Instructions for Presenters

These instructions will be updated as more details become available.

Oral Presentations

Talk length:

  • Long papers will be given an 18 minute slot (15 minutes for the talk and 3 minutes for questions).
  • Short papers will be given a 12 minute slot (10 minutes for the talk and 2 minutes for questions).

Audiovisual equipment: The projectors have HDMI connectors and a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels (16:9 aspect ratio). Please be sure to bring display adapters for your laptop, if necessary.

Preparation: Please be sure to arrive at your session during the preceding break (at least 15 minutes before the start of the session). Please introduce yourself to the session chair and the volunteers, who will help you to test your laptop with the projector.

Video recording: We have hired a professional videographer to record all of the oral presentations at EMNLP 2018. We will make the videos available online after the conference. Our goal is to improve the dissemination of the scientific materials that are generated for the conference. To simplify the logistics, all talks will be recorded. If you want to opt out before/after the conference, please send an email to emnlp2018-video-chair@googlegroups.com to have your talk removed from the archive.

Posters

Poster size: Posters should be no wider than 91 cm (36 in) and no higher than 122 cm (48 in), in vertical/portrait orientation. A0 paper (in vertical/portrait orientation) meets these requirements.

Preparation: Please arrive in Grand Hall 2 during the preceding break (at least 15 minutes before the start of the session) to find your poster’s location and to mount your poster using the materials provided. Poster locations will be listed in a guide distributed to all participants, and volunteers will be available to assist you if needed.

Cleanup: Please remove your poster right after the poster session ends; do not leave your poster in the room.

Social Event

On the evening of Saturday, November 3rd, the EMNLP 2018 social event will take place at the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium. Four museums, housed in a single building, will welcome the EMNLP delegates with their prestigious collection of 20,000 works of art. The Museums’ collections trace the history of the visual arts — painting, sculpture and drawing — from the 15th to the 21st century.

The Magritte Museum

Accommodation

Through our official housing partner, the Brussels Booking Desk, we are able to provide reduced hotel rates for the EMNLP Conference. Book through the simple-to-use reservation website or with helpful and friendly booking agents. 
 Please note that the Brussels Booking Desk is the only official housing company associated with KU Leuven. While other hotel resellers may contact you to offer accommodation for your trip, they are not endorsed by, or affiliated with the event and entering into financial agreements with such companies can have costly consequences. 
 You can book a room in the following ways:

  1. Online
  2. By sending an email request to the Brussels Booking Desk.
  3. By calling the Brussels Booking Desk at 0032 2 552 00 05 (Monday to Friday, during office hours, CMT) and speaking with Charlotte Viaene. 
 Note that the official hotel event rates will begin to expire on Tuesday, September 18th, 2018.

Childcare Grants

ACL 2017 and NAACL 2018 provided on-site daycare to participants attending the conference at a subsidized rate. However, it was under-utilized at those conferences. To ensure that more people take advantage of childcare assistance, EMNLP will be experimenting with a reimbursement model for childcare expenses. Please read the full policy here. Once you have read the policy, you may file an application for the grant by filling out this form.

Important Dates:

  • Application deadline: September 10, 2018
  • Notification of acceptance: September 17, 2018
  • Documentation & receipt submission deadline: November 15, 2018

Travel Scholarships & Student Volunteer Program

EMNLP 2018 seeks student volunteers who will receive a free registration to the main conference, tutorials & workshops. In addition, we also plan to offer scholarships to students as well as non-students with a demonstrated financial need. For more details, please refer to the Joint Call for Travel Scholarship and Student Volunteer Applications. After reading the policy in detail to determine your eligibility, you can fill out the application form. If you have further questions, please contact us at ​emnlp2018travel@gmail.com.

Important Dates

  • Application deadline: September 10, 2018
  • Notification of acceptance: September 17, 2018

Note: Award recipients must register by the early registration deadline of September 24, 2018.

Visa Information

Since visa applications can take almost 2-4 months to be approved, we advise that you apply as soon as possible. If you require an invitation letter for your visa application, please send an email to emnlp2018@kuleuven.be with the following information:

  • Your full name as it appears in your passport
  • Your work address
  • The name(s) of any accepted papers
  • The email address of the embassy that will handle your request