Who should I contact in case I have any problems with registration?
Please contact the professional conference organizer (PCO) - Guarant International at info@interspeech2021.org - they have a dedicated registration service. Please do not contact the technical chairs (by replying to the paper acceptance/rejection email) - while they are responsible for the technical program and papers, they are not experts in registration issues and will forward your email to the PCO anyway.
1) It was not clear from the email what is the difference between the June 15th and June 25th deadlines for registration.
June 15th is the deadline for paper covering authors. In order to have a paper included in the conference program, it must be covered by a paid registration. Regular registrations can cover up to 4 papers, retired and student up to 2 papers. June 25th is a deadline for registering presenters of each paper. In a physical conference, anyone that registered and shows up in oral or poster session can present a paper. In hybrid or fully virtual mode, we need this information before-hand in order to build sessions and to prepare the conference platform. We are sorry for any inconvenience.
2) If I have understood it correctly, the June 25 registration basically replaces the "Presenter Check-in" we used to have in pre-COVID19 Interspeech conferences.
This is correct. As said above, while in physical conferences, the presenter check-in could happen at the conference shortly before the session, now we need this information beforehand.
3) The Interspeech website registration page (https://www.interspeech2021.org/registration) still lists June 25 as the deadline for "Registration" without mentioning that at least one author for each paper needs to register by June 15.
This information was sent to all authors of accepted papers, but we will add it to the registration page, thank you for pointing this out.
4) If the Registered Author and the Presenter are the same people, does she/he still need to register as a paper presenter before June 25?
If she/he is covering the paper, she/he needs to be registered by June 15th. Both paper coverage and paper presentation will be done at once when the participant is registering: there will be boxes for “covered papers” and “presented papers”.
5) If the Registered Author and the Presenter are NOT the same people, does the presenter still need to pay for registration fee while registering as a paper presenter before June 25?
Yes, anyone presenting a paper at Interspeech must be registered.
6) If moved to fully virtual, do people who are registered in person get back all the money? (I am guessing yes, but it is not stated anywhere)
It is stated in section “CANCELLATIONS AND REFUNDS” of the registration page https://www.interspeech2021.org/registration. - in case we receive changes till July 1st, full refund of difference between in-person registration fee and remote registration fee will be done, minus 30 EUR handling fee.
7) If someone is registered as early-bird virtual and decides to eventually (let's say in a month) change to in person, which is the price that they pay for the in-person registration? Is it early-bird as the initial registration or depends on when they make the decision?
This change can be done anytime and there is no surplus (you’ll just need to pay the difference in fee between in-person and virtual registration). The date of the original registration determines the fee to be paid, i.e. if you do an early bird virtual registration, the early bird in-person will apply should you decide to come to Brno. If you are presenting a paper in the conference, we will do our best to put you in an oral session, however, if it is done on a short notice before Interspeech, we might need to let you present in a virtual session even if you’re physically in Brno.
8) Why do I have to pay ISCA Membership ?
ISCA has a policy that every Interspeech participant must be an ISCA member. You can acquire your ISCA Membership directly from ISCA, or have it paid together with your Interspeech registration. As processing ISCA fees through Guarant International (the professional conference organizer - PCO - of Interspeech 2021) brings additional costs, this option is a bit more expensive than proceeding directly with ISCA.
9) Why do I receive two separate invoices in case I registered as ISCA Non-member ?
The PCO sends two invoices as there are two recipients of payment: ISCA in case of ISCA Membership and the PCO itself for Interspeech registration.
10) I applied for a student travel grant, when should I register ?
In this case, do not register for the conference before you have received notification of the outcome of the grantee selection, on June 18.
11) I experience problems with my credit card payment
Please contact the PCO at info@interspeech2021.org
12) I have served as an area chair, will I get a free registration ?
We appreciate your hard work but we are sorry, area chairs must register as any other Interspeech participants. Your work will be appreciated in a different way.
13) I received invoices saying Guarant International, who are they ?
Interspeech is not a legal person, so invoices must be issued by a company or a University. For 2021 Brno Interspeech, the finances of Interspeech are handled by Guarant International, a professional conference organizer (PCO) company based in Prague. They are the No. 1 PCO in Czechia, and (among others) worked for IEEE ICASSP in 2011.
14) How about if the registration page says that my ISCA Membership does not exist, expired or will expire before Interspeech 2021 ?
Only ISCA members are admitted to Interspeech. You have two possibilities: (1) fix this directly with ISCA via the Membership page https://www.isca-speech.org/iscaweb/index.php/membership - please note that processing can can 48 hours (2) Select NonMember registration - in this case, the Interspeech registration will include ISCA membership for 1 or 2 years.
15) I do not understand options “Myself”, “Organization - Nontaxable” and “Organization - Taxable” in the registration form.
Select “Myself” if you do not expect to be reimbursed by your employer. In case an organization will pay or reimburse your registration, check with your accountants to which category you belong - most companies and Universities should select “Organization - Taxable” but there can be exceptions for small companies, charities, etc.