Dear Kate,
I'm writing pursuant to the instructions on Ryan North's Talks page at https://www.ryannorth.ca/talks/ to invite him as a keynote speaker at the 3rd Workshop on Computational Humor (CHum). This is an annual academic event whose 2027 edition we are proposing for an upcoming conference of the Association for Computational Linguistics.
I would be grateful if you could provide me with further information on Ryan's usual speaking arrangements and/or forward the following message to him.
Sincerely, Tristan Miller on behalf of the CHum 2027 Organizing Committee
Dear Ryan,
I'm one of the organizers of the Workshop on Computational Humor (CHum) [1], a workshop series held at conferences affiliated with the ACL. I'm also a fellow graduate of the Computational Linguistics group at the University of Toronto, though I don't believe we had the pleasure of meeting there -- it seems you started your degree just a few months after I graduated in 2003.
In light of your experience both in academia and as a practising humorist, I'd like to ask whether you would consider participating in the 2027 edition of our workshop as a keynote speaker.
The goal of CHum is to advance research into the computational modelling of humour using insights from the social sciences and humanities. We therefore aim to invite speakers who can provide our attendees -- mostly researchers in computer science and AI -- with fresh perspectives on the production, use, or analysis of humour. Past speakers have included Gil Greengross, an evolutionary psychologist; Laura Little, a legal scholar; and Joe Toplyn, an Emmy-winning comedy writer.
Given your distinguished humour writing career, your background in computational semantics, and your past lectures on creativity and technology, we would love to host you for an invited talk.
We will be proposing to the ACL Workshop Chairs that CHum 2027 be held as part of one of the following conferences, with a preference for NAACL or ACL:
* EACL 2027 in Athens, March 9-14 * COLING 2027 in Macau, May 9-14 * NAACL 2027 in San Francisco, June 1-5 * ACL 2027 in Kyoto, August 17-22 * EMNLP 2027 in Central America, early November
The final venue, workshop date, and modality (online-only or hybrid) will be determined by the ACL Workshop Chairs. We would in any event cover your workshop registration fee for virtual attendance and, if we are successful in obtaining funding from sponsors, may alternatively be able to cover travel and registration expenses for in-person attendance.
Thank you for considering this provisional invitation. It would be wonderful to have you join us, and I look forward to your response.
Regards, Tristan