Inviting Ryan North for a keynote address at the 3rd Workshop on Computational Humor
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
Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba.
Hi Tristan,
Thanks so much for this lovely inquiry! May I ask if your university has a budget to cover speaking fees?
Kind regards, Kate
Kate Berner (she/her) Executive Agent Director, Penguin Publishing Group Penguin Random House Speakers Bureauhttps://www.prhspeakers.com/ p: 212-547-6517 | e: kberner@prh.commailto:kberner@prh.com | w: prhspeakers.comhttps://www.prhspeakers.com/ Follow us on LinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/prhsb/ for speaker updates and programming ideas.
From: Tristan Miller Tristan.Miller@umanitoba.ca Sent: Wednesday, August 26, 2026 5:53 PM To: Berner, Kate (she/her) kberner@penguinrandomhouse.com Cc: Workshop on Computational Humor Organizers chum-organizers@lists.umanitoba.ca Subject: Inviting Ryan North for a keynote address at the 3rd Workshop on Computational Humor
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of Penguin Random House. Please be extra cautious when opening file attachments or clicking on links.
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
[1] https://url.us.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/zbTICKr6BAcDDvq69TvhBoh57moK?domain=c...https://chumweb.org
-- Dr. Tristan Miller, Assistant Professor Department of Computer Science, University of Manitoba https://clam.cs.umanitoba.ca | Tel. +1 204 474 6792
Dear Kate,
On 2026-08-26 17:23, Berner, Kate (she/her) wrote:
Thanks so much for this lovely inquiry! May I ask if your university has a budget to cover speaking fees?
The workshop we are proposing has no direct relationship to my university; it is being organized by an international committee of academics and would be held under the aegis of the Association for Computational Linguistics, the premiere scholarly society for computational linguistics and natural language processing. (I believe Ryan has previously published in ACL-affiliated venues and so should be familiar with it.) Per ACL policy, a registration fee is normally required of all virtual and in-person workshop attendees. My fellow workshop organizers and I will cover the virtual registration fees for invited speakers out of our own individual research funds, but these funds are probably not sufficient for us to cover any of the costs associated with in-person attendance (registration, travel, accommodation), nor any honoraria or other speaking fees.
As mentioned in my previous message, however, we are seeking sponsorship for the workshop, and if we are successful, then we may have enough funds to cover speaking fees and/or expenses for in-person attendance. If you could let us know whether Ryan's acceptance of our invitation is contingent upon a speaking fee and/or reimbursement of expenses associated with in-person rather than online attendance, as well as the amount of the speaking fee, then I'd be in a better position to tell you whether we're likely to be able to meet these conditions.
Regards, Tristan
Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba.
Hi Tristan,
Thanks so much for letting me know. Our bureau has a minimum fee of $5,000 USD but if that’s not possible for you, I’d be happy to forward this along to Ryan as is.
Best, Kate
Kate Berner (she/her) Executive Agent Director, Penguin Publishing Group Penguin Random House Speakers Bureauhttps://www.prhspeakers.com/ p: 212-547-6517 | e: kberner@prh.commailto:kberner@prh.com | w: prhspeakers.comhttps://www.prhspeakers.com/ Follow us on LinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/prhsb/ for speaker updates and programming ideas.
From: Tristan Miller Tristan.Miller@umanitoba.ca Sent: Thursday, August 27, 2026 10:35 PM To: Berner, Kate (she/her) kberner@penguinrandomhouse.com Cc: Workshop on Computational Humor Organizers chum-organizers@lists.umanitoba.ca Subject: Re: [CHum] Re: Inviting Ryan North for a keynote address at the 3rd Workshop on Computational Humor
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of Penguin Random House. Please be extra cautious when opening file attachments or clicking on links.
Dear Kate,
On 2026-08-26 17:23, Berner, Kate (she/her) wrote:
Thanks so much for this lovely inquiry! May I ask if your university has a budget to cover speaking fees?
The workshop we are proposing has no direct relationship to my university; it is being organized by an international committee of academics and would be held under the aegis of the Association for Computational Linguistics, the premiere scholarly society for computational linguistics and natural language processing. (I believe Ryan has previously published in ACL-affiliated venues and so should be familiar with it.) Per ACL policy, a registration fee is normally required of all virtual and in-person workshop attendees. My fellow workshop organizers and I will cover the virtual registration fees for invited speakers out of our own individual research funds, but these funds are probably not sufficient for us to cover any of the costs associated with in-person attendance (registration, travel, accommodation), nor any honoraria or other speaking fees.
As mentioned in my previous message, however, we are seeking sponsorship for the workshop, and if we are successful, then we may have enough funds to cover speaking fees and/or expenses for in-person attendance. If you could let us know whether Ryan's acceptance of our invitation is contingent upon a speaking fee and/or reimbursement of expenses associated with in-person rather than online attendance, as well as the amount of the speaking fee, then I'd be in a better position to tell you whether we're likely to be able to meet these conditions.
Regards, Tristan
-- Dr. Tristan Miller, Assistant Professor Department of Computer Science, University of Manitoba https://clam.cs.umanitoba.ca | Tel. +1 204 474 6792
Dear Kate,
On 2026-09-04 08:23, Berner, Kate (she/her) wrote:
Thanks so much for letting me know. Our bureau has a minimum fee of $5,000 USD but if that’s not possible for you, I’d be happy to forward this along to Ryan as is.
It's unlikely that, even if we were to get sponsorship for the workshop, we'd be able to raise enough funds for a $5000 speaking fee. If you think that Ryan might be interested in speaking for a lower amount, or on a pro bono basis, then I'd be very grateful if you would forward our invitation to him.
Regards, Tristan
Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba.
Thanks Tristan! I’ve sent this to Ryan for review.
Kate Berner (she/her) Executive Agent Director, Penguin Publishing Group Penguin Random House Speakers Bureauhttps://www.prhspeakers.com/ p: 212-547-6517 | e: kberner@prh.commailto:kberner@prh.com | w: prhspeakers.comhttps://www.prhspeakers.com/ Follow us on LinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/prhsb/ for speaker updates and programming ideas.
From: Tristan Miller Tristan.Miller@umanitoba.ca Sent: Tuesday, September 8, 2026 2:48 PM To: Berner, Kate (she/her) kberner@penguinrandomhouse.com Cc: Workshop on Computational Humor Organizers chum-organizers@lists.umanitoba.ca Subject: Re: [CHum] Re: Inviting Ryan North for a keynote address at the 3rd Workshop on Computational Humor
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of Penguin Random House. Please be extra cautious when opening file attachments or clicking on links.
Dear Kate,
On 2026-09-04 08:23, Berner, Kate (she/her) wrote:
Thanks so much for letting me know. Our bureau has a minimum fee of $5,000 USD but if that’s not possible for you, I’d be happy to forward this along to Ryan as is.
It's unlikely that, even if we were to get sponsorship for the workshop, we'd be able to raise enough funds for a $5000 speaking fee. If you think that Ryan might be interested in speaking for a lower amount, or on a pro bono basis, then I'd be very grateful if you would forward our invitation to him.
Regards, Tristan
-- Dr. Tristan Miller, Assistant Professor Department of Computer Science, University of Manitoba https://clam.cs.umanitoba.ca | Tel. +1 204 474 6792
participants (2)
-
Berner, Kate (she/her) -
Tristan Miller