Blizzard Challenge 2018 Workshop

The Blizzard Challenge 2018 workshop is a satellite event of Interspeech.

Call for participation

The Blizzard Challenge 2018 Workshop is the culmination of the Blizzard Challenge 2018 which is an open speech synthesis evaluation campaign using common data sets and a large listening test. The aims of the workshop are to present the results from the listening tests and for participants in the Challenge to describe their systems.

Who can attend the workshop ?

The workshop is open to all and we encourage participation from anyone interested in speech synthesis.

Who can submit a paper to the workshop ?

All participants in the Challenge are expected to submit a paper describing their entry (even if they cannot attend the workshop in person). Papers will be refereed by the Programme Committee and the Expert Committee.

Organisers

• Simon King, University of Edinburgh, UK
• Alan W. Black, Carnegie Mellon University, USA
• Keiichi Tokuda, Nagoya Institute of Technology, Japan

Local arrangements

• Simerpreet Kaur, Microsoft Research, India

Paper submission instructions

• Use the Interspeech 2018 authors' kit, but your paper should be SIX pages in length, including bibliography
• Remember that Blizzard is a scientific investigation - we are all trying to understand why some techniques work better than others.
• With this in mind, please write a detailed, technical paper aimed at a specialist audience. Focus on analysis and evaluation. Try to explain WHY your system performed the way it did, and what makes it different from other systems. Explain why your system is designed in a particular way. For example, report internal evaluations you have done to select certain methods.
• Submit your paper by email to blizzard@festvox.org by the deadline given in the official timeline and we will notify you of acceptance within a week. If you need an earlier notification (e.g., in order to obtain travel permission from your employer), then please contact us.

--Simon.King 18:10, 24 August 2018 (CEST)== Location and date

Microsoft RnD Pvt Limited

Gachibowli,

ISB Road,

Hyderabad,

Telangana,

500032.

India

Map Location: https://binged.it/2wrkgRA

Date: Saturday 8th September 2018

Workshop starts at 09.00

Venue:

Microsoft Research, Hyderabad, India

Programme

The workshop format is single-track with oral presentations from the participants in the Challenge, and the organizers.

PROVISIONAL: Each system presentation slot is 20 minutes and presenters should speak for 15 minutes to allow time for questions and changeover. Presenters should bear in mind that the audience will mainly comprise speech synthesis experts; therefore presentations do not need to include extensive background material, but should focus on technical detail and go deep in to the specifics of each system. Please bring your own laptop to present, and a video adapter if you need one.

Presentations must include plenty of audio examples to illustrate the strengths and weaknesses of the system! We suggest including at least one paragraph in your audio examples, as well as several individual sentences.

The venue this year is a conference facility very generously provided by Microsoft with strictly limited capacity. Therefore all attendees must obtain tickets in advance. The schedule is

• 09.00 start

• full programme TBC

• 17.00 evening social event on-site, with team and snacks

Practical information

Registration procedure

Advance registration is required. Deadline for team registration is 1st August 2018. After this date, all spare tickets will be made generally available.

Please bring your ticket with you on the day (on paper or smartphone). DO NOT just turn up on the day without a ticket.

PLEASE SELECT THE CORRECT TICKET TYPE !

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/blizzard-challenge-2018-workshop-tickets-47145566659

Cost

There is no cost to attend the Blizzard Workshop, thanks to our generous workshop sponsor Microsoft.

Accommodation and travel

No accommodation is arranged by the workshop: please make your own arrangements.

Published proceedings

The papers will be published on festvox.org