Just received the email:

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We are pleased to announce the opening of Registration for NeurIPS 2019:

Register:

Check pricing here. Registration opens Sept 6th at 8 a.m. Pacific. Please see below for more information about our new lottery registration system.

What’s new in 2019:

• The old first-come-first-served registration has been replaced with a lottery. It is no longer necessary register in the first few minutes after registration opens. Add yourself to the lottery between Sept 6th and Sept 20th for a chance to be randomly chosen to register. Click the green “Register Starting Sept 6th” button on the home page after registration opens for more inforrmation. If you are in an Asian, African or Middle Eastern timezone, there is no longer a need to wake up in the night to register. Take your time; it won’t hurt your chances of getting a ticket.
• NeurIPS 2019 will be held at the Vancouver Convention Center, Vancouver CANADA Sun Dec 8th through Sat the 14th. The check-in desk opens Sunday morning at 8:00 am in the West building of the VCC.
• Students must upload a scan of their student IDs to qualify for student pricing and financial support. Students must present their valid student ID at the check-in desk to pick up their badge.
• The entire meeting will be live-streamed.

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Thoughts? Seems like this may increase the pool of competing attendees as a side effect due to the time barrier removal. Any way to roughly estimate the % chance of getting a ticket?