¶ Registering as an author when a session is sold out
Some in-person sessions sell out to the general public. Authors presenting at the conference can still register through the author reserve, but each paper can only register a set number of its authors that way. This page explains how that works, what the emails you may receive mean, and what organizers of workshops and other events see in their organizer portal.
¶ How the author reserve works
- Once a session is sold out to the general public, the registration page lets you register from the author reserve if you present a paper there and that paper still has a place.
- Each paper can register a set number of its authors from the reserve. The registration page and our emails tell you the number.
- You use one place in total, however many papers you present. If you have several papers, your registration counts against just one of them.
- A paper's oral or spotlight is part of the paper, not a separate paper.
- At a conference held in several cities, only the papers presented in that city count.
- Co-authors who registered another way (a public ticket bought before the session sold out, or a complimentary registration such as a reviewer registration) do not use a place.
¶ When the last place is kept for the presenting author
At some venues, each paper keeps its last author reserve place for its presenting author named on the site survey: the answer to "Who will present this paper if it is accepted?" on the Presentation Site Preferences form.
- Until the presenting author is registered for that venue (in any way), the other authors of the paper can take only the remaining places. If the paper has only one place, only the presenting author can register from the reserve.
- Once the presenting author is registered there, for example with a reviewer registration or a ticket bought earlier, the place opens to the other authors, first come, first served. We do not email anyone when this happens, so check the registration page.
- If someone else will present, your paper's authors can change the presenting author on the site survey.
- A paper with no presenting author named keeps the usual limit.
¶ If you cannot register
If co-authors have already taken the places of all your papers, or the last place is kept for the presenting author, the session shows as sold out for you, and the registration page explains why and names who holds the places (see below). You can:
- Talk to your co-authors. If one of them cannot attend in person, cancelling their in-person registration can free a place for you.
- Ask to be emailed when a place frees up (see below).
- Join the waitlist, if the conference runs one.
¶ Seeing who holds your papers' places
The registration page and My Stuff show which of your co-authors hold your papers' places, by name, along with the presenting author a place is kept for. Only the authors of a paper see this, and only names are shown: you know how to reach your co-authors.
On the registration page. If you cannot register from the author reserve, a yellow box at the top of Choose Sessions lists each of your papers and who holds its places. It also has the Email me when a place frees up link.
On My Stuff. Under Presentation History, each of your papers at a venue that is sold out to the public shows how many author reserve places it has, who holds them, and whether you can still register from the reserve.
If your own registration holds one of your papers' places, that paper says "held by you":
¶ For organizers of workshops, tutorials, affinity events and competitions
Each paper, poster, talk or other session in your event that lists people gets its own author reserve places, exactly like a main conference paper. So does your event itself, for its organizers. People registered another way count as registered but take no place: someone with a complimentary registration you assigned, a ticket bought before the session sold out, or a place on the conference's panel whitelist.
When the conference limits how many of each paper's authors can register from the reserve, your organizer portal has an Author registration section. It shows:
- Whether the session is sold out to the public, which is when the places apply, and how many of each paper's people the reserve admits.
- Organizers: how many of you are registered in person, and how many of those registered from the reserve.
- A tile for each status with its number of papers. Click a tile to list only those papers:
- No one registered: none of the people listed on the paper hold an in-person registration yet. Someone needs to present it, so it is worth reminding them.
- All places taken: no more of the paper's authors can register from the reserve. Anyone else from it needs one of your complimentary registrations or the waitlist.
- Places open: more of its authors can still register from the reserve.
- Kept for the presenter: only at venues where the last place waits for the presenting author named on the site survey (see above).
- A table of your papers, those needing attention first, with how many of each paper's people are registered in person and how many registered from the reserve.
The section shows numbers only, never who registered. An author with several papers takes one place in total, and that place can move between their papers, so a paper can show someone from the reserve and still have places open. Where the conference does not limit authors per paper, the section does not appear.
Events in Paris. Registration for NeurIPS 2026 in Paris is run separately, on neurips-europe.cc, and this site's registration figures do not cover it. A Paris event's organizer portal therefore has no Author registration section and no complimentary registrations to assign. It sends you to neurips-europe.cc instead: check your organizers', speakers' and authors' registrations there, and follow its instructions to register anyone, complimentary registrations included.
¶ The emails you may receive
- "The author reserve places for your papers are taken." Sent when a co-author's registration takes the last place among your papers. It names the co-authors holding each paper's place, and any place kept for the presenting author, and lists what you can do.
- "An author reserve place is free." Sent only if you asked for it, when a cancellation or other change lets you register again. Places go to whoever registers first, and other co-authors may have been told as well, so register promptly if you want it.
Neither email is sent about papers presented in Paris, whose registration is run on neurips-europe.cc, and authors presenting only in Paris cannot ask for the "place free" email. For Paris, follow the instructions on neurips-europe.cc.
¶ Getting notified when a place frees up
Use the personal link in the "places taken" email (Ask to be emailed when a place frees up), or the Email me when a place frees up link in the yellow box on the registration page, and press the button. The same personal link lets you stop these emails at any time. If you asked to be notified, we will not send you the "places taken" email again.
¶ Questions
Contact the conference through the Contact page of its website.