It is all about mentality
Li-Yi Wei
魏立一
Course prerequisite
No explicit background is needed. Though, our guess is that only these who have experienced a
"reject"
of a submitted paper have the potential to fully
enjoy the course.
I got plenty “prerequisites” 
(rumored) MSR record holder for rejections in 1 year
1st (reject), 2nd (reject), 3rd (score 2.7 & got in)
Talent vs. Mentality
You don’t need to be very talented for research
I don’t think I am (so you will be fine)
Too late anyway
Mentality is more important
Trainable
BASICS
Do what you love
All other factors are ephemeral
Trend, popularity, hotness, …
More likely to be productive and successful
You will spend a lot of time on your stuff
Less likely regret in the worst case (e.g. reject)
At least you have fun
Start your own stuff
It is like investing; followers are already late
Life is too short
Do the best
Graphics → SIGGRAPH
Vision → CVPR, ICCV
…
Hard work anyway; so go for the jugular
Happier if succeed, less sad if fail
Life is too short
ALGORITHMS
Randomness
Humans prefer certainty
Life is random
end
end
start
start
fiction
reality
Randomness in accept/reject
accept
deterministic quality bar
reject
fiction
clear accept
borderline
stochastic quality zone
clear reject
reality
Monte Carlo Sampling
Life long intrinsic acceptance rate r = x%
r seems 0 if the first paper got rejected
r seems 1 if the first paper got accepted
Need more samples!
(be patient, and try more.)
Objectivity
Humans are biased
Optimistic → self
Pessimistic → others
Score by you
Score by others
Get feedbacks
Early & frequent
Self criticism
Paper by you
Paper by others
Don’t get mad
(a few) nasty reviewers might exist
Useless to get upset
Get even!
Assume reviewers are going to kill your paper
Discipline
Humans like to procrastinate
Start early
Manage projects by
Paper draft
Schedule
Practice
Humans are lazy
Research is a craft; learn through practice
read
write
code
experiment
talk
create
Practice what?
A chain is only as strong as its weakest link
Practice the weakest link
Cause of rejection
APPLICATIONS
SIGGRAPH
What SIGGRAPH wants
What we have
Right problem
Novel idea
Solid algorithms
Good apps & results
Clear writing
Engaging talk
Do what you love
Do the best
Randomness
Objectivity
Discipline
Practice
Be happy
Long term productivity depends on happiness
Live healthy and happy
Sleep, exercise, eat, social life, …
Creativity depends on happiness
I got all my ideas outside office
Be nice and positive to others
Especially in conferences & reviews
