Big Shot Index

In the early days of machine learning, people were happy with heuristic and informal methods. Given the demand nowadays for rigorously principled approaches to machine learning, we have developed the following rigorously based index for determining big-shot status.

The BSI (or Big Shot Index) is a function of several variables:

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 >20 Total number of NIPS papers you are an author on 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 >20 Total number of NIPS papers you are sole author on 0 1 2 3 >3 Total number of NIPS papers you are an author on and your name appears in the acknowledgement sections 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 >10 Total number of NIPS talks given <50 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 >65 Age 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 >10 Number of high level industrial advisory boards you are on $0 $500,000 $600,000 $700,000 $800,000 $900,000 $1,000,000 $1,100,000 $1,200,000 $1,300,000 $1,400,000 $1,500,000 $1,600,000 $1,700,000 $1,800,000 $1,900,000 $2,000,000 >$2,000,000 Average annual grant income 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 >10 Number of times you have been on the NIPS program committee 0 1 2 >2 Number of dedicated slots on the NIPS program committee for your recently graduated students 50 sqm 60 sqm 70 sqm 80 sqm 90 sqm 100 sqm 110 sqm 120 sqm 130 sqm 140 sqm 150 sqm 160 sqm 170 sqm 180 sqm 190 sqm 200 sqm >200 sqm Average number of square meters of the condominium you rent in Whistler $0 $1,000 $2,000 $3,000 $4,000 $5,000 $6,000 $7,000 $8,000 $9,000 $10,000 $11,000 $12,000 $13,000 $14,000 $15,000 $16,000 $17,000 $18,000 $19,000 $20,000 >$20,000 Average price of air ticket to attend the conference 1 year – 2 years 2 years – 3 years >3 years <1 year Age of your laptop 0 1 – 4 people 4 – 8 people 8 – 12 people 12 – 16 people 16 – 20 people 20 – 24 people 24 – 28 people 28 – 32 people >32 people Size of crowd that follows you to viewing posters 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 >10 Total number of forewords and blurbs you have been asked to write 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 >10 Number of editorial boards you are on 100 – 1,000 LOC 2 – 100 LOC 0 – 2 LOC 1,000 – 2,000 LOC 2,000 – 5,000 LOC 5,000 – 10,000 LOC 10,000 – 20,000 LOC 20,000 – 30,000 LOC >30,000 LOC Number of lines of code you have written in the last year 25% – 50% 0% – 1% 1% – 5% 5% – 10% 10% – 25% 50% – 80% 80% – 100% Fraction of words you actually wrote in all papers in the last year with you listed as an author $10 $20 $30 $40 $50 $60 $70 $80 $90 $100 $110 $120 $130 $140 $150 >$150 Average cost of meal you eat at the conference 0 1 2 3 4 5 >5 Number of workshops you organise in a year 0 1 2 3 4 5 >5 Number of workshops you organise in a year but do not attend 0 1 >1 Number of times being NIPS program chair >10th rank 10th rank 9th rank 8th rank 7th rank 6th rank 5th rank 4th rank 3rd rank 2nd rank Top rank Your picture comes up high on Google Image search when people search your first name (strict search!) 0 headcount 1 headcount 2 headcount 3 headcount 4 headcount 5 – 6 headcount 7 – 9 headcount 10 – 14 headcount 15 – 19 headcount 20 – 29 headcount 30 – 41 headcount 42 headcount >42 headcount Number of direct reports 0 headcount 1 headcount 2 – 10 headcount 11 – 100 headcount 101 – 1,000 headcount 1,000 – 10,000 headcount >10,000 headcount Number of indirect reports 0 1 2 3 4 5 >5 Number of mutual admiration clubs (scientific societies) you are member of

Score 0

Grades of Big-Shotness

There are three classes of big-shotness. When no particular class is mentioned, platinum grade is usually implied – platinum big-shots are the real big shots. The following thresholds have been approved by the JMLG board:

Class	Threshold
Platinum  *****	150
Gold ****	60
Silver ***	30

World Record

To best knowledge of the editors, the highest scoring big-shot has a score of 306.5. For legal reasons, we cannot name the individual. We would be happy to update this record if any reader can provide credible evidence.