Wikimania 2009/Chicago

Wikimania 2009 official bids:
Brisbane - Buenos Aires - Karlsruhe - Toronto
Questions and Answers:
Brisbane | Buenos Aires | Karlsruhe | Toronto

City details

• Country: United States of America
• City proposed: Chicago
• Proposed dates : Friday to Monday, possibly in July/August.
• Contact person(s):

Conference venue

• brief description of venue (room sizes, number of rooms etc.)

1. Main hall:
2. Seminar rooms:
3. Lounge facilities:
4. Other rooms (organisation, staff, speakers, interviews/press, storage):

• Socializing areas (Garden, lounge etc.), their capacity and the hours at which they are opened/closed:
• Contacts with conference venue (emails, price quotes etc.)

• Technical facilities
  • Existing technical installations

    (on site Audio-visual...)

  • Wireless Network implementation

(existing? to be built? easiness of implementation?)

Accommodation

• Location of main accommodation facilities

(where can the attendees be hosted. On site, off site, how far from conference venue? For attendees? For VIPs?)

• Room details and price range

(What's the accommodation like? Dorms, B&B, Hotel? Singles, doubles? How much does it cost per person and per day?)

• Catering (one meal a day, breakfast is a plus)

(Where do we eat, how much it costs)

• Contacts with accommodation partner(s)

(Have you contacted the proposed locations, exchange of emails, price quotes etc.)

Party opportunities

Wikimania traditionally hosts two parties, one for attendees (capacity of 250-350) and one for sponsors and VIPs (capacity 40-60).

• Attendees party(ies) propositions

(location, how to get there, what's cool and relaxed about it)

• Sponsor party(ies) proposition

(location, how to get there, what's chic and high profile about it)

Travel and transportation

• Estimation of travel costs from all continents:
• Distance from international airport(s)and how do we get to the location:
• Local transportation and local social opportunities

Many restaurants in the area of every cuisine possible, there is CTA transportation within the city, Amtrak for cross-country travel by train, both Midway and O'Hare airports for flight, and rail transport to the suburbs.

• Visa issues

(who needs a visa, how easy is it to obtain it)

• Tourism opportunities

Chicago has great museums, like the Field Museum, the Shedd Aquarium, the Museum of Science and Industry, and the Adler Planetarium. The Sears Tower and Hancock Center are both very popular tourism sites, as are Millennium Park and the shore of Lake Michigan.

Local sponsorship opportunities

Possibility of local sponsorships

• Contacts

(no name needed, just "company X, 4000 USD or will provide 300 beds)

Miscellaneous

Chicago is a multicultural city, accessible from every corner of the world. It offers history and sightseeing, along with the shore of Lake Michigan, several renowned museums (Shedd Aquarium, Adler Planetarium, Museum of Science and Industry), the headquarters of Britannica, and several educational institutions, such as the University of Chicago and Northwestern University.

Self-evaluation

• Weaknesses of the proposed location ...and how to overcome those weaknesses

• Strengths of the proposed location

1. Huge panoply of facilities to choose from.
2. Extremely good transportation from suburbs (trains), hub for several major airlines, Amtrak rail hub, public transit.
3. Many possible local sponsors.
4. Britannica headquarters; we can all go moon them. :)