Resources for US Programs
Program Directors: Kimberly Wiefling and Dr. Francine Gordon
Resources:
- Professional English Communication Excellence - Ovient English, Founder and President Marc Musteric
- Kimberly met with Marc and he's delightful, experienced
- Japan Intercultural Consulting - Rochelle Kopp
- Kimberly has some experience collaborating with Rochelle on non-paying projects.
Ideas for Activities:
Dr. Clue Treasure Hunts - Team-building and problem-solving activities localized to the area. There are custom treasure hunts for San Jose, CA, and INSIDE the Tech Museum, so could be great for visiting groups from Japan.
http://www.drclue.com/packages/classicHunts.php
Typical Day-by-Day Program Outline
Past Programs
2009: Toshiba
2008 and prior: NTT DoCoMo NECSoft Oracle
LOGISTICS:
I’ve started discussion with the San Jose Redevelopment Office. They want to include the City of San Jose Office of Economic Development (which I think it wonderful). Before talking to the department manager, it was suggested that I have some additional information ready:
1. How many regional banks will be represented?
2. What will be the job titles/ job levels of the people visiting San Jose?
3. When we talked, you said figure 15 – 20 people. If you have a better estimate, that would help.
4. Timing- I said Sept, October or November. Do you think one month is more likely than another?
HOTELS/MEETING ROOM
I’ve started checking into hotels. The two I like best are Hotel Valencia (which you know) and Hotel Los Gatos. Both are already heavily booked in Sept, October, November so availability will be an issue. Personally, I like the intimate feel of the smaller Hotel Los Gatos.
Rates (as quoted; once we have more details I can work on negotiating them down but this is where we start)
Hotel Montgomery- which is an old building with a new inside AND which was physically moved to its current location with help from the SJ Redevelopment agency- is sending me numbers. It sounds like $139/room for a 1 room suite (for 2 people). Meeting room: $150 / day unless we buy food. I plan to take a look this Sunday. The hotel is practically across the street from the Tech Museum. Great location and there’s a light rail station very close to it. Keep your fingers crossed.
Hotel Valencia http://www.hotelvalencia-santanarow.com/
· $199/night (double occupancy) includes breakfast and internet access
· Meeting room is $600 per day with a food & beverage minimum of $55 per person, per day PLUS around $300 per day for projector, screen, microphone, etc.
Hotel Los Gatos http://www.jdvhotels.com/hotels/los_gatos/
· $169/night (double occupancy)
· Continental breakfast is $10/person/day
· Meeting room: free with minimum purchase of $65/per person/per day (so for 20 people that would be $1300 per day; for 15 it would be $975 per day) plus audio visual
Ø If ALC usually is responsible for food- that would mean meals are covered and would have more to spend on programming
· Meeting room: without food- about $300/day plus audio visual.
· Issue: the hotel has 71 rooms but almost half are suites. So they have a limited supply of simple double occupancy rooms.
· Benefit: walking distance to downtown Los Gatos which is wonderful- lots of restaurants and stores plus there’s a walking path that goes to Lake Vasona.
BUSES
I got a few quotes. The lowest AND the company with the best recommendations is Royal Coach.
Fees:
· $88/hour with a 4 hour minimum
o 8 hours = $704
· $15 environmental fee or each engagement (whether it’s 4 hours or 10- the fee is $15)
· Plus gratuity which would be about $40 - $50 per engagement.
NEXT STEPS
Once I get the information from you, I’ll talk to the San Jose official. One big issue for everyone is timing. When the group decides it wants to do this- we’ll need to lock in the hotels. I don’t want to talk to redevelopment agencies on the east coast until I have some idea of dates.
I want to talk to you to get a better idea of what the participants want to learn so I can line up courses and instructors that will best meet their expectations.