Resources for US Programs

Program Directors: Kimberly Wiefling and Dr. Francine Gordon

Resources:

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

royal coach tarrif 24pax 2009

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.