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| The Saporro Convention Centre or the Royton - which Summit 08 venue will it be?, by Creativecommonsjp, via flickr.com |
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Images
Convention Centre buffet area CC BY 2.0
Convention Centre small meeting room CC BY 2.0
Convention Centre, view of courtyard CC BY 2.0
Dining area in Royton Sapporo CC BY 2.0
The view from Royton Sapporo CC BY 2.0
Meeting space in Royton CC BY 2.0
Dear all,
Hello from Tokyo!
Once again, it was so nice to see/meet you all in iSummit 2007. I really had a nice time, and it's always nice to see all the peers working in a creative way to enhance the sharing economy!
As you know, the next year iSummit will be held in Sapporo, Japan. We have already started the preparation for the next year, and we have to decide the venue quite soon, by mid August. Heather is planning to visit Sapporo from August 16-26th, and most likely decide the venue during the visit. This is to call your comments on the venue, as we have two options.
Sapporo city was so kind to show me the places when I visited Sapporo, and basically there are two options available. Each venue has pros and cons, and we would like to invite you all to comment on your preference. The good news is, both venue has large halls as well as small and middle rooms in one building- Therefore, either way, we can have a conference in a quite united manner. The main difference is the location (how close to the city centre), atmosphere and price. We have uploaded many more photos on Flickr, you can find it at here.
1) Sapporo Convention Center
Pros:
- Very Good Internet Connection
- Conveniently designed buildings targeted for conventions
- Nice open atmosphere (glass walls and nice gardens, good for picnic)
- Some open spaces suitable for art demonstrations, with relatively neutral background
- Can have mini-theater!
- And price being reasonable (because it is owned by the Sapporo city, and the city is so kind to offer us a discount! Many thanks to Sapporo City!!!)
Cons:
- Location: a bit remotely located. Maybe 20-25 minutes ride by bus from the city center, and no large accommodations around. Therefore, we would probably have to stay in a hotel or other accommodations in the city center, and charter a bus to move to the venue (as we did this year). Or, you can take a subway (about 6-7 minutes from the city center), and then walk for 8-10 minutes, and we can prepare a map for those who missed the bus.
- Therefore, a bit hard to collaborate with events and things going on in the center of the city.
- Rent a bus is relatively expensive in Japan, and therefore, even though the venue itself is much more reasonably priced, we may have to spend some amount of money for the bus anyway.
2) Royton Sapporo
Pros:
- Very conveniently located. Right in the heart of the city.
- Therefore, walking distance from everything! Such as accommodations (Royton is a hotel, but there are many other hotels around with different price ranges and we are thinking of arranging some home-stay or camp sort of choice, too ;-), many good restaurants etc.
- easy to collaborate with things going on in the city.
- has a large room (can accommodate 1000 people) and three middle size rooms (for about 200-300), as well as 8-10 small rooms, have many experiences in holding a conferences.
- Of course have internet access (but maybe not as fast as the Convention Center).
Cons:
- Price is much higher than the Convention Center. We will do our best to negotiate with the hotel, as well as fund-raise, so we will be OK (hopefully-) and we don't need a bus.
- The atmosphere is a bit fancy (imagine a typical nice hotel). In addition to the Flickr photos, see the following links (it's in Japanese, but you can see pictures with no problem!):
large hall
mid-size hall
small rooms
entrance
- There are several open spaces in this venue, too, and thus, we can exhibit arts and things, but the building itself has some atmosphere (with bright marble-like stones on the floor and marble-like columns. Some artists may have to consider this background when showing their works, or some may not like the atmosphere....
If we opt for Royton, we can have the next iSummit in a very convenient location, and given that Sapporo city is collaborating with the iSummit, we may be able to fully enjoy the city and the location, but it will cost more (and we may also have other hotel guests around).
If we opt for the Sapporo Convention Center, we will have to spend some time for transportation, but we can do our best to create a nice conference with an open atmosphere, and can use the venue almost by ourselves, and can be creative (and we can have fun in the city in the evenings after the day schedule is over-)
But it is a hard choice to make, and we welcome your input and ideas!
Thanks
Yuko Noguchi (CCJP)
tags: japan media-events isummit 2008 sapporo japan summit08
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Some comments from discussions on the iCommons mailing list:
From Giorgos:
"The main hall of the convention center looks massive. If we need this space because of all the extra guests and larger scale of this summit, then we should choose the convention center. If we don't need it, then my vote would be for the hotel: more accommodation options, shorter travel time, more fun things to do and stuff to eat in the vicinity I presume, and more of an opportunity to interact with the local population (yes, the 'commons') and attract more press coverage as well as more visitors to artist works (an event at the heart of the city is bound to receive more attention, though even better would have been a convention or community center in the center of the city instead of a hotel)."
From Oscar:
"From what i see and you tell us in your email i guess Royton Sapporo looks
as the best option. The only problem i found in Dubrovnik was precisely the
distance between some hotels and the venue. In my case i stayed at Mlini
which was about 20 mins away from the venue. Even though there was public transport you could spend hours waiting for the next bus. And taxis were some Kunas away...lol!!"
From Henrik:
"I second this. The best solution is a venue which is both central and close to accommodation. Mlini this year was wonderful but I think many were less willing to go out for a beer after sessions because it was either the bus home or a long, expensive and nervewrecking, near-death experience to get a taxi back :) "
From Stian:
"Just my two cents - if the subway is convenient and runs late, this
sounds like an OK option to me - 8 minutes is not much.... I just wanted to say that I also really second the idea of using homestays and stuff. I always find it much more interesting to stay with local people, and it could also drive costs down."
What do you think? The Royton or Convention Centre as the venue for the next Summit? Leave your comments here!
Daniela Faris · Johannesburg (South Africa) · Aug 02nd, 2007 10:47 pm
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