Wikimania 2009/Philadelphia

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

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States - The Cradle of Liberty would be an ideal host city for Wikimania in 2009.

More to come.

City details

• Country: United States of America
• City proposed: Philadelphia
• 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: see table below
• Distance from international airport(s)and how do we get to the location:

Philadelphia is at the heart of the w:Northeast Corridor enabling rail access from all points in the Mid-Atlantic and southern New England and overnight from more distant points. w:Philadelphia International Airport, a hub airport for w:US Airways domestic and international service, lies on the near edge of the city limits and is less than 30 minutes by SEPTA rail from Center City. Amtrak also connects to w:BWI Airport and w:Newark Liberty International Airport, enabling further potential flight options for those willing to self-transfer.

• Local transportation and local social opportunities

Many restaurants in the area of every cuisine possible, there is SEPTA transportation within the city and into the suburbs, reaching as far as Trenton and Wilmington.

• Visa issues

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

• Tourism opportunities

Philadelphia is a major tourist destination in the United States, particularly the immediate area in and around Independence Hall, where the w:United States Declaration of Independence was signed.

Airfare costs

The following table summarize estimated cost for round-trip flights from all continents for August 2009, based on search results at online travel agencies (expedia.com, aircanada.ca, and amtrak.com). Typical prices for August 2009 will not be available until September 2008, so the prices in this table are for 14-20 August 2008

The estimates given are likely not to be as high as is given (estimates for 12 months out are not horribly reliable), and cheaper fares may be found through other carriers and websites. The fares for some cities listed here are cheaper than the fares for the cities they connect through! Looking for your own fare is heavily encouraged.

From Costs (in US$) Airline North America Chicago $250 US Airways Los Angeles $360 Frontier Airlines Mexico City $350 Continental New York $86 Amtrak San Francisco $320 Continental Toronto $415 Air Canada Vancouver $500 Air Canada Washington $84 Amtrak Europe Amsterdam $1025 US Airways Frankfurt $1055 Lufthansa London $980 Air France Moscow $1205 Air France Paris $1060 Air Canada Rome $950 British Airways Vienna $1181 Delta Air Lines Warsaw $953 Lufthansa-US Airways

From Costs (in US$) Airline Asia Bangkok Beijing Dubai Delhi Hong Kong Seoul Shanghai Singapore Taipei Tel Aviv Tokyo Oceania Auckland Brisbane Melbourne Perth Sydney Africa Cairo Johannesburg South America Buenos Aires Rio de Janeiro Maracaibo

IATA code Airline offical website AC Air Canada http://www.aircanada.com/ AF Air France http://www.airfrance.fr/ AI Air India http://www.airindia.com/ BA Britsh Airways http://www.britishairways.com/ BR EVA Air http://www.evaair.com/html/b2c/english/ CI China Airlines http://www.china-airlines.com/en/index.htm CX Cathay Pacific http://www.cathaypacific.com/ EK Emirates http://www.emirates.com JL Japan Airlines http://www.jal.co.jp/en/ KE Korean Air http://www.koreanair.com/ KL KLM Royal Dutch Airlines http://www.klm.com/travel/klm_splash/splashpage.html

IATA code Airline offical website LH Lufthansa http://www.lufthansa.com/ MH Malaysia Airlines http://www.malaysiaairlines.com/ NH All Nippon Airways http://www.anaskyweb.com/ QF Qantas http://www.qantas.com.au/ SQ Singapore Airlines http://www.singaporeair.com TG Thai Airways International http://www.thaiairways.com/ UA United Airlines http://www.united.com/ VN Vietnam Airlines http://www.vietnamairlines.com/

Local sponsorship opportunities

Possibility of local sponsorships

• Contacts

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

Self-evaluation

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

• Strengths of the proposed location