Smart Meetings

As you well know, every meeting has an “aha!” moment, that split-second when the destination, the facilities and your budget come together and click.

If you’ve got a meeting to plan and you’re a little short of that elusive click, consider San Francisco’s East Bay. This surprising, 1,471-square-mile region encompasses multicultural cities, a world-famous university, chic suburban enclaves and a well-established wine country, pre-dating Napa, that actually put California on the international wine map in 1889.

It’s divided into two counties, Alameda and Contra Costa. Like much of California, they share a common history, dating back to the Spanish land grants in the early 1800s, when cattle and crops were the chief commodities.

Both share easy access not only to Oakland International Airport, but also to San Francisco through a network of freeways, affordable rapid transit systems and ferries. And both benefit from a milder, sunnier climate than their more famous neighbor to the west.

But that’s not to say they’re homogeneous. As times and fortunes changed over the decades, each forged its own identity, an evolution that has resulted in intriguing contrasts. And therein, for meeting professionals, lie the opportunities.

OAKLAND
The transcontinental railroad opened the West to settlement in 1869, and Oakland—the major city in Alameda County—was its western terminus, attracting eager can-do entrepreneurs and workers. Later, its deep-water shoreline became a bustling port, as it remains today. In fact, Oakland is one of the five largest ports in California.

Today the city’s population tops 411,000 and embraces a diverse mix of cultures and languages (at last count, more than 100).

The result is a wealth of ethnic cuisines and a year-round calendar of cultural festivals and events that enliven neighborhoods and enrich its allure.

It’s a cosmopolitan city; in fact, Oakland hosts one of the largest performing and visual arts communities on the West Coast. Among its attractions are a world-class symphony orchestra, ballet company and museums, plus a vibrant live music scene.

Oakland is also a great place for meetings of all types, with commercial hubs located downtown in City Center, Jack London Square and Lake Merritt. According to Fortune magazine, it’s one of the top cities in the country for business.

And business is good, according to Marie Allen, director of sales for the Oakland Convention & Visitors Bureau. Two welcome trends she’s seeing are groups booking further ahead of time, a trend not seen in the last five years, plus increased attendance across the board: “More groups want to expand their blocks than previously,” she says. Additionally, “all our hotel partners are talking about the pace.”

Large groups coming to Oakland this year include Cost Plus World Market and Discovery Toys Inc. Repeat business, the litmus test for a destination, is also strong, with appearances by the California Lodging Industry Association (CLIA), with 1,000 attendees earlier this year, and Mary Kay Cosmetics in 2008, with 2,000. “Oakland Airport is extremely accessible, easy to get into and out of for our attendees within the state and exhibitors that may be coming in from Denver, St. Louis and Dallas,” says Rick Lawrence, president and CEO of CLIA. Plus, he says, “it’s cost effective...We’re a great fit. They’re very responsive to us.”

So, why not Oakland? The climate is temperate—about 10 degrees warmer than San Francisco, according to the CVB’s Allen—and there’s an abundance of great eateries.

TOP MEETING VENUES
Oakland’s convention center is located in the heart of the downtown core. Together with the Oakland Marriott City Center they offer planners more than 89,000 sq. ft. of contiguous meeting space. As a plus, it’s possible to book the center without committing to a certain number of hotel peak nights.

Situated in the Lake Merritt Business District, the Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center includes a variety of rental spaces, including an arena, a theater and a ballroom. It can accommodate audiences from 150 to 8,000.

Speaking of ballrooms, Oakland has two “new” entries on the meetings and event scene: The Midtown Ballroom, a historic, recently renovated site for up to 300 guests, and the swingin’ Historic Sweet’s Ballroom, which recently underwent a $3-million renovation and books private functions as well as musical events.

UNIQUE VENUES AND ACTIVITIES
You can’t get more unique than the Oakland Museum of California (2,000 sq. ft.), a one-of-a-kind museum focusing on the Golden State that plays host to major traveling and special exhibitions, such as Yosemite: Art of an American Icon, featuring photography by Ansel Adams and Edward Weston, from May 19–August 26, 2007.

The Paramount Theatre in downtown Oakland is another gem: a beautifully restored Art Deco theater with 3,000 seats that hosts concerts, live entertainment and private events.

Plan a starry, starry night at the Chabot Space and Science Center (up to 1,800) high in the Oakland hills, dining and dancing outdoors, or more literally, indoors, gazing through their powerful telescopes.

Stash your group of up to 120 aboard the USS Potomac, the former presidential yacht beloved by Franklin Roosevelt, and they’ll be steeped in history on the salty brine. Restored to the tune of $5 million, it’s moored at Jack London Square and was once owned by Elvis Presley (now there’s a little-known factoid!).

A little farther afield, at Alameda Point on San Francisco Bay, is the USS Hornet, the historic WWII aircraft carrier that successfully recovered the Apollo 11 and Apollo 12 astronauts. Book a trade show, a dance or a sit-down dinner for 30–3,000 aboard this national landmark.

BERKELEY
Say “Berkeley” and the image you’re likely to conjure up is from the 1960s, when Cal (University of California, Berkeley) and its city were ground zero for counterculture movements. It still retains a bohemian vibe—enough to know you’re not in Kansas anymore—but you may be surprised at the renaissance that downtown is undergoing as an arts district, with shops, studios and event venues housed in restored historic buildings. Thus far, the 15-year project has totaled $360 million, according to Deborah Badhia, executive director of the Downtown Berkeley Association. There’s even an annual jazz festival each August that attracts headliners along with emerging talent.     

The university is a top meeting spot; so is the Berkeley City Club, a classic, 1927 Julia Morgan-designed landmark (she’s the architect of Hearst Castle). As a destination resort, the magnificent Claremont Resort & Spa—which was conceived as an English estate—has attracted San Francisco socialites and visitors since 1915 as a respite from the coastal summer fog. 

CONTRA COSTA
Contra Costa County was slower to develop than Oakland, remaining more agricultural well into the 20th century. Today, while there are still great expanses of sprawling grassland empty except for placidly feeding cattle, it’s one of the fastest-growing areas in the state.

And it’s the picturesque, undulating hills that greet you when you arrive, whether by car from Berkeley via the Caldecott Tunnel or whisked by a high-speed BART train. The hills, that is, and the county’s two other dominant features: sun and Mount Diablo. The climate here can be 20 degrees warmer than San Francisco—all the better for your golf game and outdoor dining. Mount Diablo, the region’s most prominent landmark, rises majesctically 3,849 feet in the distance.
 
Among Contra Costa’s cities is Concord, the commercial hub and the largest, with a population of 121,780.  Once more of a village, Walnut Creek is a charming—and expanding—town where you’ll find a walkable downtown with about 80 restaurants and 180 retail stores. “The Creek” is also home to the Dean Lesher Regional Center for the Arts, a 785-seat performing arts center that is available for groups.

UNIQUE VENUES
Contra Costa has several notable event venues of interest to planners. The Frank Gehry-designed Sleep Train Pavilion in Concord is the East Bay’s major outdoor concert space, accommodating up to 12,500. Its event calendar is a who’s who of rock, rap, country and jazz. Buy it out—or reserve group tickets for a live concert.

For a smaller (much smaller) group, book a reception at the Blackhawk Museum in Danville, where guests socialize among nearly 90 carefully polished and restored, historically significant automobiles. The museum can accommodate 14 to 24 people for a board meeting in their VIP room, up to 1,500 for a catered event.

Or, if you’re having a family friendly meeting, plan an outing to Six Flags Waterworld Concord, where even the big “kids” will enjoy the excitement.

TRI-VALLEY
Tri-Valley is the East Bay’s wine country—and California’s oldest wine region. The first wine grapes were planted in the Livermore Valley in 1839, and by the 1880s, commercial wine production was a thriving industry.

It was once also part of the “Wild West,” the site of early movie locations (including portions of Charlie Chaplin’s Little Tramp), and even earlier, an Ohlone Indian village and several land-grant ranchos.

Just as its early history was one of energy and expansion, so is its persona today. Like other wine countries, Tri-Valley offers world-class wines (from 38 wineries), golf (nine courses), fine dining and myriad other opportunities for planners to combine business with post-meeting pleasures. It’s only about 30 'sminutes from the Oakland airport. And it’s growing.

“We have lots of momentum and change,” says Amy Blaschka, president and CEO of the Tri-Valley Convention & Visitors Bureau—starting with the bureau itself, which now markets Danville, one of the wealthiest suburbs in the Bay Area, in addition to the cities of Pleasanton, Livermore, Dublin and San Ramon. In fact, Tri-Valley is the very first multidistrict, cross-county (Alameda and Contra Costa) bureau.

Convenience and amenities were two reasons Teddi Hosman, CMP, senior meetings and events project manager for Cisco Systems in San Jose chose Tri-Valley for a recent joint-venture meeting with Hewlett-Packard. “It was far enough away not to drive home,” she says. “They had done programs near the Cisco campus, but they wanted a retreat, not to be sidetracked by the office, picking up e-mails, where at least we had their physical attention,” she says. “We held the joint meeting [for 100] at Wente Vineyards, which worked out well. Once we were done with the meeting, we moved to an outdoor venue and had a wine-and-cheese tasting.

“About half the group went to Campo di Bocce in Livermore,” she adds. “They had dinner and ended up playing bocce. They had a blast.”
   
Livermore is the center of the area’s wine industry, and its downtown is currently undergoing a major revitalization, with a new cinema, a 500-seat performing arts theater (Livermore Valley Performing Arts Center) that’s available for private events, and a boutique hotel whose name is still under wraps.

Pleasanton has a charming, walkable downtown features an array of boutiques, shops and restaurants. Its Wyndham Garden Hotel recently reflagged as the Sheraton Pleasanton and the Crowne Plaza Pleasanton will become the full-service Pleasanton Marriott later this year.

The city of San Ramon has gone in with a private partner to create the new San Ramon City Center, a 39-acre project that will become its town center, including retail, a high-end boutique hotel (no flag named as yet), plus restaurants with outdoor dining and a plaza. Completion is scheduled for 2010.

Dublin is a dynamic young city with shopping centers and entertainment complexes, and the newest member of the Tri-Valley organization, Danville, is adding new restaurants in its charming downtown, including the casually elegant Blackhawk Grille and Bridges Restaurant and Bar.

WHERE TO MEET
“We don’t have a convention center, but we have lots of different [opportunities] for meetings,” Blaschka says. The facts back her up: In addition to the Alameda County Fairgrounds in Pleasanton (up to 3,000 people; alamedacountyfair.com), several conference centers have emerged over the past few years—with more on the books or under the shovel.

Also in Pleasanton, on the grounds of Mitchell Katz Winery, Palm Event Center is a unique setting for up to 1,000 guests. The Martinelli Event Center in Livermore, run by Garre Winery, is a hacienda-style venue in the vineyards, with indoor and outdoor space for up to 500.

Adding to the mix are Patrick David’s Event Center, a high-end space in San Ramon, which should open by December 2007 or early 2008; Casa Real, at Ruby Hill inery in Pleasanton, scheduled for a spring 2008 debut; and Deer Ridge Vineyards in Livermore, which anticipates opening its winery estate and “gathering space” for up to 150 this July. (For more information about these venues, contact the CVB.)

UNIQUE VENUES AND ACTIVITIES
When you’re in wine country...Wente Vineyards Estate Winery, mentioned above, pops to mind immediately as a meetings or event venue, with an event center hosting up to 1,000, but also for its nationally renowned The Course at Wente Vineyards.

If your meeting involves lots of testosterone (or estrogen, for that matter), hold a reception for up to 100 attendees at the Arlen Ness Motorcycles headquarters (925-479-6300) in Dublin, where your easy riders can fantasize, even if they can’t take the choppers on the open road. Back to Top

Getting There

• By air: The East Bay’s major transportation hub is Oakland International Airport, which is served by 13 airlines, including Southwest and JetBlue. Nonstop service is available to more than 34 cities.
• By land: Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) crisscrosses the East Bay and links to San Francisco and both the Oakland and San Francisco airports. 
• By sea: Ferry service is available to San Francisco from Jack London Square in Oakland on the Oakland/Alameda Ferry.
  
  
  

Back to Top

Not To Be Missed

• For your sports fanatics: the Oakland A’s, the Oakland Raiders and the Golden State Warriors.
• Groove to hot or cool jazz at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square.
  Mount Diablo State Park, the East Bay’s playground, with 20,000 acres for hiking, biking, exploring and rock climbing.
• Taste wine by the glass or straight from the barrel in Tri-Valley’s wine country.
• Tri-Valley’s other attraction: Nine championship golf courses.
  
  
  

Back to Top