American Association of Independent Music Conference
San Francisco, California
August 2015
The American Association of Independent Music would like to welcome you to San Francisco, California. The following information packet will be your guide to our August 2015 convention to celebrate independent music producers and up and coming names in the industry. We thank you for choosing to attend our conference and are excited to meet you in San Francisco!
CVB: San Francisco Travel
The San Francisco Travel Association, which acts as the city’s Convention & Visitors Bureau, was originally founded as the San Francisco Convention and Tourist League in 1909. After an extremely destructive earthquake and fire in 1906, the non-profit local business association was created to “reclaim the City’s position as a world-class destination” (San Francisco Travel). Today, the mission of the Association is “to enhance the local economy by marketing San Francisco and the Bay Area as a premier destination for conventions, meetings, events, and leisure travel” (San Francisco Travel). They are a private, not-for-profit, membership organization that is led by a Board of Directors made up of 45 business leaders of various companies, elected by the membership. In 2003 the Association set up a charitable foundation with the goal of raising scholarship money for students enrolled in local hospitality management programs and to produce more educational programs.
The association’s executive team is led by Joe D’Alessandro, President and CEO, and is comprised of four vice presidents and eight other general departments. These departments include media relations, partner development, membership services, convention sales, convention services, marketing, tourism, and administrative services. San Francisco Travel Association has four offices, two in the city and two located outside. The Business Office and Visitor Information Services are located in the city, while the two Convention Sales Offices are located in Washington, D.C. and Chicago.
In 2012, San Francisco saw over 16.5 visitors who brought in close to 9 billion dollars. Daily, that comes out to 131,128 visitors spending $24.46 million, so it comes as no surprise that tourism is one of the City’s most important industries. San Francisco’s top ten feeder markets include New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington, Boston, Seattle, San Diego, Portland, Sacramento and San Francisco Bay Area. To emphasize just how important this industry is, note that in 2012, tourism revenue generated over $562 million in taxes and fees that support the City’s general budget, health and safety, arts and cultural organizations, recreational facilities and low-income housing. This money also supported more than 74,000 jobs in the hospitality and tourism industry, which adds up to roughly $2.18 billion in local payroll. The economic impact of the industry is so large that if visitors disappeared, each individual resident would have to spend more than $10,000 to replace this inflow of revenue.
San Francisco Travel partners include over 1,500 area businesses, giving the City one of the largest partnership bases of any convention and visitor bureau in the world. These partners work with the organization to market San Francisco as a destination for individual travellers, groups, domestic and international association and corporate meetings. Nearly every business in the area benefits from the traffic and spending of visitors, and companies that have a large stake in the hospitality market try and leverage the strength of their partnership to reach all customers. The more marketing, networking, relationship, and educational development the partners are able to create, the more exclusive programs and services they are provided by the organization. Gaining access to these exclusives give the partners the ability to capture a larger share of the visitor market, making the partnerships mutually beneficial.
Not only does the hospitality and tourism industry greatly impact the City, it also provides revenue for surrounding communities. About one-third of San Francisco Travel’s partners are located outside of the city and recognize that attracting visitors to the city also generates more tourism dollars for their local area. To demonstrate the impact San Francisco has on surrounding areas, it is noted that thousands of visitors to the City take day trips beyond city limits or extend their visit throughout Northern California by taking side trips to other area locales and attractions. Specifically, 14% visit Sausalito, 23% visit the wine country, and 9.5% visit the Monterey peninsula. Last year, 4.4 million leisure visitors were from the San Francisco region, making up 27% of visitors. Of the aforementioned 16.5 million 2012 visitors, only 5.4 million were overnight guests who stayed in San Francisco commercial accommodations. The other 11.1 million are made up of day-trippers, visits from surrounding communities, and people who stayed with friends and relatives. Based on these numbers, it is easy to see how heavily San Francisco relies on the surrounding area.
The work done by the San Francisco Travel Association is made possible by both public and private sector support. The organization had a 2012-2013 operating budget of $26.2 million, 29% of which came from the private sector, 64% from public, and 7% from contracts with Grants for the Arts and the San Francisco International Airport. Private sector activities include membership dues, advertising, e-commerce, and program revenues. The 64% of public support comes from a small portion of the revenue generated by the assessment on San Francisco hotel rooms.
San Francisco saw numerous milestones in 2012-2013, and they have the efforts of San Francisco Travel Association to thank for many of them. They are extremely social media savvy, with more than 3.6 million website visitors annually, 1,235,750 likes on the City’s Facebook page, 117,944 Twitter followers, and over 36,000 followers on Instagram. Worldwide media impressions reached 184 million in 2012, which for the City meant $10.3 million in favourable media coverage. Global marketing efforts lead to 4 million international visitors who brought in approximately $2.3 billion in economic impact. The association also implemented 91 new Tourism programs, and used FAM tours to host 1,000 travel and media professionals. Convention bookings broke previous records with 1,150 booked meetings, $1.1 billion in direct spending, and 2 million booked room nights. Lastly, their new Dine About Town program generated more than $2.5 million in food and beverage spending.
DMC: Evolutionary Events
We chose Evolutionary Events as our Destination Management Company. Evolutionary Events describes their company as, “a boutique event planning and destination management company [that] offers a professional and creative team focused on producing an unforgettable event while minimizing your cost”. They focus on making creativity a priority and understand that delegates do not want to walk into an event and see something that has already been done. Each event starts as a blank canvas and they try to never reuse what has been done in the past. Evolutionary Events prides themselves on forming strategic partnerships, rather than just taking order from clients. They are committed to asking questions and strategically staying one step ahead of the client to create the event that is best for them. They are highly flexible in the services they offer and frequently ask “how can we make this happen” instead of saying “it can’t be done”. The DMC promises that your event will not be handed down to a junior level associate, and that the staff there is committed to staying at work until the job is done. Their employees own the projects they are working on and know that the satisfaction of the client secures their job. This DMC offers many services including Project Management/Meeting Planning, Creative Services, Web Services, Registration and Air Ticketing Services, Administrative Support, On-Site Management Staff, and Merchandising. The core of the company is project management and travel planning, and they provide both schematic and creative services for all types of events. The project management team at Evolutionary Events is made up of experienced meeting planners, marketing professionals and travel consultants who are well-versed in destinations, marketing strategies and logistical planning. The creative services department is the heart and soul of this DMC, and was the dedication of its founder. They offer creative advice specifically tailored to each program and nothing is canned or packaged. On-line, the technology services team will work with your group to offer pre-trip web pages and custom web registration pages that are easy for delegates to access and make changes to. With regards to registration, Evolutionary Events offers a registration and air ticketing services lead as well as other members of the department who are trained to take overflow calls from delegates.
The DMC has both permanent and on call administrative support staff that is experienced in the industry, pays extreme attention to detail and have all been recruited from a former working environment. Their on-site management staff can be called upon from their relationships with nearly 75 professional Travel Directors, and are secured as soon as possible with regards to the familiarity the staff may have with a particular account. In addition to administration and on-site management, Evolutionary Events also provides knowledgeable, professional and friendly staff trained to handle and last minute changes in order to ensure your event is flawless. The project management team at Evolutionary Events understands that transportation is vital to the success of any event. That is why they provide experienced uniformed staff that will greet delegates with signage and show them to a luxury, environment-friendly vehicle. They have constant communication with professional and reliable transportation vendors throughout the planning and operation of your event to manage the manifest and handle and last minute changes you may have. Evolutionary Events offers a variety of activities and tours including, but not limited to, cruises on the San Francisco Bay, Napa tours, exclusive mansion tours with catered dinners, and more. Their expert event managers are constantly dreaming up new activities to show off the finest sights your destination has to offer, and will make sure that all attendees enjoy themselves by designing a list of activities based on the nature of the group. The project managers at this DMC also recognize the importance of team building and will tailor an agenda to help your group meet their team building and community service goals. Evolutionary Events will handle all event coordination from initial brainstorming to the post event rehash meetings, making the entire process easy for meeting planners and delegates. The merchandising department with Evolutionary Events takes pride in the creativity and flexibility they are able to offer clients, but are open to working with a preferred specialty vendor at the client’s request. They have formed unique partnerships that enable the DMC to put your group’s logo on just about anything. This process starts with a conversation to get to know your group better and uncover any thoughts, ideas, or experiences that may help decide which products and gifts to include. Vendor partnerships include Apple, Nike, Tumi, and Bushnell in order to customize search criteria by any limitation, and Evolutionary Events will facilitate the entire ordering and shipping process for your group.
Evolutionary Events is located in downtown San Francisco, although they are prepared to customize meetings all over the world. They specialize in boutique, out of the box events and still stay within the group budget in order to create an unforgettable experience for all delegates.
Airline: US Airways
As a group we will be flying United Airlines, Inc. commonly referred to as United. United was founded in 1926 and became known as United in 1934. They have 10 hubs worldwide. Eight of the hubs are spread throughout the United States, with on in Guam, and the other in Tokyo. The world headquarters are located in Chicago, Illinois located in the former Sears Tower now called The Willis Tower. United is a wholly owned subsidiary of United Continental Holdings after their merger in 2010. United is the single largest occupant in The Willis Tower (second tallest building in the United State). Throughout the company's long history they have owned many aspects of the hospitality industry. During the 1980s and 90s United Airlines owned major parts of Westins Hotels and Resorts, Hilton Hotels Corporation, as well as car rental giant Hertz. They sold all of their assets of those companies off throughout their merger with Continental Airlines. United operates 697 mainline aircrafts as of right now. They have ordered 284 more for use in the next couple years. They are an air travel giant and one of the biggest in the world. United has been implementing many different environmental strategies over the past couple years. In 2011 united announced that they were going to do-away with all the paper that pilots carry around in their bags. United replaced all of the paper maps, flight info, weather info, flight checklists, etc. with iPads for every single pilot. It is estimated that every single pilot carried around 38 pounds of paper in their flight bags. The iPad replaced all of this paper-weight saving fuel and over 12,000 sheets of paper per pilot. They have also taken the forefront in alternative methods to Jet Fuel. In 2011 they flew the world’s first commercial aviation flight on biofuels. Along with those new biofuels United has ordered 100 new more efficient planes to be in their fleet soon. They are also retrofitting most of the compatible old planes with more efficient winglets. United is very helpful to groups of ten or more people. United Groups is focus on a group of ten or more people flying on a common flight to a common location. You can get online quotes for you group. They will supply a group coordinator at the airport for you. Not all locations have these very helpful group coordinators. You will also receive priority check-in, and you will have a guaranteed fare for the group. United Groups seems like a very helpful service but our convention is for 300 people and not even one is coming from a common location. United Meetings is for 20 or more people traveling to a location from two or more originating points. This is the service we will be using. They have a convention package but it requires 500 or more people. United Meetings makes it as easy as possible to get the entire group to our location in San Francisco. United Meetings offers two different types of discounts for the meeting. They offer a Global zone fare discount, or a discount on the published fares. We would have to plane the actual flights to figure what would be better for a group. Also, if the attendees buy their tickets through united.com there will not be a $25 ticket service fee. Since we are planning the meeting on our own we will not use United’s Destination Management Service. This service seems very helpful. They act as the meeting planner for you and will help you throughout the process.
Airport: San Francisco International Airport (SFO)
The San Francisco International Airport (SFO) is the second largest Airport in California next to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). Two other airports, Oakland International Airport (OAK) and Mineta San Jose International Airport (SJC), accompany SFO in the Bay Area. According to the 2012 SFO fact sheet, SFO served a total of 44,322,561 passengers in 2012. 78.5% of these people were traveling domestically, while the other 21.5% were traveling internationally. SFO flies about 505 nonstop domestic flights per day to 76 different airports and about 78 flights flown nonstop internationally per day to 31 different airports around the globe (Facts & Statistics).
The fact sheet also states there are 54 total airlines flying in and out of SFO. The airline flying in and out the most is United Airlines with a strong 46% of the market share of air traffic at SFO (Facts & Statistics). Given this information that means about 20,388,378 people fly United Airlines per year from SFO. This being said we will be using United Airlines for our guests flying into San Francisco. “The domestic United Airlines flights depart from Terminal 3, boarding area F, gates 68-90. The International flights from United Airlines board in the International Terminal, boarding Area G, gates G91-G102”(Airlines at SFO) A wonderful thing about this airport is that it offers so many activities for anyone to take advantage of while at the airport waiting on a flight, or waiting for a meeting, etc. There are three spas, a yoga room, SFO Museum exhibits, an Aviation Museum and Library; there is also a lot of art around the whole airport to view, a meditation room, four self-guided tour areas, and two kid’s zones (Things to do). There is also lots of shopping offered there at the airport. The shopping choices are bookstores, designer stores, cosmetic stores, Ghirardelli chocolates, wine stores, clothing stores, technology stores, art stores, and sunglasses stores (Shopping at SFO). There are 69 selections for places to eat at SFO. Many of which are locally run restaurants and the others various chain restaurants. The cuisine ranges from Mediterranean to Mexican, pizza, seafood and Asian to cafes, bakeries, burger joints, sandwich shops and beer, wine, and liquor bars. There is high quality food, organic food, fast food, and snack food for whatever you desire (Dining at SFO). Another wonderful perk to this elaborate airport is the availability to hold or cater an event within the airport itself. “The San Francisco Airport Commission Aviation Library and the Louis A. Turpen Aviation Museum is available for hosting private functions for up to 250 guests in this truly unique venue.” (Hold Your Event at SFO) The venue space is 7000 square feet and surrounded by relics and stories of the history of flight. Catering is also offered for the venue through the airport if the party is interested. Any of the Restaurants available in the Airport can cater to an event. Including bar service if requested. Parking is plentiful at the airport but group packages can be arranged at a discount for events or groups of people. For these events, a podium and assembly style seating can be arranged at no cost but tables and chairs for dining service may be requested to the caterer or through a rental company. (Hold Your Event at SFO) This airport is very convenient in the aspect of its location because of how close to the city it is. You can get to and from by rental car, cab, bus, train/monorail, or bike. There are two different train systems called the BART Rapid Rail that takes passengers to Northern San Mateo County, San Francisco, and the East Bay directly from SFO. The Caltrain Commuter Rail provides Service between San Francisco and San Jose. There are also two AirTran monorail lines restricted to just the airport that will take you to different terminals or to rental cars and parking. (To & From SFO) “SFO’s Mission is to provide an exceptional airport in service to our communities. We recognize that becoming more environmentally sustainable will help us achieve this goal today, and in the future.” (Community and Environment) “SFO is committed to substantially reducing its environmental footprint over the next decade. We're working to reduce our contributions to climate change, build green, reduce our energy consumption, improve air and water quality, reduce noise impacts, preserve natural resources, and continue to make SFO a healthful place to work. (Community and Environment)

The San Francisco International Airport has won eleven awards only in this past year for the excellent service and quality everything at the airport. They have won awards for Sustainable planning, design, and construction, excellent overall concession program, best health and wellness in an airport, excellence in business for economic development, airport with the most unique services, an environmental achievement award, and the best social media promotion by a US airport (Awards: 2006-2012). Not only do these support the fact that this Airport is ranked one of the best airports in the world. But it makes the feeling of travelling to and from San Francisco so much more convenient and reliable and safe. When the achievements and rewards reflect the progress and the quality the way this Airport is represented. It makes people want to travel there.

Hotel: St. Regis

As a group we decided on the St Regis Hotel, which is 0.1 miles from the Moscone Center. The St Regis San Francisco is a part of the worldwide Starwood hotel and resort brand. This hotel is an historic brand of extreme opulence. The St. Regis was built from the ground up in 2005, and its modern glass exterior and contemporary art collection make the hotel seem like an extension of its artsy neighbours, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Museum of the African Diaspora. The hotel gives free tickets to the African Diaspora that has an entrance in the hotel’s lobby. The hotel is also committed to maintaining the sleek space from top to bottom: the lobby was renovated in 2013 and now features custom-designed furniture, rugs, and art installations in metallic hues, dark blues, and black lacquer. There are many high-class services that this hotel has to offer. Check in is at 3:00pm and checkout time at 12:00pm.

There are a couple of options for transportation arranged by the hotel valet parking usually $20 - $54 per day. The hotel offers covered parking nearby for $20 - $30 per day for rented cars. Also there is public transportation 0.6 miles for the hotel. Also, for attendees with kids, there is a Babysitting Service and Family Traditions at St. Regis Program. These packages will help to keep your children occupied if brought along

There are many guest services available a concierge service, laundry services and 100% non-smoking rooms and facilities. They also offer safe deposit boxes and 24 hours business services to take care of any printing needs you may have while attending this convention. The 24-hour butler service will help quests with anything from overnight shoe shining to dry cleaning and making reservations.

When looking at recreation and entertainment the St Regis San Francisco offers their sophisticated spa comes to mind. Upon Arrival guests are escorted to a plush locker room with cedar lined lockers and separate whirlpools for males and females. Guests when waiting on treatments are offered chilled Champagne and handmade truffles. The hotel also offers a 50-foot infinity edge pool with giant windows overlooking San Francisco. They also brag about how incredible comfortable all their pool deck furniture is, so feel free to grab a book and use all the natural light this room offers. Wired and Wireless high SPEED Internet Access is offered for 14.99 per day. At the request of attendees we can include wireless in the price of your registration. The hotel also boasts a 5,700-square-foot, bright, 5th floor fitness center open 24 hours with your room key. Each cardio machine is prepped with a towel, water bottle, and headphones; extra chilled towels, water, magazines, and fruit provided.

This hotel offers two different in house restaurants and lounges. The Ame which is a mixture of Japanese and new American cuisine and features a custom-made sashimi bar and the restaurants signature red table for eight people. They offer limited edition sakes and a 500-bottle list of handcrafted wines from around the world. Ame received the “Michelin Star award from 2008- 2012 and voted one of the best new restaurants in 2006 by Esquire magazine. Unfortunately this restaurant can only hold a maximum of 80 individuals. Vitrine is the other option and is located on the fourth floor and offers a full breakfast and lunch menu based on fresh, local ingredients. Vitrine is a 74- seat restaurant and is considered the more casual option for hotel guests.

There are 16 different meeting options in this hotel. When looking at the design of the Hotel room options the designer went for a clean crisp look with a lot of whites and cream throughout. The superior room and deluxe rooms feature amenities including a 42” plasma TV and fine Pratesi linen and bedside digital assistants. Bathrooms are equipped with a vibrant 13” LCD television and feature deep soaking tubs with a resort-style shuttered window between the bathroom and bedroom. Also a frosted glass-enclosed stone shower with a mounted rainfall showerhead, and a detachable handheld shower. Superior rooms feature a spacious oversized work area with large writing desk and a comfortable chair. Guests also have access to three telephones with personalized voicemail and a customized phone and fax number. A fax/copy/scanner/printer machine will be delivered to your room upon request. Distinct design features include a recessed closet system that conceals shelving, drawers, mini bar, and CD/DVD player. Both types of rooms measure 450 square feet in total. The executive premier rooms offer the same amenities at a larger size measuring 550 square feet. The offered suites start at 711 square feet and offer king beds, sofas and the St Regis Butler service. Different suites boast many views from overlooking the Yerba Buena Gardens and Panoramas of the city and San Francisco hills. Room rates starting at the superior rooms all the way up to the many suites are around $745 - $2,900 per night. All the rooms are visited by house cleaning twice daily with an automation nightly turndown service.

The hotel offers extremely well trained staff, whom of which go above and beyond to administer the best experience they can to their guests. For AAA members the hotel offers up to 20% off your stay and complimentary breakfast and parking. They also allow pets under 35 pounds with a one-time cleaning fee.

Convention Center: Moscone Center

After much consideration and careful deliberation, we decided Moscone Convention Center would be the best facility to host our event. Known as the “Centerpiece of the City”, and being the largest in the city with world-class amenities, it served us well in matching our interests and our mission in this conference. As a key component in our successes, plus a leading city in the music industry, San Francisco offers possibly the best environment to inspire creativity in our work. It “fuels the flame” as well, in order to gain clarity and vision in what we do.

The Moscone Center is located directly .01 miles from the St Regis hotel, of which all convention attendees will stay. Moscone Center is the largest convention center and exhibition complex in San Francisco; the newly renovated building features more than 992,000 square feet of meeting and exhibit space, including 107 meeting rooms, three ballrooms and over 151,000 square feet of prefunction lobbies. Moscone Center is comprised of three main halls: Moscone South, North, and West. A three-year renovation project was just recently completed, which significantly enhances the facility, providing a modern, vibrant, and exciting feel.

Frequently asked questions regarding the convention facility often address issues of Wi-Fi and parking. Wi-Fi is absolutely available, and can normally be purchased online or in the business center upon arrival, free of charge. Internet services are provided in all common areas, including Moscone South, North, and West (Moscone Center 3). Parking may at first seem like an issue, but is actually rather convenient. There are four large parking garages in close proximity to the center; however, with St. Regis being so close, all attendees of the particular conference will walk to and from meetings on a daily basis.

A Taste of What is to Come: 9 Things To Know

In addition to initial perks, the entire facility has transformed over the past few years. We will spend a large amount of time in a place that is newly renovated, with a larger amount of space. When guests arrive, although many will have never been to the Moscone Center before, they will quickly realize how new the center is, and how much time and effort is truly taken in “wowing” everyone, every day. Some interesting new features include:

1. New air-walls in all meeting rooms.

2. All new heating, ventilation, and air conditioning in meeting rooms.

3. Most robust, FREE wireless system in the country, allowing 60,000 simultaneous devices in all three buildings.

4. Renovated restrooms.

5. Enhanced, energy-efficient lighting throughout.

6. New escalators and updated elevators.

7. Additional seating areas with electrical power plugs added in all public areas.

8. Five LED digital, programmable screens for custom messages.

9. ADA-compliant buildings with enhanced directional signage throughout.

As far as audio/visual and sound equipment, Moscone Center provides excellent in-house service of Projection Presentation Technology. Fortunately, this company is on-site, and serves to supply all of our digital and technical needs (Moscone Center 5). If we wished to contract a separate company, it would not be as cost-efficient or smart; it would also be somewhat unnecessary, seeing that they must use Projection Presentation Technology equipment and services regardless.

Spouse Activities:
Muir Woods and Sonoma Valley Tour- 8:30am -4:30pm
During the trade show on Tuesday, the spouses of our delegates will embark on an iconic California tour. In collaboration with SanFrancisco.com Tours and Evolutionary Events, our group will visit the famous redwood forest and Muir Woods National Park in the morning and spend the afternoon touring historic Sonoma Valley, California’s wine country. The tour will cost $119.99 per person and is included in the convention registration fee. This price includes the cost of the tour, transportation, entry to Muir Woods, and a boxed lunch provided by Savor in the St. Regis hotel.
After breakfast on Tuesday, the spouses will depart from the hotel to Muir Woods National Park for a leisurely hike through the majestic redwood forest. Muir Woods National Park was registered as a national monument in 1908. It is named for John Muir, a conservationist and author from Wisconsin, who described the forest as “the best tree-lovers monument that could possibly be found in all the forests of the world”(NPS). The forest contains the only grouping of coastal redwoods left on the planet with the largest tree standing 258 feet tall (NPS). The group will be picked up from the hotel and taken to the park where we will spend the morning learning about the redwood forests and the efforts the national park is taking to help conserve the forest and encourage voluntourism. At noon the group will head north to Sonoma Valley.
The journey will take us through California’s breath-taking scenery into Sonoma Valley, California’s wine country, where we will taste a variety of wines and learn about the history of the valley. San Francisco Tour’s guides are knowledgeable and passionate about the areas wineries and what they are doing to become sustainable businesses. We will stop for a picnic lunch provided by the hotel. Later in the afternoon the group will return to the city to get ready for the evening’s activities.

Cocktail Party and Dinner Event –Bay Cruise 7:00pm-12:00am
On Tuesday evening the group will board a luxury cruise ship and sail around the bay for a cocktail party and dinner event with Hornblower Cruises and Events. The company has a fleet of nine cruise ships ranging in capacity from 100 to up to 2,000 persons. Hornblower’s ships use solar panels, wind turbines, and fuel-efficient engines offering the most eco-friendly way to cruise the bay. The group will be picked up at 6:30pm from the hotel and taken to Pier 30 where the cruise will depart. Guests will board the San Francisco Spirit, a ship with a guest capacity of 550 persons, and be greeted by a glass of champagne or sparkling cider and offered a selection of hors d’oeuvres. The evening will continue with a seated dinner with two menu options, full bar, and live band. The spectacular views of the San Francisco coastline will be the highlight of the evening creating a picturesque backdrop of the evening skyline. Sites will include views of the Bay bridge, Alcatraz island, Golden Gate bridge, and Coit Tower (Hornblower). To book the San Francisco Spirit on Tuesday the fixed cost will be $3,800.00. Hornblower Cruises will also provide the food and beverage for the event. The menu pricing for food and beverage is on a per-person basis and options are customizable to your event. We have chosen a package to include a premium cocktail bar for four hours at $39 per person, the Portside Selection of passed and displayed hors d’oeuvres at $29 per person, a dessert selection for $25 per guest, and a plated dinner of three choices ranging from $39 to $57 per plate (Hornblower).

Itinerary:

Monday, August 17

- Set-up day – Convention center
- Board meeting, 12 people, 3:30 until 5:00
- Cocktail party, (300 people), 6:00 until 7:00
- Dinner (300 people), 7:00 until 9:00

Tuesday, August 18

- Breakfast, 300 people, 7 until 8:00 am
- General session, 150 people, 8:15 until 10:00 am
- Three break-out sessions of 50 persons each, 4:15 until 5:15 pm
- Trade Show opens from 10:15 until 4:00 pm
- Coffee break in Trade Show Hall - 10:00 until 10:45 am
- Lunch in the Convention center from 12:15 until 1:15 pm

Spouse Program: Tuesday

- Depart from hotel 8:30am
- Muir Park and Sonoma Valley tour
- Return to Hotel 4:30pm

Tuesday evening cocktail party and dinner function
- Depart hotel 6:30pm for Pier 30
- Cocktail party and dinner cruise on the bay 7-12
- Dock at Pier 30 and return to hotel 12:30am

Wednesday, August 19
- Breakfast, 300 people, 7:00 until 8:00 pm
- General session, 150 people, 8:00 until 10:00
- Coffee Break, 300 people, 10:00 until 10:30
- Break-down day – Convention center