Located in California’s Silicon Valley, San Jose offers a walkable downtown with a campus feel, more than 520,000 sf of combined meeting and event space, and a wide selection of major hotel brands within two blocks of its convention facilities. The San Jose McEnery Convention Center consists of three event halls, two ballrooms and a 35,000-sf outdoor plaza and is situated in the heart of the city's Downtown.
"We are seeing the future of tech in San Jose," says Matthew Martinucci, VP of Sales and Destination Services, Visit San Jose. "Events in emerging industries such as AI, e-sports and biosciences are seeing a robust growth in attendees. Many attendees are younger, contributing to the next generation of meetings experiences. Attendees also want to know that the destination they are in aligns with their values. California, especially in the north, has always been on the front end of the civil rights and environmental movements and that is very attractive for a growing segment of our population. San Jose has a distinguished record in both important areas."
Alamitos Vineyards, located in San Jose's New Almaden neighborhood, offers award-winning wines and a countryside escape just 20 minutes from Downtown. The family-owned vineyard estate has a heritage that goes back to the early 1910s when the current owner's grandfather began his career as a winemaker in Portugal's Azores Islands. The vineyard offers a large lawn and private event area for groups of 20-250 as well as wine flight tastings.
San Jose has a thriving craft cocktail scene with venues such as the Prohibition era-themed Haberdasher, a speakeasy-style bar with an inventive cocktail list and the capacity to host private events for groups up to 110 guests. Paper Plane is another Downtown cocktail spot with a creative menu and one of the largest bottle collections in the Bay Area offering a highly curated selection of liqueurs and spirits. The MINIBOSS arcade bar, meanwhile, is a 5,000-sf space that combines arcade gaming action with a drinks menu based around gaming and pop culture, including craft drinks such as the Jigglypuff and the Double Dragon. Featuring more than 30 arcade machine cabinets and 12 pinball machines, the space is ideal for a unique event.
The Guildhouse is an 18,000-sf e-sports and gaming hub with a flexible modular space available for private events. Groups can enjoy console and PC gaming as well as tabletop board games, and it offers a menu of local beers, craft cocktails and lite bites curated with gamers in mind.
San Pedro Social is another Downtown area venue just minutes from the convention center. The 18,000-sf space offers a four-lane bowling alley, karaoke booth, arcade games and tabletop games, and is located in the refurbished historic Masson-Lefranc Building, constructed in the 1800s and featuring the original Masson Champagne Cellar in the lower-level basement. It offers a range of different space options to accommodate 25-100 seated, or a full buyout for up to 225 seated or 645 standing, as well as catering options.
"San Jose has a great global food scene that offers visitors memorable dining experiences," says Martinucci. "One of the most unique is at iChina Restaurant, where guests enjoy modern Cantonese dishes in a goggle-less VR experience. The visuals, including the table and walls, and along with the music, transport diners into a new atmosphere that accompanies each course. We also have Le Foret, a French restaurant in an old quicksilver mining town that is now the New Almaden neighborhood of San Jose. Diners can enjoy their meals in a hidden former miners’ lodge. which happens to be California’s first 2-story hotel." —Steve Grasso
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