SAN FRANCISCO -- As Oracle OpenWorld 2011 closes, it might be fun to take a look at what it took to put a conference of this scale to work.
CEO Larry Ellison noted in his opening keynote speech on Sunday evening that this year's expo welcomed 45,000 attendees from 117 countries at San Francisco's downtown Moscone Center conference complex -- making it the largest Oracle OpenWorld yet. Being here, I have to admit that the entire event was overwhelming at first, with shades of the enormity of CES in Las Vegas every year.
So here's a snapshot of some of the overall conference stats:
- Over 3,200 speakers
- More than 100,000 online attendees expected
- More than 1,900 customer and partner speakers
- More than 2,000 sessions for attendees across eight venues
- 450 partner exhibits and 40 sponsoring partners
- 1,050 LCD displays for announcing speakers, schedules, etc.
- 230 plasma screens
- 250 wireless access points
To build Oracle OpenWorld, a union crew worked over 20,000 man-hours before the first session began on Sunday, October 2nd, with a road crew tacking on another 600 hours before the show started. Once the expo kicked off, on-site staff logged approximately 4,500 hours, which is equivalent to one person working for a half of a year straight.
With a conference of this size -- especially in San Francisco -- keeping the environment in mind needs to be a top priority. Something has to make up for consuming more than one million watts of electricity for audio, video and lighting. Here's how Oracle did:
- 100 percent of convention shuttle equipment used the most up-to-date eco technology
- 42,000 gallons of filtered tap water served to attendees in compostable cups or reusable water bottles
- 160 recycling and compost containers placed around the conference area to collect materials diverted from landfill
- 35 "Green Angels" staff at waste stations to assist attendees with properly sorting their waste
- 15 pedicabs were ready to go to (slightly) eliminate the need for shuttles between the conference center and the Caltrain commuter train station
- Shuttle buses are obviously still needed, but these used ultra-low sulfur diesel oil
- Fuel savings: 819 gallons
- Eight tons of CO2 emission avoided
While it took crews about four days to set up OpenWorld, it will take 500 hours to tear everything down from the largest hall at the conference center alone.
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