Bring your patience and get ready for some major gridlock. San Francisco is hosting two of the world’s biggest technology conferences over the next few weeks, and lots of people networking means lots of traffic.
The area around Moscone Center is buzzing, not just because of cloud-based software but because Oracle - which sells cloud-based software - is putting on a huge show, bringing tens of thousands of people to San Francisco.
"This is amazing. I don’t think I’ve ever seen something like this... and the kind of people you find here [from] across the globe,” Harmeet Bhatia of Jade Global said. "I've got people who want to network with us from Israel, Chile and all kinds of places. They're very keen to work in this area.”
If those prospective employees can find their way through intense traffic on their way to Oracle OpenWorld, they will have lots of chances to network for jobs and enjoy some concerts, too.
"Aerosmith is playing so that’s pretty cool to have those guys coming out and performing for everybody,” Ryan Smith of Oracle said. "It’s a good way for all of our customers to be engaged and be educated as well as have a great time while in San Francisco.”
It's also good for business in the city, with nearby hotels filled to capacity. Lots of people are at work setting up the show and closing down Howard Street in front of Moscone Center, which has been transformed into a tech pavilion.
"Our CEO obviously spends $100 million on this -- we want it to be a success, we want it to be fun, as well as very educational for our customers,” Kiran Tyagi of Oracle said. "I think they clearly do that. It attracts customers every single year."
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Tens of thousands of visitors are expected talking tech and trying to get around.
"It fits directly into what we do. It’s our bread and butter, and lifestyle,” John Johnson of Silicon Valley Bank said.
This is just the first phase of San Francisco's big tech month. In a couple of weeks Salesforce's conference comes to town and you can expect those crowds to be just as big.
