Silicon Valley wins bragging rights as tech conferences move to SJ from SF

David Louie Image
ByDavid Louie KGO logo
Tuesday, April 18, 2017
Silicon Valley wins bragging rights as tech conferences move to SJ from SF
San Jose over the next two months will be hopping with coders, developers and tech visionaries as three separate conference will draw more than 10,000 people to the McEnery San Jose Convention Center.

SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) -- Over the next two months, San Jose will be hopping with coders, developers and tech visionaries as three separate conference will draw more than 10,000 people to the McEnery San Jose Convention Center.

The entrance to the center was getting power washed Monday morning as an estimated 4,000 people show up in the for F8, Facebook's annual developers conference. Facebook's F8 will be sharing with developers its vision for new technology.

"So, things from artificial intelligence to virtual reality to augmented reality. We're trying to show them all the tools and capabilities that allow them to put these tools in their hands to create some amazing experiences for people," said Motamedi.

San Jose is pounding its chest, proud of the fact that F8 has outgrown facilities in San Francisco.

"In our previous location, we had around 2,700 attendees, and unfortunately, the space that we had could not accommodate any more than that. That was actually the max that we could do," said Desiree Motamedi, with Facebook.

From now until early June, San Jose will also host two other big tech events: Apple's yearly World Wide Developers Conference, which is leaving San Francisco after 15 years, and Silicon Valley Comic Con, which was created by Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak.

That will help boost occupancy at San Jose hotels and fill tables at restaurants in the downtown area.

Downtown San Jose, like downtown San Francisco, has become a magnet for small tech companies and start-up's.

"We're really seeing downtown take off with more than 120 tech companies located here in our core. This is the emerging tech center in the heart of Silicon Valley," boasted Mayor Sam Liccardo.

Mineta San Jose International has been adding both domestic and international flights, making it easier to get here, because over a third more attendees will be coming from overseas, including Brazil, China and India.