Venue

The Main Campus of Hong Kong Polytechnic University, famous for its buildings in red

Wikimania 2013 will be held in the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU).

The university is located in the Hung Hom area of Kowloon Peninsula, neighbouring the Hung Hom transportation hub which comprises Hung Hom Station and Cross-Harbour Tunnel. PolyU was founded in 1937 as a technical college, formally established in 1972 as a higher education college with degree-course education, and granted university status in November 1994. Today, PolyU has about 28,000 students reading 130 postgraduate, undergraduate and sub-degree programmes in various disciplines, including design, engineering, fashion and textiles, medical laboratory science, physiotherapy and radiography.

In recent years, the university achieved great academic triumphs in the field of computer sciences and technology among the Asia-Pacific and Greater China regions, and strives to contribute more to the information technology industry of the region.

We have already secured the Jockey Club Auditorium inside the main campus as our main hall of the conference, which has 1,084 seats on its balcony and stall. Classrooms in the neighbouring blocks will also be used for the conference. The university management have extensive experience in organizing similar activities and is a popular venue provider in the locality.

Main hall

The Jockey Club Auditorium is one of the main auditoria managed by the university. It is capable of hosting a variety of functions including public talks, ceremonies, conferences, seminars and even the performing arts. The auditorium is configured as a balcony-included theatre layout with 702 fixed seats on the main floor and 323 balcony seats, with additional temporary seats available on request. The auditorium also contains a main entrance foyer right above its main hall level, which is ideal for setting-up exhibition stands and providing an reception area for the conference.

Apart from the grand opening, we also intend to arrange sessions in the main auditorium catering for large number of guests expected at the conference.

Seminar rooms

PolyU also provides classrooms of 30–100 seats each suitable for smaller seminars and interactive group sessions of Wikimania, and for local Wikimania administration. Lecture theatres of various capacities are available as well, mostly 80–160 seats, with a few being larger than 160 seats where we will hold smaller focused public talk sessions during the conference.

Other rooms

Apart from public sessions, we expect that many attending organizations, in particular local chapters, firms and the media, will be active throughout the duration of the conference. We will therefore reserve extra seminar rooms and reconfigure them as on-site workspace adapted to the needs of the attending organizations, such as conducting interviews, press activity, administrative work, and other backstage needs.

Socializing areas

The auditorium has an open-air amphitheatre area outside its entrance foyer, and we intend to configure this area into a combination of open-space seating, public exhibition and related activities. The amphitheatre has an area of about 1,100m² and can accommodate 200 spectators, ideal for informal gatherings.

Other than the open-air amphitheatre, the University can also arrange covered areas on the podium near the Auditorium to be available for catering and other purposes.

Contacts with conference venue

The team is well-connected with the University. The team is currently working with M-lab under the School of Design of the University, consulting the relevant management personnel about the availability of the Main Hall and other rooms, and we can place our booking through M-lab. The M-lab has expressed their intention to sponsor Wikimania 2013, and it is expected that we are able to rent the auditorium and other facilities at discounted or even waived rent. Our partner, DotAsia, also has established working relationships with the university.

Technical facilities

The main auditorium is equipped with a full-set of theatre-standard conference equipments, including built-in cinematic projection and audition system, standard modern stage fly system and lighting facilities. Seminar rooms are equipped with overhead and LED projectors with screens and audio system, making them ideal for presentations and discussions. Furthermore, the lecture theatres are equipped with VHS and DVD players, and slide projector, in addition to the standard classroom facilities. Wired and wireless microphones are provided on-site within the theatres. We believe that the flexibility and variety of available room sizes will meet the various desires of the presenters and attendees of each session. Although firm booking of the rooms for our proposed dates of Wikimania 2013 will only be available from December 2012 onwards, we will negotiate with the University management to make our bookings a top priority, and ensure that plenty of rooms will be available during the conference.

Wireless network implementation

The whole university campus is covered by a built-in WLAN Wi-Fi system which is operated by the university. We will seek for a sponsorship from local telecoms companies, to provide extra bandwidth and routers for parts the venue and accommodation where existing infrastructure is inadequate.

Location and transportation

Nearby the venue:

Overview map of PolyU with surrounding area of Tsim Sha Tsui. Details of selected locations may be referenced from further sections of the article.

Map of Further locations on Google maps

The university is located right next to MTR Hung Hom Station and the Cross-Harbour Tunnel Bus interchange and the main entrance is accessed by several footbridges connecting the university campus with the station and the bus interchange.

MTR Hung Hom stations is served by the East Rail Line and West Rail Line, two mainstream suburban railway routes of the city. The bus interchange is served by virtually all buses passing through the Cross Harbour Tunnel (buses with a 1-prefix on their number, e.g 101, 104, 107, 118). Other bus routes, which call at Hung Hom Station terminus, pass within a walking distance from the university as well. Additionally Citybus Cityflyer route A21 terminates at Hung Hom MTR station. Therefore the campus is also accessible directly by airport buses.

The vehicular entrance to the university, and an alternative pedestrian entrance of the campus is located at the Austin Road junction with Cheong Wan Road right opposite to Hong Kong Museum of History. The venue is in 10 to 15 minutes walking distance from Nathan Road or Tsim Sha Tsui.