Going to BIO? Top 5 Things to Do While You’re in San Francisco
The BIO International Convention brings together more 15,000 biotechnology and pharma leaders for several days of intensive networking to discover new opportunities and promising partnerships. The event covers a wide spectrum of life science and application areas, including drug discovery, biomanufacturing, genomics, biofuels, nanotechnology and cell therapy.
BIO takes place this year at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, June 6 – 9. In this video, we asked life science industry experts to share their favorite spots to visit in the City by the Bay.
Video transcription
If you’re looking for something fun to do during the 2016 BIO International Convention, we’ve got you covered. From finding the finest beer in town to visiting the cultural center of the city, here are the top five attractions you should check out.
-
POPOs
When I get to the city, I really like to enjoy POPOs, or “privately owned public open spaces.” They’re little roof gardens, terraces, and plazas set aside from the hustle and bustle of everything going on in the city. A little private place to get away for a quick meeting. Or just a respite during the day. There’s several of them near Moscone and near conference hotels. You can find out where they are. There’s a nice map by just searching Google for “POPOs San Francisco” and there are bound to be some within short walking distance.
-Michael Fitzhugh @mfitz of BioWorld Today -
City Hall
My favorite spot in San Francisco is City Hall. It’s just a really beautiful building you can walk through during the day. I also love the building that’s behind City Hall. It’s the War Memorial Opera House where you can watch the San Francisco Opera and San Francisco Ballet perform. It’s really what I consider the cultural center of the city.
-Jennifer Chang @jenchang1 of Bayer -
The Bay
One of my favorite things to do in San Francisco is to just swim in the bay! And yes, the water is cold. It’s about 58 degrees right now—but, after you swim in that cold water you get out, you walk across the Aquatic Park to the Buena Vista Cafe. And enjoy an Irish coffee. And that’s something everyone can participate in.
-Andrea Vuturo @andreavuturo of Chempetitive Group -
Press Club
One of my favorite spots is just around the corner from the Moscone Center, called the Press Club where you can get the finest beer in town. I like the Knee Deep Brewing Company’s Imperial IPA which packs a punch at 11% alcohol. If you’re more advanced than me, maybe you’ll go for Anderson Valley Brewery’s Wild Turkey Bourbon Barrel Stout. It’s called the Press Club. Everyone’s welcome.
-Theral Timpson @therealtweet of Mendelspod -
Embarcadero
If you’re new to San Francisco or perhaps visiting for the 100th time, I wanted to offer up one of my favorite places and things to do in San Francisco, which is to go out for a run along the Embarcadero. If you’re not familiar with it, the Embarcadero is about a 6-mile roundtrip stretch between AT&T park near Bay Bridge and Maritime Park closer to Ghiradelli. It’s a nice, wide sidewalk that hugs the bayfront. It offers a lot of great views of the city, great views of the bay as well, so my recommendation would be to lace up and try to get out for an early morning run. Perhaps catch the sunrise before heading off to the convention a little bit later. If you do, perhaps I will see you out there. And if I don’t, I will hopefully see you during the convention. Welcome to San Francisco and hope you have a great convention week.
-Erik Clausen @EClausen of Chempetitive Group
If you’re at the BIO and want to say hello, send us a direct message on Twitter at @chempetitive. Good luck and have a great time!