Venue

This year, SIGCOMM will take place in the historic Palmer House Hilton hotel. The Palmer House Hilton is centrally located downtown Chicago, within convenient walking distance of a vast number of cultural and culinary attractions, as well as some of the world’s oldest and tallest skyscrapers. The conference reception will be held in the hotel.

Banquet Dinner

For the conference banquet, we have rented out the Shedd Aquarium, once the largest aquarium in the world, and still visited by over 2 million people annually. The Shedd aquarium is a pleasant park stroll away from the conference venue.

The walk back to the Palmer House is 32 minutes in a (hopefully) balmy summer night. The area is safe for walking, but if you’re not in the mood, the CTA buses #130 and #146 serve a direct route between the aquarium and the hotel, until 11:30 pm. Please note that bus drivers do not make change. A taxi should be around $10.

Student Dinner

Finally, the student dinner, where students get their own chance to mingle with senior researchers, will be held in the Signature Lounge, on the 95th floor of the John Hancock tower. Many feel that the Hancock tower offers views clearly superior to those from the even taller Sears/Willis tower, due to its superior location by the lake, and the Magnificent Mile.

Why not stay the weekend, or bring your family?

August is one of the best months to visit the beautiful and vibrant city of Chicago. Go for a swim at one of our long sandy beaches, tour some of the city’s famous architecture, sample some of our many world-class restaurants, go shopping at every budget, where Filene’s Basement and Prada are within short walking distance of each other, or take a pub-crawl between hip bars and micro-breweries in one of Chicago’s trendy neighborhoods.

Finally, your kids will love the Chicago Air and Water show which takes place the weekend before the conference (Aug 16-17), featuring the Navy’s Blue Angels fighter aircraft, and countless other air and water spectacles.

Come for SIGCOMM, stay for the city!

Child Care

This year’s SIGCOMM conference in Chicago will be the first to offer subsidized on-site childcare to attendees who want to bring their kids. We have contracted with KiddieCorp, a service that other SIGs have used for childcare, with great feedback. Please see SIGCOMM Kiddie for details and to register.