Hotel
The hotel we’re staying at is the Sheraton Boston Needham, 100 Cabot Street, Needham, Massachusetts, USA, 02494, +1-800-325-3535. Click here for its website or https://www.marriott.com/en-us/hotels/bossi-sheraton-boston-needham-hotel/overview/?scid=f2ae0541-1279-4f24-b197-a979c79310b0. One unusual feature of this property is that it has an indoor saltwater swimming pool. It has a restaurant that serves breakfast and dinner.
The address for the Mount Ida campus, for driving or ride sharing is, 100 Carlson Avenue, Newton, MA 02459. Drop off/pick up is “Shaw Hall.” The campus is only 3-4 miles from the hotel, but traffic can get heavy at some times of the day. Please plan accordingly.
Mount Ida Campus of University of Massachusetts
IBECC 2024 is being held at the Mount Ida campus of UMass, 100 Carlson Avenue, Newton MA 02459. Click here for a campus map. IBECC will be operating out of Shaw Hall and the School of Design (see red circles on map). For registration and presentation room assignments, go to Shaw. All presentations are in the School of Design, which is right across from Shaw.
Parking
There’s plenty of parking in front of and/or near Shaw. We’ve been asked the following by Mt Ida: “We ask that anyone from your group not to park in the Wingate parking lot (that is for our students on campus) and along the North Loop Road to the Library (that is for UMBA and the Foundation). Attendees can park in the Visitor Lot, along Shaw Road, Chapman, Tennis Courts and Malloy. There is a small lot between the Athletic Center and School of Design that can be accessed by going around on North Loop Road. It is a one way in front of School of Design, they cannot access it from Shaw Road.”
First Event
IBECC begins Wednesday evening at 7 PM in the Conference Center in Shaw Hall. We understand that travel constraints will make it impossible for some teams to attend, but we hope to see as many of you as possible.
USB Drive
Remember that you will be uploading your presentation on Thursday to a PC via a USB drive. You won’t be able to plug your laptop into the system. Friday sessions are “low tech”—no slides.
Food
IBECC is arranging for reception style food at both the Wednesday, April 17, 7 PM session and Friday, April 19, 4:30 PM sessions. Food will be available on those days at 6:30 PM and 4:30 PM, respectively, in the Conference Center (in Shaw). Your best bet, as far as food goes, is the Campus Center (#11 on the map); hours 7 AM to 8 PM. The University of Massachusetts is consistently recognized as having the best campus food service in the U.S. The quality is high, and the prices are reasonable. We have deliberately scheduled the Friday awards session early so that you can take advantage of being so close to Boston.
Public Transportation to Boston
The best way to get to Boston from Newton is via the “T” (the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority). The nearest stops are the Newton Center or Newton Highland T stops. This line of the T is the “Green line; D Riverside.” This link will take you to a map of the system. If taking an Uber/Lyft, it should be about a 10-minute ride to the T station.
Wi-Fi
There is Wi-Fi on campus, but you will likely have to go through a sign-up process. We’re working on getting the details for how to do that.
Biathlon
See the IBECC website and the video I posted for information about this optional part of the competition. If your team is interested in participating in “The World’s Most Intellectually Daunting Biathlon,” you have two options for accumulating the “number of steps accumulated during 30 minutes of running, jogging, or walking.” You can do it ahead of time, or you can do it on campus. On this campus map (click here), you’ll see two red rectangles that are available to us for specified times: Alumni Field (turf, 9 to 12 on the 18th) and Trustee Field (grass, from 9 to 3 on the 18th and 9 to noon 12 on the 19th). The perimeter of either field measures about a quarter of a mile. Either way, you will have to fill out an entry form. You can download it here and fill it out ahead of time, or you can fill it out when you’re here. Entries close at noon on Friday the 19th.
If you have any questions in the meantime, please let us know at info@ibecc.net.