Business groups and organizations such as the Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival (VPIWF) must now pay about $4,000 if they want to use interactive technology during meetings at Simon Fraser University’s Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue.
SFU used to charge about $2,200 per use when organizations wanted to use voting technology in its iconic circular room. But a newer, more expensive technology must now be rented on a per-use basis.
“The old technology has become obsolete,” said Wosk Centre director Linda Hewitt. “The buttons at each desk still work. The problem is with the computer interface – tabulating the data created when people push the buttons so it can be displayed immediately.”
Hewitt said companies that need to use a voting system during meetings in the room now pay the university to rent a new system that will equip all participants with mobile devices.
Philanthropist Morris Wosk donated $3 million in 1999 to help build the centre in an historic bank building that Allied Holdings had donated to the university.
The Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform met at the centre before it made recommendations for a 2005 referendum on a single transferable voting system for B.C.
The room is also used by the VPIWF for its annual wine symposium, where industry insiders provide thoughts on trends within the wine industry.
Glen Korstrom
Twitter: @GlenKorstrom