Macworld Bound

Ok. I’m going to rent a van on January 5th (Monday). We’ll all meet at Moscone South at 10AM and drive down to Cupertino. Take some photos in front of the Apple campus, spend way too much money at the company store and then have lunch at BJs on campus.

I’ll need a bit of cash from each person for gas and cost of rental and it’ll be capped at maybe 6-8 people. Let me know if you’re interested below and I’ll have to get payment in advance in case someone just decides not to go. Thanks.

I just received a message from IDG that they’ve released an interactive brochure to help attendees get the most from expo. The system allows you to browse exhibitors, conference hours, prices and tracks. It’s a very informative 15 page boket.

I figure that it’ll be enjoyed by others too. Check it out!

IDG’s big base which has been named, “Macworld Blast” just received a few more details. Last year, the event was held at The Warfield. A tenderloin classic hall where the greats have performed. Unfortunately, that neigborhood and venue has become a bad part of town and it sparked a lot of complaints after last year’s concert where Devo peformed.

It looks like IDG is doing a complete 180 and booking at 888 Branan which is known as The Giftcenter Pavillion. The pavillion appears to be more affordable, is in a slightly better neigborhood but it looks to be quite a walk from Moscone. Last year’s venue was quite a walk as well so I’m sure no one will complain. Still no word on who’s performing this year.

Every year, I rely on The Hess List for info on all Macworld parties. I love Ilene’s contribution to the Mac community and to Macworld. Her decade long list has been valuable for all visitors to the conference but this is the year for change and I’m going to directly compete with it. Apologies to Ilene and her list will continue to be a value to all attendees but mine will have a different focus.

The Hess List has always posted every single event. It is home to every User Group (MUG) presentation, press presentation and meetup that relates to Macworld. There were about 20-40 events per day and even I was confused while scanning her events list. The list is still great but it’s scalability and value to me has been dropping. This is why I’m partnering up with Social Calendario to cover parties place during Macworld Expo that I will be attending.

A disclaimer, I operate Social Calendario. I maintain it and it is home to dozens of events every week that take place here in San Francisco. I’m changing the logo and clearing the events list for Macworld Expo so MWSF attendees know exactly what’s going on from 6AM to midnight. I hope you’ll bookmark the site and subscribe to the iCal feed because it’s going to be a great party list for Macworld attendees!

http://socialcalendario.com

I’ve been covering Macworld in some way since 2003. A lot has changed since then. Apple has stopped broadcasting the keynotes live, dozens of blogs are covering the event, media badges have gotten harder to obtain and technology for getting updates to the web fast has gotten more accessible. Let’s review one of the primary challenges to covering Macworld 2009; time. Time is keeping me from really acing this year’s coverage. Last night, I sat up all night trying to put things together and realized at one point that this year’s coverage is going to be bad. I’ve got some stiff competition this time around.

The past few years, my job was a lot easier and I was able to dedicate a lot of time to MacworldBound, my Macworld events and coverage. This year, my move to San Francisco seems to be putting a damper on this planning. Actually, I was excited about the move here because I would be able to get more done and plan some cool parties but the SF lifestyle has made it more difficult. There will be coverage, events and MacworldBound articles just less than you’re used to. I feel like the “best of” tag on this blog answers nearly every Macworld question that you may have and I’ve posted quite a bit in the past 3 months that will help many first time Macworld visitors get started. I’m still completely happy to answer Macworld questions over email so keep them coming.

Here are some updates for those of you following along with my efforts to make Macworld awesome for first time and veteran attendees.

1. The Macworld party on Wednesday, at this time, is cancelled. The economic situation has made it incredibly difficult to secure sponsorships. I’ve hosted 20 events (large and small) in the bay area in the past 6 years and I’ve never had an issue securing a single sponsor. The company I work for by day is trying to plan a holiday party with other startups and having issues so I know it’s not just me.
2. I will either have to split the city tour of San Francisco into 2 tours or simply shave off some people that are coming. I haven’t decided yet.
3. The other events are still going as planned. You can RSVP to all of the events here.
4. I planned on doing some live coverage via webcam like Macworld 2008 but the investment price of notebooks and wireless cards is going to hinder that since I haven’t successfully gotten any large sponsors for our Macworld coverage (similar to the 1st line regarding a party)
5. Daily podcasts were on the ticket but due to the recent closure of my friend’s podcasting studio, that is also out.
6. Daily wrap-ups, sure but I’ll let you know when I find the time to do that.
7. Liveblogging the keynote. Nah. If someone wants to go keynote and liveblog it let me know but I have no interest in attending the stevenote this year. I’ll wait in line with everyone and then go to work. It doesn’t have the same excitement as it did 7 years ago.

This year, I’ll hit the show floor to talk with friends that I know from Macworld past, attend Macworld parties and help promote them on MacworldBound and I’ll post some thoughts on Apple’s announcements over at DailyTechTalk. This Macworld Alumni doesn’t have the interest that he once did, or the time and funding to really make the coverage a reality. There are tons of talented bloggers and large scale news organizations who rock at covering Macworld and at 22 years old, I’ve already been doing this since 2003 and I’m tired but I’ll be doing my best to help first timers connect and have an enjoyable experience at the largest Mac gathering in the world.

Our friend Dizzle has created a MacworldBound Group on MyAppleSpace.

Join today

Last year, I was posting 2-5 new articles a day to Macworld Bound. I don’t have to do that this year because all of the tips and tricks for new Macworld attendees has already been written. Check out the Best Of tagged posts for all of the Macworld Tips

Best of Macworld Bound

Interesting in getting cool Macworld C&E Updates? Check out Macworld on Twitter!

Macworld Conference & Expo is a huge conference and there’s no reason that it shouldn’t be the number 1 event in San Francisco!

The number 1 event Web 2.0 Summit has 297 people RSVPed. Macworld Expo 2009 has 238 people RSVPed. That’s so close and we need to make this the number one event.

Help me by SIGNING UP and RSVPing HERE and let’s mac Macworld 2009 #1

This post comes courtesy of Tara W on IDG’s NING forums.

Tara Writes:

14: See, visit, talk with over 500 Exhibitors
13: Be part of the studio audience as a podcast is recorded live
12: View demonstrations on how to bring your music to life at the Macworld Music Studio
11: Get hands-on instruction from professional photographers at the Digital Photography Experience
10: Learn tips & tricks at the Mac Learning Center
9: Step onto the legendary John Lennon Educational Tour Bus
8: View extraordinary Digital Art on display at the Digital Art Gallery
7: Blog, Blog, Blog in the bloggers lounge
6: Be entertained by the Little Kids Rock program
5: Get advice from the Apple Consultants
4: Hear performances by the Berklee School of Music
3: Let the First Looks program guide you to the new products being introduced at Macworld
2: Play with the latest equipment, hardware, software and more.
1: Be part of the largest most exciting Mac event!

Thanks Tara. Macworld Expo is approaching fast!