[SlotcarBob]

Oh, yeah, and move it to October.

[RunNGunVideo]

Or...
MacWorld has a huge focus on new technologies. Why not add more focus on how these technologies are used to create content. Someone mentioned previously about having artists come in, and why not open it up to a topical keynote each morning to start the show. Monday could be open, with Tuesday, Wed, and Thurs, with their own theme, close it out Thursday night with a concert. I've seen a few famous faces on the floor at MW and after talking to a few, I'm sure they would love to participate. Maybe get a talk show personality to do a live show from the floor of MacWorld. Mac's are used in a lot of great scientific applications besides the arts and pixel pushing fields. Show off how they are making an impact in the real world.

[AKJoseph]

Big expos are fun for those attending, informative, take a big block of time and cost a lot of money unless you happen to live very close. How about a Macworld Expo lasting two weeks purely on a website? Live streaming video with more downloadable videos. Take the need to be there out of the equation, and the need to be at a specific time. But, the catch is it lasts only two weeks. And charge. Charge $20 which would give you full access plus free downloads of software, etc. Keeping it live for only two weeks keeps the pressure on, the excitement. Vendors could have links, free-bees, etc. Lastly, it could happen twice a year. If a vendor misses the one year event by days or weeks they have to wait a year. That’s a bit antiquated! So, make it hot, now and universal. And for an extra $30 you get everything sent to you on DVDs. Twice a year!
Joseph

[web]

Frankly Jason, I don't think it will make that much difference if Apple isn't there. I've gone to several Macworld Expos, and I didn't spend very much time in the Apple booth. Yes, the Jobsian Keynote was always fun, but its absence will not be a show stopper. As long as the rest of the expo going crowd don't over-respond (emotionally) and stop going, it should be fine. If there's a general panic that the sky will fall if Apple isn't there, then it may well be a self-fulfilling prophesy. I think the future success, or lack thereof, of the expo will depend almost entirely on the way people react to the change. If everyone carries on as they always have, then it's going to be fine. If they react like the do on the stock market, it's going to be a bust.
I'm not sure that Macworld Expo needs to do much of anything in the face of Apple's departure. Maybe supply some kind of speaker to kick the thing off, but there should be no shortage of Mac people to do that. Apart from that the agenda looks pretty solid as it stands. I'd still go, but for the whole border crossing irritation for those carrying laptops, iPod Touches, etc.
- web

[webraider]

I would second the suggestion of possibly changing the date. The Summer would be really ideal, however, it could also work in September before Christmas. What you may want to do as cliché as it sounds, is to do a survey this year at the expo. Don't just survey attendess although that's your primary target, survey they companies expoing as well. They have a very good idea of what their customers want and I would think that Attendees would be more than honest to let you know what would bring them back whether it be specific classes with certain software, or Certain companies in attendance (other than Apple).

[alansky]

What should MacWorld Expo do next? Pack up their tents and go home? Big, noisy trade shows never were the best place to attend conferences. All the non-stop activity makes your head swim, and many presenters are really hyping products rather than giving content-rich presentations. This aspect of the trade show experience has always been like this.
Personally, my favorite Expo activities have always been: (1) seeing new Apple products and (2) talking to other vendors about their products. Since Apple and Adobe have dropped out, with other big players sure to follow, there really isn't much reason to keep attending the show. I'll be there this year, but next year... probably not.

[jpellino]

Fold. These things are a holdover to the pre-web years.

[wardoggie]

I don't think it should be online-only, but it's a step in the right direction. I'd suggest making the event a combination of real and virtual. Downsize to a more affordable location (Cow Palace? San Jose Convention Center?) to accommodate all of the classes and lectures (the "conference" side of Macworld Conference & Expo) as well as looky-loos like me who just love to wander the aisles and gawk at the new stuff. Then upgrade the network infrastructure to allow booths to hold virtual, interactive demonstrations via WebEx or similar conferencing technology. Every iMac and MacBook has a web cam, microphone and speakers, right? So it would be relatively easy to broadcast from each booth as long as the network could hold up. That way, they could help developers reach a wider audience, which would attract more developers and help fill the void left by Apple, Adobe, etc. and make the expo side of the event more interesting. Personally, I make a point of visiting the smaller booths at MWSF; they usually have the most interesting stuff! Moving to a more retail-friendly date (someone mentioned September?) would be also wise IMO.

[wardoggie]

alansky said:

[snip] Personally, my favorite Expo activities have always been: (1) seeing new Apple products and (2) talking to other vendors about their products. Since Apple and Adobe have dropped out, with other big players sure to follow, there really isn't much reason to keep attending the show. I'll be there this year, but next year... probably not.

What about the little guys? Just last year, my friend bought an Otter Box case for his iPhone at MWSF. Why? Because as we were walking past their booth, one of the guys threw an iPhone at our feet, then walked over, picked it up and showed us that it was still working because it was in an Otter Box. You don't get demonstrations with that kind of impact (no pun intended) on YouTube.

[CVBruce]

One thing I didn't see mentioned is that I think MW should become a traveling show. Don't hold in SF every year. Give the folks in other parts of the country a chance to attend.

[jscaff]

As other posters and pundits have said, trade shows are dinosaurs. But as we all know, not all dinosaurs went extinct. Those that adapted and evolved survive today as birds. So trade shows must either evolve or go extinct.

I think MacWorld should evolve into a city-wide series of events that is more like a biennale than an industry trade show. Certainly it is useful for third-party vendors to get together and show off their stuff, but the old model of huge trade show floors and expensive booths is economically unviable, especially for small companies. MacWorld should scale back its presence at Moscone Center, and maybe even abandon the venue altogether.

The main events of MacWorld should instead be performances and exhibitions at different venues around San Francisco. Maybe music performances paired with workshops by musicians who use Macs (everything from GarageBand to Logic Pro). Exhibitions of digital design and art paired with workshops by Mac designers and artists, and held at art galleries. Mac business workshops and meetings held at cafes or hotel conference rooms by Mac businesses FOR Mac businesses, where specific vendors can show their products to a highly targeted audience. A Made-On-Mac movie festival held at movie theaters where both amateur and professional filmmakers, vendors and the public can meet. There could be special events, like an iMovie film competition, a performance of the best GarageBand compositions, etc. How about a 48-hour movie competition where participants have 48 hours to make short movies using small camcorders and macbooks. How about educational workshops for teachers held in the auditorium of a local high school. How about a Mac game tournament co-sponsored by Starbucks with Mac game stations wired up in Starbucks cafes all across the city. How about a virtual exhibition of iPhone and iPod Touch apps held across the entire city.

The digital world is wired and wireless, physically spread out and electronically connected. MacWorld can blow itself up, spread its DNA across the Bay area, and reflect the new digital reality. It used to be a T-Rex, but the world has changed and now its time to evolve into a flock of ravens.

[neutrino23]

MWSF should become a strong user conference to counterbalance the developer conference held in June.

Currently the user conferences, maclabs and such are nice but need to be more focussed on the end use, not on the tools.

Some are OK now. There is a two day PowerTools session titled "Teleworking 2009: A Technical Guide to Being & Managing a Remote Workstaff". However, the other two PowerTools sessions are:
Introduction to Final Cut Studio
Getting the Most Out of Office 2008 for Mac

Similarly, of the five MacLabs four mention the title of a specific Apple application and one is an actual end use; wireless networking.

It is OK to mention the name of the applications in the summary, but the title should be about what we are going to do with the application.

The reason for this is that corporations encourage continuing education by their employees. However, a manager, especially a windows using manager, will look askance at a class that purports to teach an application (iWorks, iLife, InDesign, Photoshop). What they want to see is what this does for the company. So the labs and workshops should have titles emphasize skills like this:
Page layout for the part time designer (aka iWork )
Improve the Effectiveness of Your Presentations ( combination of speaking tips, organizing ideas and Keynote)
Effective communication through Photography ( iPhoto, Aperture )
How to communicate with customers with short videos (aka iMovie, FCP, iWork )
How to more effectively communicate with customers in print and online. ( iPhoto, Aperture, iWork)
How to give effective remote presentations ( Keynote, iChat, Numbers, Pages )
Effective remote collaboration (saves having to travel as often )
Organize your digital life and save time ( general skills, database)
Improve your writing skills ( grammar and style )
Improve your public speaking ( public speaking skills )

Provide sessions like this and my company would pay for my attendance at MWSF. As it is I pay for it out of my own pocket and take vacation time to go there. Just today I got an email outlining one of my goals for the year is to take one professional development course.

In other words, don't just present a session that walks through the features of an application. Teach some skills related to the use of the application.

Several times in recent years David Pogue has presented very popular session on making an iMovie. He doesn't stand up there and walk us through the menus. He actually makes a movie. This is far more instructive and useful.

Another successful example is the photography session on friday where you interact with professional photographers. This is very well attended.

A related success (outside of MWSF) is the one day course conducted by Edward Tufte on Data Presentation. This costs $380 for a full day course. When he comes to San Francisco it is given twice and I'd guess he gets around 2,000 to 3,000 attendees. My company paid for me to attend (and I got a lot out of it) as it was targeted at a skill I could take back to my job.

I also suggest that the Maclabs be longer. A half day is too short. As with the Tufte course they should be one day. David Pogue ( or another instructor) could easily do a one day session on making videos which would include the use of iMovie or FCP but also talk about how you communicate in a five or ten minute video. How you organize your ideas for effective communication. The MacLab I attended with Hanaan Rosenthal on AppleScript was fantastic but too rushed.

Another suggestion is that IDG invite colleges and universities to team up with them. Perhaps University of Phoenix or some of the colleges and universities (or private schools like Lynda and Xtrain) would want to offer one day courses as samplers for the full semester courses they offer. Perhaps Canon, Nikon and Kodak would support hands-on photography classes. Maybe EPSON and others could sponsor printing classes.

If there were enough useful courses this could easily justify a trip to SF as a way to advance my career.

How about adding a one day session on Friday for users to give short, five minute presentations about what they do with their Macs? It could be broken up into categories (Keynote, Pages, Garageband, iMovie, FCP) as well as some generic sessions where people use a blend of applications. It is always stimulating to hear what other people are doing and finding successful. It would be interesting even to see the different styles people use, even with the same tools.

In summary, the strong draw of MWSF should be the educational opportunity it presents. At every other conference I attend the main draw is the professional program and the commercial exhibits piggyback on them. Make MWSF a really valuable event to attend because of the courses and that will draw enough attendees to support the exhibitors.

[cycomachead]

Personally, I think it would be smarter to do this after the expo, but I'll share my thoughts.
Focusing on the community is the huge aspect many have talked about. I think you should sponsor things like the mac mingle and other events to encourage people to participate in other things. Also, I think it will require a lot of business restructuring. People want to see the little guys and to do that, booth costs would need to be lowered, which would also be hard since you're losing a lot of revenue from Apple and the Jobs keynote. I don't know how to solve the problem...but I think you guys can. I mean I really want to make it to a macworld! :)

[luckylindy]

Two, two, two conferences in one: 1) an in-person conference in SF just as it is today and 2) a virtual conference for those of us who cannot attend due to time, schedule or cost. Here is the vehicle to do it: http://www.unisfair.com/ You can have webcasts (of the keynote, among other things), learning sessions, networking...the works. Our company is considering using this for college recruiting. try the demo; very cool. I do not work or have investments in this company; I just think it's time to bring conferences into the 21st century.