::: bisonium.com :::

Nothing can ruin a good thing more than poor planning, and unfortunately, that is exactly what happened in my case. Without going into a long rant, suffice to say that next year, I will NOT be attending Macworld with the company I currently work for, instead I will be attending on my own dime, or sponsored by IDG as a media correspondent, as I was this year. One thing I learned is that there is WAY too much baggage and expectations when a company sends you out there to "work", even though they don't pay for your admission to the conference. Here's another tip...make sure to always book your own travel (with PLENTY of advanced notice) and not count on others to make the arrangements for you. Otherwise, you end up in a middle seat for 7 hours of flight time over 2 legs with a non-upgradable ticket. Somehow, when people book travel for others, they either forget or don't care enough to think about your comfort as they would if they were booking a flight for themselves. And that was only the beginning of the nightmare portion of the trip.

So enough of the negative, lets move on to the positive. The show was...simply put, amazing. I credit IDG with really having their stuff together for this event. As with any event, there were glitches. Having more media than they anticipated caused a bit of a ruckus in the media crowd, but media really has no room to complain. Most of the media that are slamming IDG in the blogsphere are those that are kiddy sites and think they are real journalists. Instead of being grateful for being there, they have to find a way to complain about a minor glitch. It happens folks. Get over it. Otherwise, the event appeared to have gone off quite well.

I have seen more than my fair share of keynotes via the web, and somehow, it just loses something when compared to being there live. There is a level of energy and excitement that just can only be experienced by being there LIVE and in person. This keynote was just charged with excitement that has been missing for quite some time (according to previous attendees that I spoke with). I can't complain, for my first keynote in person, it was pretty insane.

The highlight for me was being able to meet the likes of Phil Schiller and Jonathan Ives. Being 2 feet from Steve Jobs, John Mayer, Al Gore and Robin Williams was quite a thrill as well.

Networking at Macworld is insane. Tip: bring business cards! Also, make sure you get in on some of the parties. Those are critical. As tired as you will be at the end of a long day, going to the parties pays off. I met some incredible people throughout the conference, which in my opinion was more valuable than anything else I could have accomplished. To meet up with people you have seen on TV or online, such as Desmond Crisis and Laura Burstein, was surreal. They are sincerely good people that I hope to stay in touch with. I would say that networking and meeting people has got to be one of the most valuable benefits of attending a show like this with so many like-minded people. One thing I would like to see at future Macworld Conferences is a job fair pavilion. This is a great opportunity to connect with potential employers in the Mac world and having a dedicated activity for that just makes sense. I can imagine it would only increase attendance (both exhibitors and attendees) for the expo by having this venue.

Then there was the show itself. Oh yeah! The actual reason for going to MWSF. :-) I was not able to attend many of the sessions I planned to attend. Part of being on a media/press pass is that you are on a space available basis for the sessions. If a session was sold out, then you must move on to something else. Luckily there are plenty of other things to keep you occupied. If you can say there is something negative about the conference, its that there is no way you can possibly attend everything you want to. There is just an awesome amount of information and activities. Most of my time was spent on the expo floor, video taping and interviewing vendors on their solutions and products for the K-20 market.

The amount of products available for the Mac these days is nothing short of astonishing. Not only can you find just about anything you are looking for, but most of the time, the quality is far superior to most of the products available on the PC side of the universe. Developers like Delicious Monster and Panic have set the bar quite high for all developers. The interesting thing is that some of the best apps I saw were developed by small, independent boutique developers with nothing more than a few people on staff. These developers are not only developing superior products for the Mac, they are leading the way for what I will believe will be the future of this platform and computing in general. The public is tired of paying for overpriced bloatware. What we want is FUNCTIONAL and QUALITY products at an AFFORDABLE price. These developers don't have the overhead of a MSFT or ADBE and can afford to put out their warez at prices we can afford. This is solid evidence that anyone with a unique idea and some decent coding skills can indeed be a dominant force in an industry dominated by software powerhouses listed on the NASDAQ. I suspect that the lack of red tape and beaurocracy within a large organization is part of the reason these small boutique developers are so successful.

So lets talk about demos. You want to learn a product really quick? Take a tour of the apps & products from folks like Apple, Adobe, Wacom, and more. There was so much training available that you could literally have a functional understanding of these products in no time. Then you have reps there to walk you through questions hands-on to boot. If you are stuck on how to accomplish something in your favorite app, odds are you can find someone to walk you through it at the show. definitely worth checking out for your favorite apps and products.

Discounts Discounts Discounts! If you are looking to upgrade or make a new purchase, this is the place to do it. Almost every vendor on the floor has some great deals that are good only at Macworld. There are also a wicked amount of resellers that are looking to clear out their inventory at the show. Tip: wait until the last day to get some really insane deals. These guys don't want to pack up and haul all that gear back home and will generally give you a great deal to get rid of their show inventory. Just make sure you have a spare bag with you, or prepare to ship your goodies home.

That pretty much wraps it up folks. It was an experience of lifetime, which I plan to make a yearly quest from now on. Start making your plans for MWSF 2006 now and book your hotel early. Most of the top hotels by the Moscone have already been booked solid for next year. I can only assume that some of those are blocks of rooms that IDG has reserved for the show. But there are plenty of other great deals to be had in San Francisco. I stayed at a small hotel off the beaten path on the 600 block of Geary St, by Union Square. It was within walking distance to the Moscone, but just barely. The weather had us taking a cab on most days. The hotel had a decent sized room (albeit it was an old hotel and not exactly up to par with a Hilton), but it was hard to beat for $66/night. There was free broadband in every room and a fairly decent cafe in the lobby with free WiFi. It's going to be a long year with some great stuff to come. I'll see you in San Francisco next year!