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Macworld Expo Guide

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A Guide to Hotels, Parties, and People at this years Macword Expo at the Moscone Center, San Francisco.

I have attended the last two Macword Expos in 2008 and 2009. Here is some good information about the upcoming conference in Feb 2010. This 2010 conference will be the first not featuring Apple. I has also been moved to a later date in the year, presumably not to conflict with the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) that previous Macwords had done.

Parties

Network with great people.

Macworld is known for its parties in the evening, many of them private. Some of them that stand out are listed here. The Macworld Blast is the main party for the conference and open to everyone who attends. The Musical Guest is Devo. More complete lists are the Hess web page or Upcoming listed below.
  • Macworld Blast
  • YML Rocks Expo Party
  • DailyTechTalk's open Macworld Party
  • Final Cut Pro User Group Network Supermeet
  • Macworld Expo Annual City Tour
  • Macworld Pre-Keynote Group meetup
  • Cirque du Mac Party
  • Pownce Pre-Launch Party
  • Macworld Expo Cocktail Party
  • 2008 Mac Podcaster Meetup at Macworld
  • Ars Technica & Gizmodo Macworld Party

Camping out to get into the Keynote on Tuesday.

This may be your hardest task.

Adam Jackson recommends meeting at the Apple store at 0400 and waiting in line as a group. Even if you have a platinum or super pass, get in line by 0500 or you might not get a seat. Keynote is held in Moscone West. This is really an odd sort of party & networking gathering so don't expect to just be listening to your iPod by yourself for a few hours.

See what the area looks like.

Use Microsoft live and Google Streets.

I just think it is amazing to see Ariel views of the Moscone Center and surrounding area. This give you a chance to get an idea of how densely built up the area is. Google street view shows what your walk will look like. Great.

Use twitter to follow what is happening at the expo in real time

A lot of the attendees to Macworld Expo will be using twitter with a hash tag to identify their tweet message as related to the conference. You can find out about meetups and other great information. A hash tag on twitter is a "#" character with letter and numbers immediately following it. Usually an official hash tag is announced a few days before the expo. Past hash tags have been #mwe or #mwe09 so look for something like this. There is usually a twitter meetup sometime during the conference.

Hotels

Some walking required.

Many of the very close hotels such as the JW Marriot have sold out way back in October. Here is a list of standout hotels in the area.
  • Hilton: large city block hotel. 10 min walk.
  • Parc 55: near Bart station. 10 min walk also.
  • JW Marriot: The hotel almost next to the Moscone Center
  • The Pickwick: Close hotel recommended by "Your Mac Life."
  • Adelaide Hostel: Strongly recommended by Adam Jackson.

Paul Kent, IDG World Expo's Vice President

"The man responsible for your personal happiness"

Paul Kent has run Macworld Expo for several years and has done many recent interviews about the expo in podcasts especially "Your Mac Life" and "iProng." He stands out here as an organizer for his wonderful dedication and hard work over the years and has great admiration in the Apple community.

Links to websites with my commentary.

Relevent Macworld Expo links in one place.

Macworld Bound
Good Blog from an experienced Macworld Expo attendee Adam Jackson with lots of great tips. A real "beacon" of info for the new attendee.
Macworld Expo Ning Community
A first for this year. A social network has been setup by the Expo organizers. A huge number of people have signed up and are very active.
Macworld Encore
Some videos of the previous sessions at Macworld Expo. Simply great.
Hess Memorial Macworld Expo Events List
Mainly a master list of parties during Macworld Expo. Named in memory of Robert Hess, a talented member of the mac community who passed away in 1996.
Yahoo Upcoming macworld
A good list of parties and events. Create a login if you don't already have one and RSVP to some of the events listed here.
Your Mac Life Podcast
Shawn and Lesa King stand out with lot of great discussions about Macworld Expo during their weekly podcast.
Trip Advisor
A great source of info about the hotels and surrounding area near the Moscone center. There are hundreds of good posts by people who have stayed in the area. Has a social networking nature to it and is very active.
iProng Podcast
A podcast that focuses on Podcamp meetups has good discussions about Macworld Expo.
Daily Tech Talk
Adam Jackson's main website in addition to his Macworldbound site covers the Expo.
Mac User's "MacworldEats" Blog Post
Where to Eat at Macworld Expo. An downloadable iPod-based field guide of eateries close to Moscone Center.

Flickr Photos from the Previous Macworld

Add to the Macworld Expo 2008 flickr pool.

Looking at the previous 2007 expo flickr pool gives you an idea what to expect.
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The Post Macworld Sickness.

You may have to plan for this.

There has been some discussion about a large percentage of people attending such a large gathering picking up colds after going to the Expo. There are some suggestions to carry and use antibacterial wipes and to drink a good deal of water to keep hydrated.

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jamesguske

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