If your party spills out onto the street, it's officially a win
In this age of instant communication, much of the value of a trade show or exposition isn't being made aware of new products, or sitting in the audience to watch a keynote, or listening to a press release being read to you; you can get all that information quickly online, and without the cost of a flight or a hotel. The value of trade shows and expositions is in the time you spend between sessions, meeting people, making new friends and contacts.
I am, of course, talking about parties.
To really kick it up a notch [bam] you need to add to your already impressive roster of parties, Macworld Expo. Keep people dancing and drinking and crunking until they can't find their press credentials. Because while parties get people to show up, great parties, with the massive hangovers that accompany them, get people to sit through sales pitches they'd normally avoid like the plague. Because it hurts too much to move.
Adult Entertainment, you know, like the Mentalist
We can all agree that an expo dedicated exclusively to Apple is inherently better than CES, but the distinguished competition does get bonus points for being held concurrently with the Adult Expo. Slipping out of the main CES halls to check out what's new in the world of adult entertainment is the less-than-secret secret of the entire event, and a rite of passage for everyone who attends. Let's face it: it probably convinces more than a few journalists to head to CES itself. Get an Adult Expo to be held alongside Macworld Expo, and this contest will be absolutely over.
If an Adult expo doesn't seem a fit for Macworld Expo, or isn't being held, I'm sure there are all sorts of great expos that could give everyone's travel expenses more bang for their buck: perhaps a really kick-ass green living show, or something focused on Tofu? FreeMassageAndCookiesCon? It doesn't even have to be a real event; Macworld can hold it themselves, as an adjunct to the main show.
The possibilities are endless!
Apple has crossed into the mainstream, and so should Macworld Expo. How do they do that? It's not the easiest problem, but I think it is solvable.
First, there needs to be less fanaticism: yes, we know how much you love your Mac, but when you show off your third Apple logo tattoo while gushing about how many iPads you own, people get turned off.
Second, there needs to be less elitism surrounding Apple's "core users." That worked when Apple's survival rested on the devotion of a small number of users, but Apple's gone big time, baby; they're out selling their products to normal people, the kind who love all the crap coming out of CES, and the people who want USB cell phone warmers aren't the ones who'll sit and obsess over the border width in that new icon in the preferences pane in Apple Mail.
Make Macworld Expo something that doesn't seem like something you need to already be in love with Apple to appreciate, and more people will come. Finding more attendees shouldn't be hard, as it's already held in the most populous -- and hipster-heavy -- state in the union.
This goes contrary to my last point, so it's something of an either of proposition, but bear with me: if accessibility is something that Macworld Expo won't do, then they can go the other way, running full-force into hyper-elitism. Make the expo more like TED: make people have to apply to attend, and when they do, charge them a ridiculous entry fee. Make the event smaller, make it ritzier, make it something people will have to wait in line for months for the chance to attend.
This route leads to a smaller expo, certainly, but since when have Mac fans required anything they're interested in to be the market leader? Exactly. They haven't (unless it's become popular, in which case that's the thing they're interested in. So either approach, if done correctly, would work just fine).
Turn Macworld Expo into a mysterious, limited-capacity mystery show in a secret location, and you'll be the talk of internet; you know you want to.
Sinbad's cool, but imagine Sinbad and Lady Gaga. Yeah, on stage together. Awesome!
Look, we all love Sinbad; A Different World was a wonderful show and Good Burger was, you'll agree, a masterpiece. But as great as he is, by himself, he doesn't exactly scream star power, does he?
No, he does not.
Why can't Macworld Expo get more stars to attend? It's an expo dedicated to the most beautiful hardware and software on the planet; it should be an easy sell. Celebs should be knocking down their door to get in.
Compare Sinbad and a couple very niche -- but undeniably cool -- celebs to CES' line-up this year, which included 50 Cent, Adrian Grenier and Olivia Wilde.
Why does CES get a hawt CGI chick and a rapper while Macworld Expo gets an old pirate? It doesn't make any sense!
Look, I like Sinbad. He's a fun guy. He made me laugh when he told that joke that one time. But we all know that celebrity appearances make or break a trade show; do you really think that just one comedian is going to get this party started right?
Have your own ideas on how to the Macworld Expo better? Drop them in the comments below.
Follow this article's author, Brian Hogg on Twitter.
