While we love the annual meeting of Mac users in San Francisco, we can't help but notice the mummers from attendees and exhibitors that this may be the last Macworld Expo.
That makes us sad pandas.
We have our ideas on how to keep the Expo alive, but most of them involve carnival rides and strobe lights. We've also discussed elephants, not to ride, but to test iPad cases with. Elephants are great at reviewing products.
While our ideas are fantastic we'd rather hear your ideas to about how to save the annual Expo. Drop your ideas in the comments below and we'll form an imaginary mega-expo from our favorite ideas.
There is one rule: You can't say, "Bring Apple back."
Follow Robbie's Macworld Expo 2011 adventure on Twitter.
SteveMinne
January 28, 2011 at 12:13pm
This is easy- make MacWorld about Macs again! It's too much about iPhone and iPad accessories and gaming right now. Bring back all the third-party MAC hardware and software vendors.
BenPanced
March 20, 2011 at 2:21pm
This^10. I went last year and was sorely disappointed by the lack of Mac-related material. Sure, I went to a couple panels on music (one I had to leave early because the sound was too loud) but it was all about iPhone at the time. If I'd known how much wasn't going to be there, I'd have saved my time and seen more of San Francisco.
Curmudgeon
January 28, 2011 at 9:56am
Note: My previous comment should not be construed to mean they don't need Tilt-A-Whirl. I mean, duh.
@thebreen
Curmudgeon
January 28, 2011 at 9:54am
To survive, the Macworld Expo team needs to answer the question, "what would make people buy a plane ticket* to get here" for a sufficient number of people. The answer must include something—some experience—that's not possible or not good enough over the Internet. That comes down to personal interaction.
Panel discussions and pundit showdowns are great, but those are also streamed online. Perhaps a forum where well-known Apple pundits answer questions from a live audience would help. The "Birds of a Feather" forums ("fora?") are also great, but are ad hoc and not well publicized. And the pricing on the conference packages can be expensive for someone who's not on an expense account.
But the place where the Macworld Expo really shines is in the people you meet and the discussions you have. It's tough to explain to someone who hasn't been how useful and interesting those can be but as a 15-year veteran I definitely recommend the experience.
@thebreen
*If the Expo is compelling enough for distant travelers the local folks will take care of themselves. If not, there aren't enough local folks to sustain it.
iMac.27
January 27, 2011 at 6:13pm
Being "new to the Mac "world" (just switched to mac in last few months), maybe I don't really understand MacWorld expo as well as some that have actually been there.
However, I have been reading, Macworld expo 2011, January! ..
Maybe I don't "get it" but I am thinking, Apple hasn't released Anything new in months, other than the Mac app store. Apple Never gives any "secret Sauce" ahead of time. What are they going to have at this Expo?To make it better, maybe get with Apple and try to schedule this event right after a Major product release/update?
Expo starts today but nothing special is going on with Apple, other than VZW iPhone release.
Schedule this Expo in May/June/July to show Macbook, iMac, or iPhone updates?If this years would have been scheduled in July, there "could have been" the newest Macbooks and iMacs ( rumored to be updating soon), maybe the iPhone 5 and OS-X Lion.
Just my 2 cents, but what do i Know?
Ben
January 27, 2011 at 6:49pm
Just go search YouTube for "Macworld 2003" or "Macworld 2007" and you'll understand.
I've never been [due to where I'm located], but I did watch the streams they set up after the fact.
