MacWorld Expo Boston
I spent some time both Wednesday and Thursday at MacWorld. Although some aspects of it were disappointing, it was on the whole a satisfying time.
As always, the crowds of Mac fans were excited and passionate. I've always enjoyed mingling with the faithful at these events. As a Mac fan we spend a lot of our time explaining ourselves. But at MacWorld you are surrounded by people who all "get it".
The exhibit floor was pretty small. This is the first MWE I've attended in many years. Some BMAC friends confirm that even the recent year's Expos in SF and NYC had show floors that were 4-6 times the size if this one in Boston. It was pretty small. A lot of this is probably due to Apple's notorious decision to not exhibit at this show.
And although the exhibitors in attendance had some very interesting products, there was an absence of the little, cool things, created by small teams of developers. There were no surprises.
But, the conference program seemed to be where the action was. I attended a few of these and they were fun and informative. I'll post separately my notes on these. But in retrospect I wish I had pulled some strings and gotten an admission with access to more of the sessions.
There were three tiers of sessions.
About a dozen sessions that were no-extra-charge with the exhibits admission. Then a Users Conference with the bulk of the sessions. And finally a Power Users Conference with a few, longer-form, advanced sessions. An Exhibits badge had a face-value of $35 but it was very easy to find free passes for this. The Users Conference cost $300 and the Power Users was $1200.
The energy level on the show floor, in the corridors, and in the sessions I attended was everything I've come to expect from this Mac audience. It's left me energized to continue getting more involved in the community, inspired me to pursue some new projects, and made me set the goal of attending the Big Show next January in San Francisco.
Posted by jackhodgson at July 15, 2004 06:00 PM