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The Future of Macworld Expo, Exhibitors Approached by CES

I'm not in favor of moving Macworld to CES. As others have stated, CES is closed to the public, whereas Macworld has always been available to the public. With Apple no longer a part of Macworld, I understand the fears and well-founded talk that this could be the end of Macworld. However, instead of the negativity, I think if everyone would "think different," I believe that Macworld could survive and thrive in the future.


1. Try to bring in big name speakers: the David Pogue suggestion is a wonderful idea. There are many others that can be added to the list.

2. Move even more towards a more community based show. Besides the Steve-note, this is the other big reason why people love and go to Macworld year after year.


w00master
 
arn said:
There's certainly a fun community feel to Macworld that might not translate to CES. Also, having actual mac fans and users attending is a large portion. I mean, having a MacRumors meetup or other website meetup just isn't going to easily happy at CES.

I'm hoping they can pull off MWSF 2010. I'll attend if it happens.

Think leveraging Mac-community celebrities is the way to go. Pogue, Gruber. Basically anyone in the Mac community that has a following. In some ways, it could be a great show, though will certainly be different than it currently is.

arn
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You should do something there Arn!
 
I hope MacWorld survives

I've only been to one MacWorld show and I agree that the Apple announcements were only one piece of a very fun event. I'd like to believe that the Mac community, vendors and public, is strong enough to keep the show alive, especially now that the Mac is more popular than ever.
 
me_94501 said:
I think it's important to reiterate that CES is not open to the general public like Macworld is. You need to work in the consumer electronics industry or be a journalist to attend. For that very reason I hope that MWSF can survive.
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Thanks for that info...

w00master said:
1. Try to bring in big name speakers: the David Pogue suggestion is a wonderful idea. There are many others that can be added to the list. 2. Move even more towards a more community based show. Besides the Steve-note, this is the other big reason why people love and go to Macworld year after year. w00master
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Agreed...

I would also make MWSF '09 more attractive to a larger target audience, and that would involve more television, radio, internet, newspapers, text messaging, magazines and mailers. And there are more mediums that I've left off this short list, but something has got to be done to get certain mediums to stick around throughout the Expo. Last year, Tom Vacar of Channel 2 KTVU, San Francisco Bay Area had his cameraman and rig parked outside Moscone Center (South Hall) for three days and was interviewing passers-by each day...
 
ah - no you don't....

me_94501 said:
I think it's important to reiterate that CES is not open to the general public like Macworld is. You need to work in the consumer electronics industry or be a journalist to attend. For that very reason I hope that MWSF can survive.
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You don't need to work in the consumer electronics industry or be a journalist to attend. The only requirement is that you can breath and fill out a form.

(don't work in the consumer electronics industry but have attended the show 8 times)
 
bravian said:
You don't need to work in the consumer electronics industry or be a journalist to attend. The only requirement is that you can breath and fill out a form.

(don't work in the consumer electronics industry but have attended the show 8 times)
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If you got in, great. I have friends that were able to get into E3 back when it was also a industry-only trade show. This, however, is from the Registration Page for CES. It's at the top of the page in bold text on Page 1:

Attendance Requirements
The International CES is not open to the general public and all attendees must be in the consumer electronics industry to be eligible to attend the show. Due to the investment made by our exhibitors, International CES Show Management wants to ensure that its attendees are members of the trade. All attendees must provide two forms of ID: one photo ID and the other proving their affiliation with the consumer electronics industry (pay stub, business card, etc.) Attendees will not be admitted into the 2009 International CES without these two forms of ID.

Point is, if you choose to misrepresent yourself and didn't get caught, that's a very different thing than being open to the general public.
 
If IDG can attract Mac stalwarts like David Pogue to Macworld 2.0, then maybe they have a prayer of keeping it going, though certainly in much reduced circumstances. How many people are going to fly across the country, let alone around the world, to see David Pogue? The other issue is that Macworld hasn't been Macworld for years now. It's iPodworld, and iPhoneworld. They really need to completely redefine this event if they hope to carry on without Apple.
 
Sounds like a good idea to me. Macs, gadgets, gambling, & shows in the middle of winter. I'm there :)
 
A Pogue-Note would be awesome!
He would have everyone in the hall in stitches.

I love some of David's satire skits especially about the iPhone 3G last summer.
 
nagromme said:
Maybe MacWorld should put on a series of smaller, cheaper mini-Expos, all around the country (or world). Focusing on the community aspect, and the opportunity to connect with other Apple users and developers. Smaller companies could be present due to the lower cost, and if some big names chose to attend some of the mini-Expos, that's great too. Maybe one Expo a month, far smaller than now, with exhibits for a day or three, maybe special events/speakers, but no need for keynotes from anyone. Local Apple stores could have a presence or not.
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Not a bad idea. They used to do a government expo in the early days that was quite nice.
 
It's certainly the beginning of the end for MacWorld. Shame as it was there when the company wasn't so strong...
 
I've traveled to MWSF from the east coast for the past two years. Both years I've mainly attended the educational conferences (I'm in one right now) and lined up early for the Keynote address. I probably spend less time on the show floor than most people, but do wander around a bit. I think one of the greatest benefits of MW is just meeting people and saying "hello". So far this trip I've had the opportunity to shake hands and chat with Leo Laporte, Cali Lewis, Steve Wozniak, and Ge Wang (creator of Ocarina). Where else can you do that? :)

In spite of all that, I can't see myself coming back again next year w/o Apple here. I think Apple's withdrawal was a terrible thing for our Mac community. :(
 
Kevin Nelson said:
Why is there no speculation that Apple is ditching Macworld in favor of prime placement at CES? You would think that with all the media coverage and attention that has grown over the years that Apple would rather play in the same arena with all the other big boys. Given Apples dramatic resurgence in interest in the last 5 years or more, perhaps CES has offered them something they cannot pass up!
Just a guess on my part, but I am surprised that no one else has offered this and only choose to focus on Steve's health.
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Apple doesn't need CES to make their announcements. As a matter of fact, last year when the Macbook Air was introduced, Apple and Macworld got press billing above anything from CES on the local news broadcasts here in Sacramento.

Additionally, how many other companies get prime media coverage of a press conference announcing a new product? Apple gets that whenever they revamp the iPod line in particular, whether it's a part of a conference or not.
 
TechiWorld 2010

Just rename it TechWorld or StarTrekWorld or MacWorld Cult Theatre and show reruns of Steve keynotes and everyone has to laugh like a geek and wear geek glasses.

or MacWorld.CES

IJ Reilly said:
If IDG can attract Mac stalwarts like David Pogue to Macworld 2.0, then maybe they have a prayer of keeping it going, though certainly in much reduced circumstances. How many people are going to fly across the country, let alone around the world, to see David Pogue? The other issue is that Macworld hasn't been Macworld for years now. It's iPodworld, and iPhoneworld. They really need to completely redefine this event if they hope to carry on without Apple.
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Moving Macworld to CES would be death. CES is a trade show. Macworld is not. Macworld is a conference with associated vendor exhibits.

It sounds like most of the people sour on MWSF are those who didn't attend or who just focus on the glitzy announcements of new hardware.

MWSF will likely survive, though on a smaller scale. The casually curious will no longer drop by. Those interested in professional development will still attend.

The MW conferences are great opportunities to learn about doing useful things with the Mac besides email and internet browsing. There are any number of technical conferences held each year in many fields of science and technology. The strength of the conference is always based on the technical program. The commercial exhibits piggyback on the attendance to the technical program. This year MW conferences featured over 150 speakers all with excellent credentials. Extensive training was provided in the areas of IT management, video, photography, art, music, page layout, web design and more.

Apple's participation certainly helped capture media attention and generate the buzz that stimulated lots of people to attend the commercial exhibits. Without Apple MWSF will be quieter and smaller, and I think stronger and more interesting. The speakers at MW are world class. I like the keynote speech and the exhibits are great but the real heart and soul of MW is the educational program and that we need more than ever.
 
It does make alot of sense....

The CES planners need to increase crowd capacity to handle the Apple followers.


wouldn't the Apple Developers just go a Developers conference? maybe that will be seperate or they will have a booth for that or a designated area in CES.
 
iOrlando said:
You must be new to apple (no offense). Apple likes to control everything...think back to their event introducing new macbooks and ipods...those are what you will see...and those events got more press coverage than apple would ever get at any CES or similar trade show...There is no good reason why Apple would present at CES. Also, CES is usually MSFT's version of Macworld.

The press will be invited to Cupertino and other events around the San Fran valley a few times over the next few years...
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Huh... Guess we'll see over the next few months. http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/29/...sells-out-in-record-time-quadruples/#comments
 
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