Friday, January 05, 2007
Oddities of covering Macworld Expo
Next week will be my fourth trip to San Francisco, my seventh Macworld Expo, and my second time covering the Expo as press. Each time it's been a widely different experience and I've learned different things each time. I'm not talking about what I've learned about Macs or iPods; I'm talking about what I've learned about attending the event, being in the city, and other sideshow antics. As with everything, what I've learned is a work in progress, and I'm sure I'll learn some new tricks and turns this time around. Here are some of the oddities that have stuck with me:
Two Halls
After cramming the entire Expo into one exhibit hall last year, IDG has decided to expand it back to both the north and south hall of Moscone Center this year. Maybe the twenty-eight percent increase in registered attendees has something to do with it (particularly impressive, seeing as how they're battling CES for attendees this year). I haven't seen any data on whether the number of vendors has also climbed. I can think of at least a few iPod-centric companies who exhibited at Macworld last year but are doing CES this year instead. Regardless, there are at last count seventy-four iPod-centric exhibitors at this year's Macworld, and that's plenty for us to handle.
What's intriguing about the use of two halls this year is that most of the vendors we're going to see are in the south hall, as are most of the vendors period. The north hall seems reserved for things that don't fit (figuratively or literally) such as the gaming pavilion, the consultants network booth, and the John Lennon bus. Sadly, John Lennon himself won't be in attendance this year, but Bob Weir from the Grateful Dead will be. I've seen the bus in action before, but this year will be my first opportunity to meet Bob himself, so that'll be unique. Equally unique is that one of new entrants into the iPod accessory universe is having its booth manned by Chuck Leavell, the keyboard player for the Rolling Stones. Haven't heard his name? You're in the majority. But the guy is as much a member of the Stones these days as any of the faces you actually see. Played with them at the Super Bowl. Picks the setlists before each show. Hawks iPod accessories in his spare time, apparently.
Press Conferences
I haven't quite yet figured out why exhibitors hold press conferences. We go to all of the press conferences being held by companies with iPod-related products because it's our job to, but then we always end up visiting those companies' booths anyway, in the name of getting some hands-on time with their new products. Most of the press conferences are press-only, so they're not meant to attract regular attendees, which leads the question of who they're intended for. I suppose the goal is to attract the attention of the mainstream media who won't necessarily visit every booth, but then those guys generally pack up and leave the minute the keynote is over anyway. I attended every single iPod-related press conference last year, and there were never more than about twelve people in the room (in fact there was one press conference where I was the only attendee). Of course, my findings are based on just one year of attending as press, and perhaps last year was an aberration. Interestingly, there are far more iPod-related press conferences scheduled this year than last year. I'll be interested to see how well-attended they are.
Of names, new and old
This will be the last time we ever have to attend a trade show where we had attended as "iPod Garage" the year before. That means that the transition is almost officially over, and will be by this time next week. Actually it's kind of odd, seeing as how we made our official Macworld entrance last year, and now we're showing up with a different name. But there are so many more people who know us as iProng than ever knew us as iPod Garage, that I can't seem to come up with a reason to worry about it.
Coincidental coincidences
Seven years ago I get in line for the Keynote and it turns out I'm standing behind someone whom I'd known over the internet for years but had never previously met in person. The next year the exact same thing happens. Last year I'm sitting directly behind Dan Pourhadi of TUAW for four hours on a plane and I don't know here's there until we're getting off the plane. I wonder what the too-unlikely-to-calculate coincidence will be this year.
BART and other Simpsons
Back in 2000, BART didn't run all the way to the San Francisco Airport. Last year, I didn't know that BART now goes all the way to the airport. back in September, I got in at midnight and didn't care that BART goes all the way to the airport. So this time, for the first time, we'll take BART all the way from the airport to the hotel.
Who says I'm not an early riser?
Someone had to get stuck with the crappy flight time this year, and it ended up being me. My flight leaves at seven in the morning, which means I basically have to get up by four in order to get there with time to spare. I'm traveling west across three time changes, meaning that when I go bed Sunday night, I will have been awake since one o'clock in the morning local time. Good thing I'm getting there Sunday and not Monday, as I'll need that extra day to get my bearings back. The good news? I won't miss the late playoff game on Sunday; I'll be sitting in a sports bar at the airport waiting for the rest of the staff to leisurely stroll in on later flights. Hey, better for me to be tired and grouchy all day Sunday than for me to have to put up with one of them being tired and grouchy ;-)
Hotels near and far
The first time I attended Macworld San Francisco back in 2000, I was so broke that I stayed at one of those hotels where the shared bathroom is down the hall. I have so few memories of that place that I'm convinced I must have subconsciously blocked out the entire experience from my memory. Actually, it was a step from the previous summer when I attended Macworld New York '99 and stayed at the YMCA. That's basically one step up from staying at a homeless shelter. Okay, a homeless shelter with a nice exercise room. And a pool.
But memory lane aside, the big decision this year was whether to stay at the Marriott. It's a little more complicated than this, but basically there's the Marriott, which is right next to Moscone Center, and then there's every other hotel, any of which involves a twice-daily hike of varying degrees. Last year I booked so late that the Marriott was already sold out, so it wasn't a consideration; I ended up going with the best-looking option still available from the official Expo list. It turned out the place was really far away, severely overpriced for what it was, and had terrible internet access (it's a bad sign with you're checking in and they're bragging that they just had their wireless network installed three days earlier). The place was bad enough that going into this year all Mike Strum can tell me is "I don't care where we stay as long as it's not the same place as last year." So I learned then that just because a hotel is on the official list, that doesn't make it a desirable option.
This year the Marriott was on the table, but there were a few drawbacks. For one thing, it's almost absurdly overpriced, even by Marriott standards. What usually saves you at trade shows is the discount that the official hotel offers you off the standard price (at Podcast Expo the discount was almost half price), but the discount being offered by the Marriott works out to about six percent. The other thing is that unlike some smaller Expos where you know that nearly everyone who attends the event will be staying at the official hotel and you fear missing all the before-and-after action if you stay somewhere else, Macworld is way too big for that to happen. Just the fact that there are about twelve official Macworld hotels tells you all you need to know about just how split up everyone ends up being.
Sure didn't want to end up with a long walk, though. Especially not when you're toting laptops, chargers, clipboards, interview equipment. It's one thing to carry that stuff around all day; it's another to have to complete a walk-a-thon before you even start your daily coverage. On the other side of the spectrum there's the theory that says you can just stay anywhere in the city and take a taxi to and from the Expo each day, but that didn't work out so well when I tried it back in September when I attended Apple's Showtime Event. I had some crazy cabbie who kept circling around Moscone and didn't want to let me out of the car until he figured out which of the surrounding buildings was actually the Yerba Buena Center.
So I came close to going with the Marriott, but I decided to do some research and a lot of looking, I finally managed to find a small-ish hotel right on Market Street that hopefully strikes the balance between all the traits we're looking for: close enough that we don't have to join a walkers' club each morning to get there, but not so absurdly overpriced that we're looking at an insane checkout bill. With some of the money saved by not staying at the Marriott, I'm taking the entire iProng staff to the Incubus concert taking place on Wednesday evening just about a block from our hotel. And if this hotel doesn't work out, there's always next year.
Next week will be my fourth trip to San Francisco, my seventh Macworld Expo, and my second time covering the Expo as press. Each time it's been a widely different experience and I've learned different things each time. I'm not talking about what I've learned about Macs or iPods; I'm talking about what I've learned about attending the event, being in the city, and other sideshow antics. As with everything, what I've learned is a work in progress, and I'm sure I'll learn some new tricks and turns this time around. Here are some of the oddities that have stuck with me:
Two Halls
After cramming the entire Expo into one exhibit hall last year, IDG has decided to expand it back to both the north and south hall of Moscone Center this year. Maybe the twenty-eight percent increase in registered attendees has something to do with it (particularly impressive, seeing as how they're battling CES for attendees this year). I haven't seen any data on whether the number of vendors has also climbed. I can think of at least a few iPod-centric companies who exhibited at Macworld last year but are doing CES this year instead. Regardless, there are at last count seventy-four iPod-centric exhibitors at this year's Macworld, and that's plenty for us to handle.
What's intriguing about the use of two halls this year is that most of the vendors we're going to see are in the south hall, as are most of the vendors period. The north hall seems reserved for things that don't fit (figuratively or literally) such as the gaming pavilion, the consultants network booth, and the John Lennon bus. Sadly, John Lennon himself won't be in attendance this year, but Bob Weir from the Grateful Dead will be. I've seen the bus in action before, but this year will be my first opportunity to meet Bob himself, so that'll be unique. Equally unique is that one of new entrants into the iPod accessory universe is having its booth manned by Chuck Leavell, the keyboard player for the Rolling Stones. Haven't heard his name? You're in the majority. But the guy is as much a member of the Stones these days as any of the faces you actually see. Played with them at the Super Bowl. Picks the setlists before each show. Hawks iPod accessories in his spare time, apparently.
Press Conferences
I haven't quite yet figured out why exhibitors hold press conferences. We go to all of the press conferences being held by companies with iPod-related products because it's our job to, but then we always end up visiting those companies' booths anyway, in the name of getting some hands-on time with their new products. Most of the press conferences are press-only, so they're not meant to attract regular attendees, which leads the question of who they're intended for. I suppose the goal is to attract the attention of the mainstream media who won't necessarily visit every booth, but then those guys generally pack up and leave the minute the keynote is over anyway. I attended every single iPod-related press conference last year, and there were never more than about twelve people in the room (in fact there was one press conference where I was the only attendee). Of course, my findings are based on just one year of attending as press, and perhaps last year was an aberration. Interestingly, there are far more iPod-related press conferences scheduled this year than last year. I'll be interested to see how well-attended they are.
Of names, new and old
This will be the last time we ever have to attend a trade show where we had attended as "iPod Garage" the year before. That means that the transition is almost officially over, and will be by this time next week. Actually it's kind of odd, seeing as how we made our official Macworld entrance last year, and now we're showing up with a different name. But there are so many more people who know us as iProng than ever knew us as iPod Garage, that I can't seem to come up with a reason to worry about it.
Coincidental coincidences
Seven years ago I get in line for the Keynote and it turns out I'm standing behind someone whom I'd known over the internet for years but had never previously met in person. The next year the exact same thing happens. Last year I'm sitting directly behind Dan Pourhadi of TUAW for four hours on a plane and I don't know here's there until we're getting off the plane. I wonder what the too-unlikely-to-calculate coincidence will be this year.
BART and other Simpsons
Back in 2000, BART didn't run all the way to the San Francisco Airport. Last year, I didn't know that BART now goes all the way to the airport. back in September, I got in at midnight and didn't care that BART goes all the way to the airport. So this time, for the first time, we'll take BART all the way from the airport to the hotel.
Who says I'm not an early riser?
Someone had to get stuck with the crappy flight time this year, and it ended up being me. My flight leaves at seven in the morning, which means I basically have to get up by four in order to get there with time to spare. I'm traveling west across three time changes, meaning that when I go bed Sunday night, I will have been awake since one o'clock in the morning local time. Good thing I'm getting there Sunday and not Monday, as I'll need that extra day to get my bearings back. The good news? I won't miss the late playoff game on Sunday; I'll be sitting in a sports bar at the airport waiting for the rest of the staff to leisurely stroll in on later flights. Hey, better for me to be tired and grouchy all day Sunday than for me to have to put up with one of them being tired and grouchy ;-)
Hotels near and far
The first time I attended Macworld San Francisco back in 2000, I was so broke that I stayed at one of those hotels where the shared bathroom is down the hall. I have so few memories of that place that I'm convinced I must have subconsciously blocked out the entire experience from my memory. Actually, it was a step from the previous summer when I attended Macworld New York '99 and stayed at the YMCA. That's basically one step up from staying at a homeless shelter. Okay, a homeless shelter with a nice exercise room. And a pool.
But memory lane aside, the big decision this year was whether to stay at the Marriott. It's a little more complicated than this, but basically there's the Marriott, which is right next to Moscone Center, and then there's every other hotel, any of which involves a twice-daily hike of varying degrees. Last year I booked so late that the Marriott was already sold out, so it wasn't a consideration; I ended up going with the best-looking option still available from the official Expo list. It turned out the place was really far away, severely overpriced for what it was, and had terrible internet access (it's a bad sign with you're checking in and they're bragging that they just had their wireless network installed three days earlier). The place was bad enough that going into this year all Mike Strum can tell me is "I don't care where we stay as long as it's not the same place as last year." So I learned then that just because a hotel is on the official list, that doesn't make it a desirable option.
This year the Marriott was on the table, but there were a few drawbacks. For one thing, it's almost absurdly overpriced, even by Marriott standards. What usually saves you at trade shows is the discount that the official hotel offers you off the standard price (at Podcast Expo the discount was almost half price), but the discount being offered by the Marriott works out to about six percent. The other thing is that unlike some smaller Expos where you know that nearly everyone who attends the event will be staying at the official hotel and you fear missing all the before-and-after action if you stay somewhere else, Macworld is way too big for that to happen. Just the fact that there are about twelve official Macworld hotels tells you all you need to know about just how split up everyone ends up being.
Sure didn't want to end up with a long walk, though. Especially not when you're toting laptops, chargers, clipboards, interview equipment. It's one thing to carry that stuff around all day; it's another to have to complete a walk-a-thon before you even start your daily coverage. On the other side of the spectrum there's the theory that says you can just stay anywhere in the city and take a taxi to and from the Expo each day, but that didn't work out so well when I tried it back in September when I attended Apple's Showtime Event. I had some crazy cabbie who kept circling around Moscone and didn't want to let me out of the car until he figured out which of the surrounding buildings was actually the Yerba Buena Center.
So I came close to going with the Marriott, but I decided to do some research and a lot of looking, I finally managed to find a small-ish hotel right on Market Street that hopefully strikes the balance between all the traits we're looking for: close enough that we don't have to join a walkers' club each morning to get there, but not so absurdly overpriced that we're looking at an insane checkout bill. With some of the money saved by not staying at the Marriott, I'm taking the entire iProng staff to the Incubus concert taking place on Wednesday evening just about a block from our hotel. And if this hotel doesn't work out, there's always next year.
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