The Definitive Guide to Macworld for First-timers
David Pogue is hysterical, talented, witty and someone that I consider, “one of the good guys.” He’s a great presenter and every first time Macworld attendee must see him live. There’s a reason why IDG has, once again, given him the honor of leading “Macworld Live!” which takes place Wednesday (January 7th) from 9AM-10AM. The presentation is open to all Macworld attendees and you just can’t miss it.
Below is a sample of David Pogue’s work:
For a few individuals that have platinum passes, Macworld starts today for them. For the rest of us that can’t afford a $1700 pass, we get another day of partying before we start our conference. I guess I’ll just stay home today. NOT! It’s time to get out there and do more fun stuff!!!!
Today, we’re heading to Apple Headquarters in Cupertino. It’s a 30 minute drive south and they don’t let people just walk right in but Apple does allow us to shop in their store and spend money. So we depart at 9:30AM from Moscone Center and hit Apple around 10:15ish. There is an hour spent buying clothes, taking photos and checking the parking lot for Steve Jobs sightings. Then it’s lunch at BJs. We’ll be back in town around 2PM. Sorry though but we have already filled up 3 vans and can’t take any more people for this trip. Next year, I’ll be doing a charter bus because I just can’t fill demand of everyone that wants to go.
After that, I encourage all attendees to take an afternoon nap. Let me break it down for you. There are 4 parties on Monday night that I know about and probably 10 more smaller events. Then, you’ll be getting back to the hotel at 11PM only to get up 3 hours later to see the Phil Schiller keynote. Monday needs to be a day of relaxation because Tuesday is going to be crazy. One of my friends is lining up at 10PM on Monday night and I know of another person who will be joining him.
Monday night parties are all listed on Ilene’s Machine and Upcoming.org but of all events listed there, I’d recommend the Macworld Tweetup at 21st Amendment. It’s open to everyone, has a large attendance and is guaranteed to be a great time. I hope to see you all there but I encourage everyone to get rest on Monday because Tuesday-Friday is going to rock! By the way, I’m taking a van to The Computer History Museum on Saturday with 4 other people. If anyone wants in just let me know.
Sunday, January 4th 2009. Today was the first official day of my Macworld festivities. My first Macworld SF was in 2004 and I started doing these events in 2005. Today was brunch at Sugar Cafe and our annual city tour of San Francisco. Both were fun filled and the city tour was very tiring.
In 2007, I conducted the city tour but due to a mishap with the cable car schedule, we ended up walking the 15 person tour group up Powell street to Fishermans Wharf. It’s a walk that’s doable but no one wants to do it. Luckily, things were a little easier this year. This morning at 9AM I met up with nearly 15 people at Sugar Cafe as we took over an entire section to drink bottomless $10 mimosas and enjoy some free wi-fi. Some people took advantage of the brunch items as well but most of us just geeked out. That went until 1PM when it was time for many of us to trek down to The Apple Store to meet up with everyone else for the city tour.
The annual city tour kicked off just after 1PM and went through 9PM this year. Quite a day for a bunch of geeks :). We walked over to Powell Street where the cable cars pickup and snapped some photos. Then took the cable car over to Fishermans’ Wharf. I took everyone to In-N-Out burger ( a local favorite) and we continued through Fishermans Wharf stopping at many attractions. Finally, a steep walk up to Coit Tower right before sunset so photographers could snap photos of the sunset over San Francisco. We finished up with a bus ride back to Fishermans’ Wharf and a street car ride back to 3rd and Market streets. The tour finished with us picking up our Macworld badges and I explained local places to eat, coffee joints and the various Moscone Center buildings on the block. Then, a 2 hour dinner at Bucca Di Beppo was in order as we crammed 25 people into a room for a huge feast!
Photo Credit
What an amazing evening we had and it was all a part of DAY 1 of Macworld partying. I love helping to bring Mac users together and I hope everyone had a fantastic time. Drinks, touring, photographs, making friends and feasting on Italian food. I can’t believe it’s only Sunday and we have 6 more days of Macworld events. The photos that I used were taken today on the city tour. More photos will be available by tomorrow on our Flickr Group.
How awsesome that 100 photographers are signed up to share their photos on Flickr. I can’t wait to see all of the awesome shots. You can join in the action RIGHT HERE.
We’re already 7 people strong and expecting about 10 more. Mimosas @ Sugar Cafe. Our friend webguypdx, has uploaded an image of Mimosa Consumption
This is COMPLETELY unconfirmed but I just saw a tweet that I’ve pasted below that Macowrld may be oversold. Hopefully someone from IDG World Expo will confirm it. My fear based on all the emails from IDG is that Macworld tickets weren’t selling fast enough. This tweet may simply be related to keynote. i can’t tell. Either way, I’m hoping every single ticket for Macworld sold. It makes the expo a lot more fun! One thing I might also note. This may be a tweet related to the person’s airline ticket. I don’t know. Just standard speculation.
What started out as a Mac fan renting a mini van and trucking down a few MacHEADS to Apple headquarters has turned into a caravan containing 2 vans and a car for a maximum of about 14 people. The rules still apply which I’ve pasted below. If you’re still interested please comment below. I’ll email you if you make the list. I already have 7 people who have RSVPed and they’ll be in my car. That least about 7 more.
The price is $15 a person due to the price of rental & gas and I hope everyone can make it. Of note, if you have a rental or planning on renting your own vehicle and can take another 2-4 people with you please let me know.
I’ll be parked outside Moscone South in the parking lot on Monday the 5th at 10:00AM. I’ll be in a silver / gold Toyota Sienna Mini-van (for identification purposes) and wearing a black baseball cap with an Apple t-shirt. If you didn’t RSVP and you are not on the standby list, please don’t show up because I can’t accommodate more than 7 people.
You can follow more updates on Twitter.
Today is my first day of Macworld. Nearly half of all attendees arrive in town on Saturday or Sunday so it’s an exciting time for me to catch up with people before the festivities begin.
Sunday AM:
We meet at Sugar Cafe for “Mimosa Factory.” The event runs from 10AM-5PM but I’ll be ducking at 1PM for another event. $10 gets you unlimited mimosas and they have fantastic breakfast & lunch items plus some really speedy wi-fi. More details are on Upcoming. There is no limit to this event. The place can hold up to 100 people but only has about 45 power outlets.
Sunday PM:
My 5th annual Macworld city tour of San Francisco kicks off at 1PM and continues on through 8PM. We start at The Apple Store downtown, make our way through chinatown to Fisherman’s Wharf and the tour ends in SoMa near the moscone center. After the tour, nearly everyone stays together for dinner near Moscone. It’s a great event and you can get full details on Upcoming. OF NOTE: This Tour is currently completely full. I can only take 25 people. We have 5 people on “standby” All are welcome to show up and take their chances but I can’t lead a tour with more than 25 people. I’ve tried it.
Prior to living in San Francisco, I always flew in for Macworld early on Sunday morning. By early, I mean leaving Florida at 5AM and arriving in SF around 11. It worked out really well and I didn’t have to pay for another night in a hotel. Now that I live here, it was great to meet up with people as they arrive.
Friday, I went to Sugar Cafe to get some work done and sent out some tweets that others were invited and two people from overseas came by to hang out. After that, we joined up with 4 more people for some burritos in The Mission which was great because 5 of the 7 people there were eating their first Mission Burrito which, in San Francisco, is a pretty common choice for an anytime meal. We ended the evening around 7 so I could get home and do more Macworld preparations.
Saturday, Laura and I spent the day cleaning house because a few Macworld attendees are staying at our place for the week. We have the extra space (not really) and a few extra bodies is no big deal if it helps them save the hotel costs. At 7PM, Laura and I met up with Rob and Gina who we met for the first time on our 3rd Annual City Tour back in 2007. It was great to see them again and we went to get some Tex Mex near Moscone Center. It was another early evening as I had some more things to take care of. However, a late night IM from a few guys from Italy has caused me to go out again for a few beers at Lefty O’ Douls. They are from Italy and one of the guys has a very successful blog.
Tomorrow is going to be a lot of fun. Our 5th annual city tour will be awesome!
As a local here in San Francisco, I would recommend packing a heavy jacket and bring something rain resistant. Like past January weather, this upcoming week will be cold with some scattered showers or at least a little mist. I’m sure that bout 30 thousand of you are packing this minute so here’s a screengrab of the forecast this week.
