Many ask what it is like to attend Macworld. For MPG and other media outlets, it is hell and for the regular user it can be hard as well. During the week, most do not get any sleep and survive on the Starbucks Coffee on every corner. At the end, you will sleep on the plane ride home, have a hoarse throat and have spent way too much money. Plan ahead of time, schedule what classes you will be attending, and of course read the following.
If you read the guide to Macworld, that will answer most of your questions (https://mypersonalgetaway.com/more.php?id=614_0_1_0_M). This is just an idea of a media outlet or journalist has to go through during expo. Most things are voluntarily but it is self-sacrifice for the good of the website. Your entire trips expenditures are justified by the public relations and networking you experience while at the event. You will hand out hundreds of business cards, say the name of your website and what your site is about hundreds of times and at the end you are so exhausted mentally and physically, the plane ride back feels so great. Just dont wear your companys T-shirt because 1 of 10 people on the plane are Mac users and they will all ask you questions.
I have attended four Macworld conferences and I plan all of them the same. Pre-Macworld I purchase hotel and flight reservations a month in advance to get the best rate. Media Passes for Macworld are heck to get but are worth it for reasons I cant elaborate on at this time. I always arrive on Sunday before Macworld. The expo starts on Tuesday so I leave Sunday morning at 2AM and arrive at my hotel by noon. I can walk down to Moscone and get my badges find out what is new and where events and sessions are located. I also walk the city and meet some online friends that evening.
Monday is pro sessions and is the expensive ones. Media can attend those but I choose to get into the expo as the companies are setting up, get the scoop on new products and get exclusive pictures w/ interviews. It is heck to do interviews during the week and talk to the vendors. Monday is great when it is only 6 media reps in the building as opposed to 200 during the week. That evening is spent with more friends and touring the city.
Get to sleep early that evening because next morning is keynote and you will need your rest. Media has the entire day to get the news out on the companys new products including Apples. The great thing about media is we dont have to be there at 2AM to get a decent 30 th row seat at keynote. Media arrives at 7:30 and doors open at 8:30. When they open we wait in a room and at 8:45, we all run inside and if you run you get third tenth row back. You can definitely see Steves nose hair. I arrived at 6:30 to wait in line for the keynote as media and there were only two guys in front of us. The line was about 100 media reps by 8:30 and on the other side of the street, there were 6000 or more people waiting in line. It was pretty hilarious. After keynote, the smart ones will run over the top of the chairs to get to the stage. They can take pictures of the stage, Apple executives and celebrities. If you get in early, you are standing right by the VIP line. VIPs are preferred stockholders, celebs, execs or friends of Steve. I got some great photo ops with a lot of people during that time. I got pictures with Steve Jobs, Jon Rubinstien, Paul Lasetter, and some people you have never heard of before and after keynote.
The hall is the size of two football fields and you cant even see the back of the place if you are up front. Dont try to get out of there if you are media; it takes 45 minutes to clear out and into the expo hall. I suggest not going to any sessions after the keynote. Take two hours to try out the new stuff from Apple and other companies, then eat lunch and attend some sessions. I spend all of Tuesday on the floor without lunch. Media has their own pressroom w/ wireless internet and computers but most have their own laptop. We also get a voucher for free lunch. As poor as the cafeteria is, free is always good. You can get up to 12 dollars in food, which is a meal since the stuff is overpriced. Tuesday evening is spent in the press room or at Starbucks transcribing interviews from audio to text, doing mini reviews of new products, writing news articles, creating photo galleries from today all while trying to stop the shake from adrenaline and caffeine you consumed all day. Tuesday night, media does not sleep or gets to sleep in the morning.
Wednesday is User Group University for many. And lasts a few hours. I may be on Monday, I cant remember, but is a 6-hour thing with guests and ways to improve your user group. If not doing that, you will be attending sessions, hanging on the expo floor and in my case, I will bed doing sessions in the Users Conference on creating your own blog the free and open source way. Most visitors leave on Wednesday. They fly in Monday night and attend the keynote and expo on Tuesday then some sessions on Wednesday flying out that evening. That night, there are typically dinners with colleagues, phone interviews or face to face with vendors and Mac celebs you have met that are in town. You will get to sleep at 1AM after you post the articles for that day and post more pictures with a Macworld video you made. Some sites send one guy but MPG always sends four guys. One for reviews, another for Movie footage, a third for photography and a final one for overall interviews, news articles and organizing. I tried doing it with two last year and it was difficult.
Thursday, the expo hall is less hectic since 10 thousand of the visitors have left and you get some personal time with vendors. I eat lunch at the Sony Metreon across the street just to get away from the cafeteria food. More of the same on Thursday but more of it. I try to do sightseeing or catch a movie at the state of the art theatre that evening and leave MacWorld around 4PM. Wednesday, the bars open so you can go to a club or a bar and hang out. There are some great ones off Howard, Taylor St. and in Union Square. I would also visit the new Apple store and the fashion designers stores like Prada, Fossil, Gucci and Louis Vuitton among others.
Finally Friday. Sleep in; today is just finalizing review deals, last minute questions in the interviews, meeting celebrities and I usually get a nice 80 dollar massage on my lunch hour and spend the evening hanging with the media representatives at dinner or a club saying goodbyes and exchanging business cards. I will get over 100 business cards that week and never throw these away, one day you will need that contact. I typically fly out at 2-5AM on Saturday morning. I can get back in town at 12 noon in Florida and sleep through Sunday night. You will actually get about 15 hours or real sleep that week; most of it is tossing and turning.
Throughout the week, you will be dehydrated from coffee, tired of 7-11 doughnuts for breakfast, sick of walking 40 minutes to the center but cant afford 5-dollar cab ride, and will be out 1000 and that is if you get a roommate and spend wisely. I suggest getting the company to pay for it, but if not, then you will earn it back. It is the best week of the year and Macworld, although I am working, is what I consider my vacation. It is the only week I take off. Well I do take off another time for Macworld Boston or New York but that is another story. San Francisco is the biggie and worth it to all. As a user, you should only attend two days; Tuesday and Wednesday. Any more would just be torture which only 5% of the attendees do.