I've attended 7 or 8 Macworld Expos, and I've never figured out a fail-safe way to measure attendance or success. We sell some product. We talk with lots and lots of people about Mac accounting software. But when asked, "How's the show going?" our answer always seems a little arbitrary and manufactured.

I'm never one to be afraid of speculative fabrication, and I will tell you, from our vantage point the last Macworld Expo (with Apple's participation) seemed slooooow. Everything is relative, and I'm sure there are vendors who'd disagree, but by just about every subjective measure (booth traffic, food lines, bathroom traffic, number of times I had to use Purell because of excessive hand shaking), the show just didn't seem very well-attended compared to the past.

Maybe since the popular press has been mildly apathetic toward Apple's latest round of announcements, people stayed home. However, I thought it was a solid round of enhancements and improvements. My favorite is iWork.com.

At Acclivity, we (mostly) still use Microsoft Office products out of necessity (habit?) - but each of us has found ourselves using iWork products more and more - specifically, Pages and Keynote. I still find Numbers somewhat limiting for anything more than the most basic spreadsheet.

We collaborate on Pages documents and make edits and changes, sometimes over great distances via email with remote employees or our Werck friends in Amsterdam. Up 'til now we've used Google Docs or Backpack, or we just use email to serve as light document management. Now, I'm excited and hopeful that iWork.com will be something we can use as a productive tool going forward.

I know I've posted our initial reaction to Apple's withdrawal, but as the show is over and reality has set in, I can't help wondering what's next. To be fair, I had a schedule conflict for IDG's public forum on Wednesday - hopefully there was a productive exchange of ideas. But I'm wondering what opportunities lie amidst the wreckage.

Will we find a different/better way to interact with both current and potential customers? Gain the ability to coordinate a national effort with the Apple Stores for event purposes? What about the ACNs and Apple Specialists? Will WWDC be the primary venue to have meaningful interactions with these important (and fun) groups of people? Out of the void, will there be regional or national events that grow in significance?

Regardless of your opinion on the role of the trade show in the Internet age, there was undoubtedly a sense of nostalgia as I left the show floor for (what might be) the last time. I heard the same nostalgia in conversations with fellow vendors. Hard to say whether this nostalgia and positive energy will amount to a different approach or whether it's simply the last chapter in a rich story. With so many smart people in the same boat, I'm going to remain hopeful.

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Posted by Scott Davisson on January 7, 2009 3:47:00 PM EST#