Meetings Podcast Getty Images via Daylife
So every conversation I have about meetings and events these days always turns to next year. Basically, that we all will have no events to work on. Or just really scaled back shows. Working on several proposals for clients and we joke in jest more than we usually do that this proposal will look very much different when we get onsite to produce the meeting or conference. (That is if it happens at all)

Several of my friends work on a huge Cisco show which usually gives them 6 months of work. It was cancelled.

So this morning I had just finished signing up for this years MacWorld in San Francisco – literally 2 minutes later I saw an article on SFgate.com saying Apple is pulling out of MacWorld after this year and Steve Jobs wont be presenting this year. Which is always an exciting highlight for MacHeads. His presentations are talked about whenever you read a Duarte, Garr, Kawasaki talking about how to give a great speech.

The company says it no longer relies on trade shows to reach out to its customers.
I wonder how the Apple tribe will take this. The Apple show is Mecca for Mac lovers and as a mac user I also look forward to seeing the show. This is the one place they all congregate to love the Mac brand together.

One huge hit is that CEO Steve Jobs will not be delivering the keynote address at this year’s show. Instead, Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide product marketing, will address conference goers on Jan. 6. Schiller’s presentation will be the last keynote delivered by Apple at Macworld.

The Macworld show, scheduled for Jan. 5-9 at the Moscone Center, has been a major destination for devotees of all things Apple. Last year’s show attracted about 44,000 people.

The city of San Francisco cannot be happy about this turn of events since it is a huge revenue stream every year. Though the show will probably still go on but it is a big nail in the coffin of the MacWorld show.

Apple said the company has been steadily scaling back its involvement in trade shows like Macworld New York, Macworld Tokyo and Apple Expo in Paris.

But why San Francisco MacWorld?

Since the show is always the big buzz every year that sends all the Mac freaks running to the online or physical stores to buy the newest thing I wonder where the buzz builder will be? (Just ask Leo Laporte- he must have every version of every new mac product)

“The increasing popularity of Apple’s Retail Stores, which more than 3.5 million people visit every week, and the Apple.com Web site enable Apple to directly reach more than 100 million customers around the world in innovative new ways,” Apple said in a statement.

So I think this one of the first big shows to tumble. Hold on to your supplies for next year- Apple like other companies is starting to line the bunker with cash to get through the upcoming year(s?).

See you at the show. If you want to meetup please email me or twitter me.
www.meetingspodcast.com
www.twitter.com/mmcallen