I make it to Macworld Expo about every other year. There are three reasons I go. First and foremost is to watch the keynote and see all of Apple’s new goodies. Second is to see old friends and meet new people. Last but not least is to get my hands on all of the third party stuff out on the show floor. There are quite a few companies exhibiting that I already know about such as Adobe, Griffin and Canon. I’m glad companies like these exhibit because it’s nice to make a feature request directly to an Adobe product manager or ask a Canon rep a detailed questions about a particular scanner. The response I get from them is always much better than the one I get from the spiky-haired 16 year-old working at Best Buy. That said, it’s pretty easy nowadays to evaluate and purchase equipment from well-known companies through demo software, web articles and retail outlets. It’s really the lesser-known exhibitors that I enjoy seeing at Macworld Expo, the guys tinkering away on innovative pet-projects, guys like Peter McClard of Pixound.

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