Macworld Expo brings people from all over the world to see what new products and trends will influence the Mac market in the coming year, but the tradeshow also has another important feature: the conferences. The Macworld Conferences have a reputation for gathering the most talented faculty with an in-depth course line-up; something organizers say has been years in the making.
“We’ve done a very good job over the years of establishing the Macworld Conferences as a place that people can count on for quality,” conference organizer Paul Kent, told MacCentral. “The instructors are very carefully screened and we do a could job of matching the content to the requests that attendees give us.”
Kent says that he receives over 700 submissions a year from individuals that want to speak at Macworld. While many of the speakers are recognized names in the Macintosh market, Kent says that it’s not a name that will get someone a position on the Macworld Conference Faculty.
“I read every one of those 700 submissions that come in,” said Kent. “If the subject matter is well written and it’s clear to me you have something to teach – not just something to pitch or a personal platform – you’ll go into a shorter list. From there I will call and talk to you to find out your capabilities in public speaking. For me, there are two important things – I want people that are really smart and are really good presenters.”
In choosing which courses will make it to a Macworld Conference, Kent says he has to understand the trends in the industry and match the training to that. This is how the conferences have been able to keep its edge over other educational training sessions.
“Training is still very important in the competitive work environment that most people are involved in,” said Kent. “Being the best with their tools, being quicker, faster and more efficient is a competitive advantage.”
Kent also made it clear that just because a course was available in the past doesn’t mean that it will automatically be included in the future. Each session has to demonstrate that the content has been updated to cover current issues.
Conference sessions cover everything from Mac IT and Enterprise, which focuses on higher education and corporate clients, to two-day intensive PowerTool sessions.
New for Macworld 2006 is a PowerTool session on Apple’s recently released Aperture photo management application, as well as a photo safari that will take attendees around the streets of San Francisco to take pictures.
“We take the quality of the conference very seriously,” said Kent. “We want everyone that comes to the conferences to know that they are part of something very unique. We are really careful about how we select people and we are committed to making sure this is the best training experience available.”
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