I’m currently sitting at an iMac owned by Microsoft, as part of their blogger lounge, in the South Hall of Moscone Center in San Francisco, California.  As many of you have not had the chance to attend I wanted to share a bit about the experience.

The show floor

As you walk into the center, you are immediately greeted with crowds of people waiting in line and vying to enter.  If you already have your badge, because you received it in the mail (as I did), it’s easy to simply go down the escalator and onto the show floor.  Through the double doors, the walls of Moscone open up and you are greeted by endless rows of booths.  Countless people wander the floor looking at new toys and listening to exhibitors give their shpiel on their product.

The center of the South Hall, where the majority of the exhibit hall is located, is Apple’s “booth.” Being the star of the show, Apple has more floorspace than anyone else; a giant soundstage (this year, two stages, one solely for the iPhone) is surrounded by nice, clean rows of various apple toys and software demonstrations.  Happy Apple employees dressed in black T-shirts explain every facet of the Apple TV, Aperture, iLife, and much more.

iChat 10.5 demo

Everywhere in the hall are the sights, sounds, and sometimes even smells (I smelled fried chicken a little while ago… mmmmm) of the Mac community soaking in information and acquiring merchandise.  Among these people, hidden by the mask of individuality in a crowd, mingle the developers, bloggers, reporters and engineers who make many of the products we use everyday and provide the commentary that keeps us reading our news programs late into the night.  Unfortunately, it can be difficult to identify these notable individuals without knowing what they look like in advance because the nametags that identify attendees can be hard to read without grabbing them and reading them, an obvious social faux pas.  (As I typed this, a gentleman walked by with his tag inserted upside down, which I kindly pointed out to him.  He wondered how I could notice something like that. )

There’s really no way to get the Macworld experience without attending, though I’m sure other conferences would be similar.  As people shoot photographs, chat up developers and marketers, and simply enjoy themselves, all one can do is wander as well, one of many, part of a crowd.  Many things await me:  people to interview, products to play with and photograph, and presentations to ignore listen to intently.  I will be posting more when I get home tonight, including my photographs of the day and some Xtreme Nterviews with interesting people.  If anybody reading this has attended or will be attending, please share your experiences in the comment and keep an eye out for me.  I’m the one with the L33Test hat in the land.