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MWSF 07 Keynote
- Thread starter JackSYi
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I attended the MWSF 2006 keynote. It was my first time. 
I got into line aroung 6am, and was one of the last people who got into the main hall. They have one main hall where Steve actually gives the keynote, and then some number of overflow rooms for showing the keynote on a big screen.
The line was wrapped around the Moscone Center when I got there. They started letting people inside right about when I walked up. This just meant that we got to sit on the floor inside instead of on the sidewalk outside.
I didn't remember to check with my co-workers to see who else was going to get up early, so I didn't know anyone in the queue around me. That didn't matter. Everyone around me was very nice. We talked, compared notes on our various employers (some of the people were from Intel, and I'm from Microsoft's MacBU), and made jokes about Steve announcing one iPod at the beginning of the keynote and another one that made the first one obsolete at the end of it. Someone had brought doughnuts, another person had brought a travel game of Taboo with them. (Whereupon I embarrassed myself with the word 'spoon', and of course the obvious words weren't allowed. So I said, 'my boyfriend and I will do this later tonight'. ) A couple of hours into the wait, one of my co-workers (who was in line earlier than I was) showed up with a bunch of coffees and handed them out to me and my fellow Taboo-players.
People started getting excited when the line finally started moving. They didn't let us into the hall until a few minutes before the keynote was supposed to begin. One of the guys in line with me had been to several of the previous keynotes and said that this was out-of-the-ordinary. (Later, during the keynote, he leaned over to me and pointed out Al Gore in the front, so we guessed that maybe it had to do with Mr Gore's Secret Service detail.) We got a bit nervous when we saw that they were stopping the queue, then letting a few more people in, because we thought that it meant that the hall was filling up. We got in, but only about 20 people after us did.
We took seats along the left side of the room, by the bank of news cameras. We didn't have time to chatter amongst ourselves after we got our seats, because Steve took the stage immediately. Some people who had been let in after us were still walking to their seats when he started talking.
Watching the keynote in person is much cooler than watching the main page of MacRumors for updates. People were obviously excited about the whole thing, and it was quite nifty to see the reactions of other people to the various announcements. Plus I got to clap extra-loud when my boss got on stage with Steve.
Afterwards, people were milling around and talking about the announcements. I had to run, though, because I was scheduled to work at our booth on the show floor immediately afterwards. The benefit of this is that I got onto the show floor earlier than the other attendees, so I got to see the newly-unveiled Apple booth. (When I had been in there before I got in line at 6am, it was still shrouded in black.)
... And then I spent the rest of the day on the show floor answering questions about Office:Mac 2004 and the 5-year commitment that Roz announced on-stage with Steve.
I got into line aroung 6am, and was one of the last people who got into the main hall. They have one main hall where Steve actually gives the keynote, and then some number of overflow rooms for showing the keynote on a big screen.
The line was wrapped around the Moscone Center when I got there. They started letting people inside right about when I walked up. This just meant that we got to sit on the floor inside instead of on the sidewalk outside.
I didn't remember to check with my co-workers to see who else was going to get up early, so I didn't know anyone in the queue around me. That didn't matter. Everyone around me was very nice. We talked, compared notes on our various employers (some of the people were from Intel, and I'm from Microsoft's MacBU), and made jokes about Steve announcing one iPod at the beginning of the keynote and another one that made the first one obsolete at the end of it. Someone had brought doughnuts, another person had brought a travel game of Taboo with them. (Whereupon I embarrassed myself with the word 'spoon', and of course the obvious words weren't allowed. So I said, 'my boyfriend and I will do this later tonight'.
) A couple of hours into the wait, one of my co-workers (who was in line earlier than I was) showed up with a bunch of coffees and handed them out to me and my fellow Taboo-players. People started getting excited when the line finally started moving. They didn't let us into the hall until a few minutes before the keynote was supposed to begin. One of the guys in line with me had been to several of the previous keynotes and said that this was out-of-the-ordinary. (Later, during the keynote, he leaned over to me and pointed out Al Gore in the front, so we guessed that maybe it had to do with Mr Gore's Secret Service detail.) We got a bit nervous when we saw that they were stopping the queue, then letting a few more people in, because we thought that it meant that the hall was filling up. We got in, but only about 20 people after us did.
We took seats along the left side of the room, by the bank of news cameras. We didn't have time to chatter amongst ourselves after we got our seats, because Steve took the stage immediately. Some people who had been let in after us were still walking to their seats when he started talking.
Watching the keynote in person is much cooler than watching the main page of MacRumors for updates. People were obviously excited about the whole thing, and it was quite nifty to see the reactions of other people to the various announcements. Plus I got to clap extra-loud when my boss got on stage with Steve.
Afterwards, people were milling around and talking about the announcements. I had to run, though, because I was scheduled to work at our booth on the show floor immediately afterwards. The benefit of this is that I got onto the show floor earlier than the other attendees, so I got to see the newly-unveiled Apple booth. (When I had been in there before I got in line at 6am, it was still shrouded in black.)
... And then I spent the rest of the day on the show floor answering questions about Office:Mac 2004 and the 5-year commitment that Roz announced on-stage with Steve.
Thank you very much for sharing your experience. I had two questions, how was the view from where you were sitting? (Assuming it was more towards the back due to being one of the last people in) and is there any chance at all to meet Steve Jobs? (He has been my first role model growing up)
JackSYi said:
The view was fine. I didn't have any trouble seeing.
There's no opportunity to meet Steve in the keynote. He doesn't waste any time in entering or exiting, he just goes on-stage, does his thing, and then immediately leaves.
After the keynote, he did make an appearance at the Apple booth on the show floor, but that was mostly for interviews with the press. I don't know if anyone got to meet him there.