Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!decwrl!limbo!taylor
From: taylor@limbo.Intuitive.Com (Dave Taylor)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.misc
Subject: Re: Press policy at MacWorld Expo
Keywords: press, freelancers, no coverage
Message-ID: <965@limbo.Intuitive.Com>
Date: 9 Jul 90 06:55:27 GMT
References: <12233@asylum.SF.CA.US> <1990Jul4.060616.19026@mthvax.cs.miami.edu> <12242@asylum.SF.CA.US> <1715@tssi.UUCP> <1990Jul9.005454.333@mthvax.cs.miami.edu>
Reply-To: taylor@limbo.Intuitive.Com (Dave Taylor)
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Organization: Intuitive Systems, Mountain View, CA: +1 (415) 966-1151
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Bob Sherman adds fuel to the fire with:

> I guess the bottom line with the MacWorld policy is: If your [sic] legit, 
> you will get in with a press pass just as you have in the past, and if 
> your [sic] not legit, you will not get in with a press pass as you may 
> have in the past... 

On the other hand, there are only so many hours in a day and as a 
member of the press, being able to zip into a show for a few hours
is a nice way to not only meet with vendors you already know, but
to learn about new products and planned products from other vendors.
Is this "press coverage" per se?  Not really; I'm not going to write
up a piece on the conference, yet the vendors who might find an 
interested and sympathetic audience with specific members of the 
press would certainly think so!  Remember: their whole reason for 
spending the money to show up at an exhibit like MacWorld Expo is 
to be able to make customers and garner press space (both of which 
are, of course, tricky tasks).

Relevance?  Well, as Macintosh Editor for "Computer Language"
Magazine (an international publication of Miller-Freeman I was 
pretty surprised to receive a letter from the Expo people telling me 
that there wasn't going to be a press pass for me *and* that I couldn't 
appeal *or* apply for a press pass at the show itself.

Fortunately, I'm not planning on going to the Boston MacWorld Expo
this time, but if I were, I assure you that I would be quite likely
to have called up a few important vendors that are concerned with
their favorable coverage in magazines like Computer Language and 
suggest they talk to the Expo personnel about the policy.  In a
nutshell, it's quite counterproductive since vendors are paying to
attend the Expo to *attract attention* and weeding out pseudo-press
or "press from other than listed magazines" isn't helping that goal.

I've been to conferences where the relevance of particular press
personnel has been curious and minimal at best (like Digital News
at an HP press luncheon, or PC Week at an Apple conference) but
they were there and they were learning!  I mean, if the whole goal
of this 'tougher selection criteria' bit is to cut down on the 
misuse of telephones, computer equipment, and so on, then I suggest
that not only not fixed the problem, but added a bigger one along 
the way too.

And charges of equipment misuse are difficult to believe; when I
have been in the MacWorld press room, it's always been pretty vacant.
Even at the Consumer Electronics Show (a show that is many many times
larger [and more fun!] than MacWorld) the press room was never full
of people, and there was always a free phone and PC to use...

Would I pay to get in to a show like MacWorld?  No.  The vendors have
already, theoretically, paid for members of the press to be able to 
attend as part of their conference fees (not to mention the cost of 
printing up their press announcements too; and they're certainly 
not typically given out to regular attendees).  Further, it's just
not worth the hassle of billing the magazine for entry fees -- and
worse, if it's cheap, then why the hell should they hassle the press
about getting in?  And if they're expensive, then why should we pay?

	Next MacWorld, well, I might not be in too much of a rush to
	attend.  After all, I can get into Comdex ... 

						-- Dave Taylor
Intuitive Systems
Mountain View, California

taylor@limbo.intuitive.com    or   {uunet!}{decwrl,apple}!limbo!taylor