Keynote at the Keynote
Despite the fact that there was no Quark at the keynote, there was Keynote, Steve’s personal presentation program for Mac OS X. Using the power of the Quartz engine, Keynote blew me away with its transitions, opacity controls, and drop-shadow effects. This is everything I’ve ever wanted for the Acrobat presentations I do when speaking at public events such as Macworld itself. And despite the fact that I should have left early to get ready for my workshop, I stayed right to the end and was able to get a free copy of Keynote.
Unfortunately, although Keynote is very promising and I can see myself using it instead of Acrobat or (heaven forbid) Microsoft PowerPoint, it didn’t take me long to ascertain its shortcomings. Either Steve has lower expectations for a presentation program, or mine are much higher. Here’s what I’d like to see in the next version of Keynote:
- Better timing controls. There is no way to set slides to play automatically after a certain amount of time. Also, there is no way to set an exact time for transitions and builds. Keynote only offers a non-specific slider for slow to fast.
- Better sound controls. Sounds can only play on the slide they are added to. As soon as you move from one slide to another, the sound stops. There is no way to set music to play throughout an entire presentation. There is no way to set a sound to play at the same time a build happens. The sound can happen before or after the graphic appears, but not at the same time.
- Looping! The people who do self-running kiosk presentations need looping.
- Onscreen navigation buttons. At the moment you can only navigate using the keyboard. We need to be able to create navigation bars to move anywhere within a presentation. And speaking of moving anywhere, we also need hyperlinks to other Keynote documents and well as Web URL’s.
The Long Road to Expo
As my cab passed the Moscone Center on the way to the airport, I couldn’t help but wonder what the future is for Macworld Expos. There have been many indications that instead of two shows — a West Coast show in the winter (San Francisco) and an East Coast show in summer (New York or Boston) — there will be only one in San Francisco. For the past several years most of the big name exhibitors such as Adobe and Macromedia have completely abandoned the East Coast show. And it has only been very special events — such as the recent release of Director MX — that has brought Macromedia to the San Francisco event. (To be fair, Macworld is not the only trade show subject to such speculation and uncertainty. For example, the long-running, twice-a-year Seybold Seminars will not have a spring show this year.)
Even Apple has dropped hints that they may no longer need to exhibit at expositions. For instance, in his keynote address, Steve Jobs said that in the month of December of last year, the Apple stores had more visitors in one month than it had at 10 Macworld Expos. This statistic brought very muted the applause from the Macworld crowd, many of whom view the event as an annual pilgrimage. Faithful attendees know that sort of statistic, coupled with the need to trim expenses, could push Apple to attend fewer trade shows.
Now, before I get slammed for daring to foretell the end of the East Coast show, look at some of the exhibitors at the recent event. Off to the side of the South hall was a fairly large booth for a window company. At first when I saw the exhibit, I thought it was a clever play on document windows — perhaps something for working with OS X or opening PC files. But as I circled the big wooden display I realized these guys were seriously selling insulated windows and doors! Now either they got lost on their way to the annual hardware convention, or IDG needed to look outside the industry to fill up the floor space. In the past, I’ve never minded the occasional backrest and foot-massage booths at Macworld — after all, it is tiring to march up and down those aisles — but recently there have been too many car and other non-computer exhibits at these shows (Mercedes Benz at Seybold Seminars, for example). Rather than resemble a serious trade show, the exhibitor list is reading like that of a country fair.
Can IDG Expos have a successful Macworld without Apple? Probably, but they would have to put a lot of emphasis on the education and training tracks. Note to IDG: Make it very important that Bob Levitus and David Pogue are leading sessions.
Can Apple have successful marketing without Macworld? Absolutely! If Apple wants to make a big announcement for new products, it can schedule the event at any large venue such as Radio City Music Hall in New York. The New York press and Wall Street analysts would fill the hall along with hundreds of Apple faithful in the New York Area. The speech would be streamed to the Web and featured in every one of the Apple retail stores. Then, as soon as the speech was over, the new products would be right there, in the stores, for people to touch and play with. It’s an event that can be scheduled whenever Apple wants and reaches just as many people as the current Macworld keynote address.
What’s missing, though, is the thrill of being in a convention hall surrounded by thousands of like-minded people, and losing that would be a shame.
Iconography for the Faithful
As long as I have this podium, let me take a moment to mention one of my pet peeves for the past five or six Macworld Expos. Steve Jobs has completely eliminated selling Macintosh paraphernalia such as t-shirts, jackets, hats, pens, and notepads. There used to be a stand, close to the Apple booth, where you could buy such articles, but it’s gone. The only way to get Apple-logo stuff is to drive down to Cupertino, to the Apple company store and shop there. (Shawn King, of the Web-radio show “Your Mac Life,” arranged a bus trip for his listeners.)
But you can’t even buy what’s at the company store at the regular Apple retail stores. Rumor has it that Steve hated all the schlocky merchandise that use to be sold, so he has banished it forever. However, I remember teaching during the early ’90s and having students ask me where I got my Apple pin or shirt. One even wanted to buy my pin right off my blazer. I used to have sheets of gold Apple stickers that I could give students for being very clever. They loved the accolade. Sadly all that stuff is gone. Steve, please, bring it back. You have no idea how many of your customers want to proudly display their brand of computer.
Read more by Sandee Cohen.
This article was last modified on January 18, 2023
This article was first published on January 21, 2003
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