For those lucky enough to be heading over to the beautiful city of San Francisco for this years Macworld Conference and Expo, World of Apple is here to offer three complete guides to Food, Sleep and Apple.

Part 1 - Where to Stay?
Part 2 - Good Food Guide

The week of Macworld can overwhelming for newbies and veterans alike, the parties, conferences, shows and general events are difficult to follow. This guide is by no means the be all and end all but it’ll hopefully highlight the best that Macworld 2008 has to offer.

Macworld Parties

Lets start with the biggest party of Macworld this year, Ars Technica and Gizmodo will be hosting a joint event on Monday 14th at 46 Minna. As with most of these events plenty of freebies going around.

Date: Monday, January 14th
Location: Harlot at 46 Minna St, San Francisco, CA
Time: 8pm
Map: Google Maps

The next big event is the annual Macworld Blast! party. Blast! is the official Macworld Expo party and is a great place to mingle with fellow attendees, exhibitors and celebrities (Apple related celebrities that is).

Date: Keynote day (Tuesday, January 15th)
Location: Warfield at 982 Market Street, San Francisco, CA
Time: 8pm - 11pm
Tickets: $40
Map: Google Maps

Also going down is the annual DailyTechTalk Macworld party, this will be the 3rd annual event with great live entertainment and a brilliant selection of drinks at the bar.

Date: Wednesday, January 16th
Location: SWIG at 561 Geary St, San Francisco, CA
Time: 9pm - 3am
Map: Google Maps

Also hosted by DailyTechTalk is the Macworld Closeout, this is less of a party and more of a general meetup but a great place to finish off your mingling.

Date: Friday, January 18th
Location: Clift Hotel at 495 Geary Street, San Francisco, CA
Time: 10pm
Map: Google Maps

Macworld Expo Highlights

Macworld isn’t just made up of booths with products, a keynote and press conferences. It is also jam packed with shows and presentations. Here are a few to definitely check out.

Every year at Macworld, Steve Jobs kicks off the expo by showing the world Apple’s latest products. Last year the stage at Macworld hosted the revealing of the iPhone. What will it be this year?

  • What: Keynote
  • When: Tuesday, January 15th 9.00am
  • Where: Moscone West
  • Details: Available to those with conference badges and press passes only. This is the one and only event that is a must see.

Every year at Macworld hundreds of features presentations take place, one of the best is called the “Macworld Best of Show 2008.” Hosted by Macworld magazine this presentation showcases the hottest products at Macworld this year.

  • What: Macworld Best of Show 2008
  • When: Wednesday, January 16th 2.45pm - 3.45pm
  • Where: W-3001
  • Details: Not to be missed!

If you’re into having a laugh or just generally like David Pogue then Macworld Live! is the place to be. David Pogue, New York Times columnist hosts his version of a chat show with interviews, song parodies and plenty of Macworld news.

  • What: Macworld Live! with David Pogue
  • When: Thursday, January 17th 9.00am - 10.00am
  • Where: W-3001
  • Details: Pogue’s song parodies are hilarious, definitely worth getting up early for this.

Another fun presentation to go watch is “The Process of Elimination”, Andy Ihnatko of the Chicago Times hosts a gameshow just for Macworld attendees.

  • What: The Process of Elimination hosted by Andy Ihnatko–Columnist (The Mac Observer),The Chicago Sun-Times & Macworld
  • When: Thursday January 17th 2.45pm - 3.45pm
  • Where: W-3001
  • Details: Join us for some trivia — join us for some fun — join us! Andy Ihnatko will host a game show exclusively for members of the Macworld community. Test your wits with a short series of Apple and general-trivia questions that describe the “Mystery Product.”

Apple Store Events

San Francisco has a brilliant Apple Store (actually has three) located on the corner of Stockton and Ellis. When you’re tired of the bustling Expo take a short walk up 4th Street and you’ll be greeted with that familiar brushed aluminium facade of the Apple Store.

During Macworld week the store often hosts a couple of special presentations that are out of the ordinary schedule. Some of these are well worth checking out, here is a few of our selection.

  • What: Run Windows on Your Mac with VMware Fusion
  • When: Wednesday, January 16th 1.30pm - 2.30pm
  • Where: Apple Store, Stockton Street
  • Details: Discover VMware Fusion, the most seamless way to run Windows applications on your Mac.
  • What: Expert Photo Tips from Real Experts
  • When: Wednesday, January 16th 4.30pm - 5.30pm
  • Where: Apple Store, Stockton Street
  • Details: Expert photographers and O’Reilly authors Derrick Story, Mikkel Aaland, Rick Smolan, and Harold Davis share their insiders’ perspective on the world of digital photography to help you get the most out of your digital images.
  • What: Pogue’s Tips and Tricks for Mac OS X Leopard
  • When: Thursday, January 17th 4.30pm - 5.30pm
  • Where: Apple Store, Stockton Street
  • Details: Get a little humor with your knowledge from David Pogue, a New York Times columnist, Emmy Award-winning correspondent for CBS News, and author of the Missing Manual series. He’ll share his insights into getting the most out of Mac OS X Leopard.

That’s it for our series of posts about Macworld 2008, for those attending we hope you enjoy the show. Feel free to drop us an email with any questions or maybe you want to meet up!