The Apple Expo Paris recently concluded was a small and underwhelming event, according to Joe Kissell at TidBITS.
Mr. Kissell is a Macintosh professional who has attended many Macworld events. He wrote about his impressions of Apple Expo Paris 2007 and had some illuminating observations.
The hall was much smaller than Moscone in San Francisco. "No keynote speeches, classes, seminars, or symposiums going on in other rooms - just the vendorsi exhibits. Apple did offer a series of daily workshops on topics ranging from iLife to Logic Pro, and some of the exhibitors (such as Quark and Adobe) had periodic hands-on, classroom-style training sessions in their booths, which also happens at Macworld. But Iim just saying: it was an expo, not a conference," the author observed.
All of the signs were, of course, in French. Except Apple. All of Appleis signage was in English, which was considered odd.
Aside from booth workers and "booth babes," there were very few attendees who were female. So much so that a booth worker was startled to see Mr. Kisselis wife as an attendee.
There was some sexually explicit signage that would never appear at a U.S. show.
Mr. Kissel recapped the products he saw, but finally concluded that "there didnit seem to be much substance to it... In fairness, Iim a jaded veteran of umpteen Macworld Expos, so my impressions may be atypical. If youire a French Mac user, undoubtedly this would be an interesting and useful show to attend every few years. However, by no means should anyone make a special trip to France just for this show. Make a special trip to France for the food, the museums, and the history... and drop by the show if you have a free afternoon."