WWDC 2009 - Updated

[not_too_shabby]

Why can't they make this a week later? My daughter is in school and it is their last week of school up here in Oregon. If it was a week later I would bring the fam and make a vacation out of it for them while I learn the ways of the jedi iPhone programmers.

[brendand]

Sessions start at 9:00 am and end at 6:00 pm if I remember correctly. It's a very long day. But lunch is like 2 hours I believe.

Just a tip about the keynote for you:

There's two ways to get a good seat at the keynote. One is to get there VERY early. Last year my friend started lining up at 3:30 am. I got there around 6:00 am. We got pretty descent seats. The other way is to wait until they've seated all the VIPs in the front area and then they start waving anyone over to the front so they can fill the empty seats for the cameras.

Either way, it's a very long wait for the keynote, but it's well worth it as it's an amazing start to the week. Hopefully Steve is well enough to give the keynote this year. Get well Steve, we're rootin' for ya!

[johnqh]

Originally Posted by not_too_shabby

Why can't they make this a week later? My daughter is in school and it is their last week of school up here in Oregon. If it was a week later I would bring the fam and make a vacation out of it for them while I learn the ways of the jedi iPhone programmers.

You want your family to have all the fun by themselves while you are thinking obj-C?

Come on, stay one extra week, and have your family fly in on the Saturday after WWDC.

[elektrobank]

Can everyone get into the keynote, or is it first come first serve?

Originally Posted by brendand

Sessions start at 9:00 am and end at 6:00 pm if I remember correctly. It's a very long day. But lunch is like 2 hours I believe.

Just a tip about the keynote for you:

There's two ways to get a good seat at the keynote. One is to get there VERY early. Last year my friend started lining up at 3:30 am. I got there around 6:00 am. We got pretty descent seats. The other way is to wait until they've seated all the VIPs in the front area and then they start waving anyone over to the front so they can fill the empty seats for the cameras.

Either way, it's a very long wait for the keynote, but it's well worth it as it's an amazing start to the week. Hopefully Steve is well enough to give the keynote this year. Get well Steve, we're rootin' for ya!

[brendand]

First come, first serve. There's overflow areas where you can watch it on video. But I've never been to one of those. I've always made sure I was there early enough.

[carlosl3g]

Hey guys,


Does anyone knows if there is some sort of support (maybe a signed letter) offered appple to facilitate the application for a temporary visa to come to WWDC from my home country?

Thanks a lot for your comments

[GRANDxADMIRAL]

I am pumped for June 8th.

So how do we signify to other attendees that we frequent iPhoneDevSDK Forums? Spontaneous yelling? Giant pokemon costumes? Maybe we could keep ourselves extremely inebriated all week...

(I love Safari's auto spell check. Inebraited is a hard word...)

[Knertified]

We should come up with a ghetto gang sign.

[johnqh]

Originally Posted by Knertified

We should come up with a ghetto gang sign.

No, someone should write an app for it. Shows the location of all the fellow iphonedevsdk'ers

[savemeanegg]

So guys a couple of questions...

1. Where do you find the daily itinerary of the WWDC? I see the sessions & labs on the WWDC site but nothing of dates and times of when then occur so I can plan my visit.


2. is there gonna be an iPhoneDevSDK meet up?

Thanks

[elektrobank]

Did you get that price by bidding or through their hotel search? If so, I'm assuming that you selected "SOMA - Moscone Center" and "4-Star Deluxe" then bid $73 and got he Parc 55?

Originally Posted by wdn

I'll be staying at the Parc 55. Can't beat $73 per night through Priceline! (30% savings over their best internet rate of $105 per night, which also requires prepayment and is non-refundable.) This hotel is pretty comparable to other business class hotels in the area like Marriott, etc. but is significantly cheaper if you get it through Priceline.

Hotel website
TripAdvisor Reviews
Bidding on hotels through Priceline

[Knertified]

Originally Posted by elektrobank

Did you get that price by bidding or through their hotel search? If so, I'm assuming that you selected "SOMA - Moscone Center" and "4-Star Deluxe" then bid $73 and got he Parc 55?

Dam that is a good deal. I went through the parc 55 website and got the room with a view for $125/night.

savemeanegg: They haven't released the schedule yet.

[jeff_lamarche]

Originally Posted by brendand

Sessions start at 9:00 am and end at 6:00 pm if I remember correctly. It's a very long day. But lunch is like 2 hours I believe.

Doors open at 8:00 am for breakfast, first session is typically at 8:30, not 9:00. I seem to remember lunch being 90 minutes, but whatever it is, it's plenty of time to go get lunch somewhere else, or if you eat at Moscone, you can use the labs or just socialize. 6:00 sounds about right for the end time, maybe 6:30.

Originally Posted by brendand

There's two ways to get a good seat at the keynote. One is to get there VERY early. Last year my friend started lining up at 3:30 am. I got there around 6:00 am. We got pretty descent seats. The other way is to wait until they've seated all the VIPs in the front area and then they start waving anyone over to the front so they can fill the empty seats for the cameras.

There's also a huge element of luck. I was in line about 4:15, was perhaps #200 or so in the line, but once we moved into the Moscone, the line was probably 15 or 20 abreast, and relative positions changed alot. Though it was a very nice group of people, there were opportunists who jockeyed for position and several people ended up in front of me who started quite a ways back.

Just before they let us up to the fourth floor, they set all four escalators to go up, and then just dropped the rope. It was possible to be the first person in line before the escalators and be beat by a few hundred people into the main room. It was also possible to come in later and get a great seat because they never know how many VIP seats they are going to need, so the whole front section is off-limits to the first wave of people. But the VIPs typically take maybe the middle two front sections (less than half the area reserved), and they then open up the rest after five or ten minutes.

You'll have a better chance at a good seat if you don't care about staying with your friends. If you are a big group that wants to stay together, your chances of getting one of those prime seats in the front are much less and basically it's only going to happen if your timing is perfect. If you don't mind being separated from your friends and move quickly, you can almost certainly get a seat up front, albeit on the sides.

If you get there really early, you're almost certain to get into the main room, but unless you're a VIP, you're not guaranteed a decent seat. You'll have to jockey a bit and cross your fingers some, too. But there aren't any horrible seats. The RDF works everywhere in the buidling.

The line is actually a good time. I really enjoyed talking with so many different people. I'm not sure that I'll be going quite so early this year, that's a long time to wait with very few restrooms and the overflow rooms are quite comfy and you actually get a better view because the viewscreens are bigger and you're closer to them. I'm going to play it by ear and see how it goes.

Originally Posted by brendand

Either way, it's a very long wait for the keynote, but it's well worth it as it's an amazing start to the week. Hopefully Steve is well enough to give the keynote this year. Get well Steve, we're rootin' for ya!

Absolutely - if it's your first time, you definitely want to get there early and take in the whole experience. The keynote line is a great opportunity to meet lots of people. Just make sure to bring some food and empty your bladder before you head over there, because you won't hit the first restroom until after 7:00am when they open the doors.

See you all there!

[wdn]

Originally Posted by elektrobank

Did you get that price by bidding or through their hotel search? If so, I'm assuming that you selected "SOMA - Moscone Center" and "4-Star Deluxe" then bid $73 and got he Parc 55?

Originally Posted by Knertified

Dam that is a good deal. I went through the parc 55 website and got the room with a view for $125/night.

The Parc 55 is actually in Priceline's USW zone. It was accepted on my first try so you might be able to put in a starting bid of $69, increasing it by $2 and adding the USE and SOMA zones if you're unsuccessful. If you've never bid through Priceline before, be sure to read up on the process here:

Priceline and Hotwire Forum -> SAN FRANCISCO - Priceline

Just be aware you're not guaranteed to get a specific hotel when bidding through Priceline (but any of the 4* hotels around Moscone are pretty nice), you'll need to prepay in full if you win a successful bid, and bids are non-refundable. If you can live with those conditions Priceline bidding is a great way to save quite a bit of money.

Knertified, if you won't face a cancellation penalty, you could still get your room through Priceline and cancel with the Parc 55 if successful. Saving $52 a day is like a nice little beer stipend.

[elektrobank]

Thanks, I tried and couldn't get that deal. Must have been a lot of people going to WWDC booking in that hotel since when you got it. I had to keep increasing my bid until it was finally accepted for the Marriott for $100/night. Not as good a deal, but still pretty good and looks like a nice hotel.

Originally Posted by wdn

The Parc 55 is actually in Priceline's USW zone. It was accepted on my first try so you might be able to put in a starting bid of $69, increasing it by $2 and adding the USE and SOMA zones if you're unsuccessful. If you've never bid through Priceline before, be sure to read up on the process here:

Priceline and Hotwire Forum -> SAN FRANCISCO - Priceline

Just be aware you're not guaranteed to get a specific hotel when bidding through Priceline (but any of the 4* hotels around Moscone are pretty nice), you'll need to prepay in full if you win a successful bid, and bids are non-refundable. If you can live with those conditions Priceline bidding is a great way to save quite a bit of money.

Knertified, if you won't face a cancellation penalty, you could still get your room through Priceline and cancel with the Parc 55 if successful. Saving $52 a day is like a nice little beer stipend.

[wdn]

Originally Posted by elektrobank

Thanks, I tried and couldn't get that deal. Must have been a lot of people going to WWDC booking in that hotel since when you got it. I had to keep increasing my bid until it was finally accepted for the Marriott for $100/night. Not as good a deal, but still pretty good and looks like a nice hotel.

That's still a very good deal--the Marriott is nicer and closer (it's literally right across the street from Moscone West) than the Parc 55 and you're paying less than half the best available non-opaque rates. The sky lounge on the 39th floor is definitely a great spot to enjoy some coffee/drinks while soaking in the view.

[natekruser]

The Aida Plaza Hotel is cheap ($55 a night), and only a few blocks from the Moscone Center. According to Google most of the distance can be covered by public transit down Market St.

It has some mixed reviews, but after 10 years in the military my hotel standards are generally lower than most people's.

[ale_brazil]

Hey there.
We need to make an iPhone Dev meeting on the WWDC.
I was thinking that maybe we could schedule it over there through twitter.

If anyone likes the idea, my twitter is alelima
Please post yours too so we can gather as much people we can!

Cheers!

[Thaurin]

I was supposed to go for work, but I already had a trip to Sweden planned! Noooooo! Well, congrats to my colleagues that got to go then.

[GRANDxADMIRAL]

I refuse to start using twitter

[Knertified]

Originally Posted by GRANDxADMIRAL

I refuse to start using twitter

haha me too

[Jume]

Hey guys,

just confirmed for me. I'm coming to WWDC 09 all the way from Slovenia (unless the swine flu thing gets totally out of order ). If anyone would like to meet I'm up to it. This is my first trip to US so it'll be interesting for me.

Looking forward of meeting some of you.

Q: will I be able to join the keynote address with the ticket I bought?

BR,
Jume

[sirjec]

Originally Posted by Jume

Hey guys,
Q: will I be able to join the keynote address with the ticket I bought?

Keynote is first-come-first-serve. I lined up at about 6am last year and got in fine, but people were lining up the night before. It's pretty crazy, people run from the top level escalators to get a seat, you'd think it's a rock concert!


BTW - WWDC just sold out - so anyone considering coming who hasn't got themselves a ticket will be disappointed! Apple Developer Connection - Worldwide Developers Conference 2009

[racer_X]

Originally Posted by ale_brazil

Hey there.
We need to make an iPhone Dev meeting on the WWDC.
I was thinking that maybe we could schedule it over there through twitter.

If anyone likes the idea, my twitter is alelima
Please post yours too so we can gather as much people we can!

Cheers!

Originally Posted by johnqh

No, someone should write an app for it. Shows the location of all the fellow iphonedevsdk'ers

john i so think we should make that app similar to Navizon from the early jailbreak era. I would be willing to help write it but i can't do the whole thing.

twitter would be a good alternative however not everyone has it or wants to get it as seen in the prev posts haha

I'll be at the intercontinental got a sweet rate 98$.night so i'll be lining up at 6am! for sure! i want a good spot for my first wwdc!

[Knertified]

So if I wear a Visual Studio 2008 t-shirt while standing in line for WWDC, would that be bad? :P jk

I can't believe it's already sold out!