Attending a Macworld trade show can leave you hungry — not just for food, but for information as well. It’s a case of the more you get, the more you want.

With that in mind, Garr Reynolds (Program Manager for Worldwide User Group Relations at Apple) arranged a special event in the downtown Marriott hotel to cap off Macworld San Francisco 2002, an event that would provide user group attendees not only with a hearty breakfast but with plenty of details about Apple’s newest products.

Were appetites whet for a feast of breakfast and Macintosh? You bet. While the session was scheduled to begin at 7:30 a.m., well before 7:00 a.m. a long, hungry line could already be seen snaking down the corridor outside the ballroom. Some people, in fact, queued up as early as 6:00 a.m., not wanting to find themselves stuck way in the back when Apple product managers Jai Chulani and John Santoro served up their presentations of the powerful new iMac computer and the robust new iPhoto software application.

First on the Menu: iMac
While attendees sipped their coffee and downed their omelets, Reynolds nourished them with a brief recap of the presentation that kicked off user group activities at this Macworld. During User Group University, Guy Kawasaki, the original Apple Evangelist, offered advice on building a better user group, organizing groups around a particular cause, and making user group participation a safe first step for non-Macintosh owners.

Then the baton was passed to Chulani, who conducted an in-depth tour of the striking new iMac computer. The goal of the new design, he said, was “to let every element be true to itself.”

We wanted the flat screen display to be as adjustable as possible, for example, because we know that whole families share the iMac — adults and kids of different heights, all of whom want to be comfortable when they stare into that stunning display. The new iMac lets six-footers and three-footers alike adjust the display almost effortlessly.

The Missing Link
Next up was John Santoro. iPhoto, he said, is “the final component in Apple’s digital hub strategy — the application everyone was waiting for.” With digital camera sales growing every year, it was important for Apple to introduce what is known as “the missing link,” an application that makes it easy to save, organize, and share digital images.

Generous amounts of applause ended each presentation, and when the event was over, several attendees lingered to ask questions.

Among them was Dean Cleary, presentation director for Orange Apple Computer Club in Costa Mesa, California. After seeing the in-depth iPhoto presentation, he said that he “can't wait to get back to our group and show people how to use it.”

Great Food and Great Presentations
Paul Cook, of The Northwest of US Macintosh Users Group, added that the new iMac is “a cool-looking product. From a performance standpoint, it’s really a step forward.”

And David Roemer, from Apple Student Core at Emory University, thought it was “nice to learn the specifics behind what’s announced at the keynote and get to see why Apple made certain decisions.”

“Great food and great presentations,” was how Cleary summed up the morning. “It’s worth getting up at 5:30 in the morning to be here.”

We hope to see you at the next user group breakfast, which will be held at Macworld New York 2002 this July. If you haven’t joined a user group yet, take advantage of our user group locator to find one near you.

— Brad Cook