In just under 24 hours time, some of the Realmac team (myself, Dan, Keith, Damien and James) will be flying out to San Francisco for Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference. We’re incredibly excited to see what Apple have got in store for us this year, and if you’re in San Francisco next week, keep an eye out for us - a fresh new batch of Realmac tees arrived just this morning and we’ll have a limited number of them with us!
As we’ve all been to WWDC in previous years, we thought we’d offer some tips for those who may be heading to the conference for the first time.
1. Don’t queue at stupid o’clock for the Keynote - @dancounsell
I’ve seen people start the line at around 11pm the night before. I want to see the keynote just as much as the next geek, but that’s just crazy. Last year I joined the queue at around 7:00-ish and got into the main room (Presidio). Keep calm and don’t panic, it’s easy to get swept along and feel like you need to get in-line super early.
If you ignore my advice and join the line at some ungodly hour of the morning, wear plenty of layers, don’t bring your laptop, and travel light. You’ll certainly want to pick yourself up an iPhone battery pack, I recommend the Mophie helium, that way you’ll be able to twiddle away on your iPhone to pass the time without fear of it dying.
And when you do finally make it into the Keynote, switch off all your devices, sit back, relax, and feel smug about the fact that you had a good nights sleep. Oh and if you’re feeling really alternative you could try #wwdcnoqueue.
2. Explore the city if you’ve got time - @nikf
San Francisco is an amazing city (perhaps one of my favourites). The week will be very busy - but if you’re in town before things start (or looking for somewhere off the beaten track to go for food one evening) I’ve prepared a Foursquare list with some of my favourite places in the city. There’s plenty around the Moscone Centre, but I’ve also added some slightly further afield too - Tony’s Pizza and Pizzeria Delfina are highly recommended.
If you’re wanting to get around San Francisco, there’s of course Uber or the slightly less conventional Lyft. I’ve used both and they’re far more convenient than cab or public transport in the city - though getting in from San Francisco airport to the city you may be better off grabbing a cab or taking the BART.
3. Visit the Labs - @jamesbeith
The labs are a great opportunity to speak to Apple engineers one–on–one. Whether you’re stuck with a bug, need guidance on a particular technology or have a specific topic you’d like to discuss, the labs are the place to go. There are however a few things you should prepare before descending on these very popular lab sessions. First and foremost, prepare your question, prepare a relevant sample project and if it’s a bug make sure you’ve filed a radar where appropriate. Be as prepared as can as you’ll want to get the most out of your time with an Apple engineer.
Secondly you’ll want to make sure you meet an Apple engineer who is specialised in the key area related to your question. As you enter a lab there will be a small desk where you can register, propose your question and get hooked up with the relevant engineer. After you’ve got the help you needed to solve that bug you’ve been stuck on try not to hang around and hold up desk space. The labs aren’t huge and there will no doubt be a queue forming behind you.
My final piece of advice leads on from just that. The labs are very popular and at times there can be long queues just to register at the entrance of the lab. If the queue is long, come back later! WWDC is an amazing event and you never know you might just get chatting to a fellow developer who’s already solved that bug that’s got you stuck.
4. Team up - @DamienDeVille
There are many sessions and labs during the week, most of them running at the same time. Don’t try to attend all of them. Team up with friends and split between simultaneous sessions so that you can share thoughts and notes afterwards. This also works for the labs where your time is even more valuable.
5. Know what you’re queueing for - @Keith_Duncan
There are a lot of queues at WWDC, starting with registration which opens on the Sunday before, and then the inevitable keynote queue early Monday morning. Once the conference is in full swing, queues snake throughout the building for the different rooms depending on how popular each session proves. It can be hard to find the end of the queue for the session you’re trying to attend. Before committing to a queue, make sure that you’re actually queueing for what you think you’re queuing for to save wasting your time.
See you there?
We hope you find these tips useful - if you’ve got any of your own that we’ve missed, give the team a shout on Twitter. Oh, and if you’re in San Francisco and spot any of us, be sure to say hello!
