Produced by Boston-based IDG World Expo, Macworld Conference & Expo is a trade show dedicated to the Apple Macintosh platform with conference tracks held annually in the United States, usually during the second week of January. Macworld is the most widely read Macintosh magazine in North America, and is a trademark of its publisher Mac Publishing, a wholly owned subsidiary of International Data Group. IDG World Expo is also a subsidiary of International Data Group. At one time, the show was known simply as Macworld Expo.

The Conference & Expo features educational conferences taught by leaders in their fields, which require large admission fees to attend, and last for a few more days than the Expo. The Expo is open for a number of days (generally three or four), and attendees can visit the exhibits set up by hardware manufacturers and software publishers that support the Macintosh platform.

History

The San Francisco event has always been held at the Moscone Center. The Expo was also held in Brooks Hall near the San Francisco Civic Center from 1985 until 1993, when the expansion of Moscone Center allowed the show to be consolidated in one location.

Until 2005, the U.S. shows were held semiannually, with a January show in San Francisco and an additional summer show held in the Eastern US. The latter event was held initially in Boston at the Bayside Expo & Executive Conference Center, later expanding with a dual presence at the Boston World Trade Center. From 1998 to 2003 it took place in New York City's Jacob K. Javits Convention Center. The 2004 and 2005 summer shows, retitled Macworld Conference & Expo took place in Boston, although without Apple's participation. Other companies followed Apple's lead, canceling or reducing the size of their own exhibits, which resulted in reduced attendance compared to previous Macworld conferences. On 16 September 2005, IDG announced that no further summertime shows would be held in NYC or in Boston.

The show has also taken place in other cities:

• A Tokyo show, produced by IDG World Expo Japan, was held at Makuhari Messe and moved to Tokyo Big Sight in 2002.
• Macworld Expo Summit, a version of the show targeted at U.S. government customers, was held at the Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. as late as 1994.
• In 2004, Macworld UK, part of the IDG UK division of IDG, created two Macworld Conference events on its own: one standalone conference, and one conference adjoining the MacExpo trade show in London.