Macworld Expo organizers have moved the 2010 conference and trade show back one month, into a more sensible February. It’s a welcome change for those of us who’ve been attending to learn, shop and network at the old early-January show dates.

The fate of the Feb. 9-13 conference, which Apple abandoned after this year, is not certain even though IDG World Expo has already said the event will happen no matter how much participation they get. The Expo organizers report that 90 exhibitors signed letters of intent to buy show floor space already. The cost per square foot has dropped, too. Best of all, free passes to explore the expo floor are available now.

As for attendees, the marketing has already begun many months earlier to get us to show up in those expo aisles. The word “conference” has been added to the event’s name, but every class and seminar is now packed into Moscone West; they once spread over two halls. But there’s decent learning on the expo floor, too. It’s worthwhile to make a trip to Macworld at least once if your business is built upon Macs and Apple products. It remains to be seen how much iPod commerce will fill the show aisles, rather than the higher-grade exhibition of business solutions in software and hardware.Just because a show organizer swears a conference will take off doesn’t mean it will happen. In 2005, those of us in the Hewlett-Packard enterprise world watched a 31-year-old user group cancel a show less than a month before HP World was supposed to open. Of course, the user group was going bankrupt overnight, leaving millions in debts and attendees holding air tickets and hotel reservations. That won’t be the case with IDG, one of the biggest computing information companies in the world.

The new dates mean that travel will be cheaper and the weather better, from our experience in the Bay Area that time of year. Show specials don’t amount to a great savings in attending Macworld, although $15 here and there can add up to the greater part of a ticket. You should attend because 1. You want this venue to continue and grow its training offerings, and 2. The networking at any good conference always pays off in time saved, through tips learned and tools discovered.