The largest convention in Las Vegas opens its doors first thing Wednesday morning. The 2016 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) takes over Las Vegas for the next 4 days and will fill up just about every hotel room and occupy most, if not all the available hotel rooms on the Las Vegas Strip plus some downtown. Over 160,000 people are expected to be in Las Vegas for this annual event dedicated to all things electronics.
What is CES?
The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is our first major convention of the new year. It’s also our largest annual convention we host and it is closed to the general public. Only those who work in the consumer electronics industry/marketplace can get credentials to attend. It is where the newest in consumer electronics technology is shown off to potential buyers and to those who want to use the technology for future development. Everything from Bluetooth toothbrushes to self-driving cars to drones as well as bendable televisions, virtual reality sunglasses, embedded smartphones and everything else electronic. If it was on the original Star Trek show, I am pretty sure its here!
Not only is this the place to “geek out” its also a place where major brands will get together and have workshops, training sessions and sales events. Where people int he trade come to hear speakers talk about the technology they will be dealing with, selling and installing. It’s where we can learn what makes it all tick and what futuristic tools and technology is on the horizon.
If you ever want to learn how to put on a convention, how to move people and make it all come together, this is the best testing grounds. I have seen meeting planners and transportation operators go psycho after the first 24 hours of the show because of the logistics and the coordination is so huge and has to fluctuate rapidly because of all the people, the traffic and the changing demands of the show operators and the vendors.
CES attendees will fill up a majority of the hotel rooms, causing prices to rise and crowds to be everywhere. The one thing that has changed almost as much as the technology is the demographics of the attendees. It used to be just computer jockeys. Nerds who did not gamble or see the shows. CES was always mixed or confused with another tech show that was held here called Comdex that Sheldon Adelson used to own. He owns the Venetian. That show closed several years ago as the computer chip and its technology became mainstream.
Today, the CES crowd is a mix of “geeks” as well as three-piece suited businessmen and home based entrepreneurs who has a high-tech startup, dressed in flip-flops and t-shirts. The international market is huge here as well. Both as attendees and as exhibitors. European markets are now growing in the technology fields, giving Asian markets a run for their money.
The Trends
What they tell us in the media reviews, is that the big items here are the wearables and the sensory embedding. Think of it like this: You come home usually tired and lay on the couch. Your home heating unit is already at its desired temp because your car told it you were 10 minutes away and need to turn up the heat. As you walk into the house, the lights come on and your favorite show is on the big screen, flat, bendable 4K television and its streaming from the internet. All things you told the individual items you liked or it got that information after a few days of “sensing” the environment.
Now you are crashed on the couch, something you don’t normally do. So the couch senses you are in a depressed mood and suggests a better TV show or maybe some ambient music coming from your reading lamps streaming from your Bluetooth musical app on your smart phone?
Yes, that’s what’s here. And so much more!
I will be reporting on the show for this website and my business blog AskMrMark.com Looking for interesting technology and gadgets for the tourist as well as for the budding entrepreneur. Not to mention just really cool toys I can play with here and not have to buy!!
Always open to your comments and questions. Want to get in touch with me quickly with a question about the show, one of its exhibitors? Hashtag #askmrmark or hit me up on Facebook or Twitter.
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