Conventions

Okay, when it comes to tradeshows, there’s big… then there’s huge… then there’s CES. The Consumer Electronics Show calls itself the largest consumer trade show in the world and the biggest in North America. Following the recession, CES was picking itself up after a brutal 2009 slump. Attendance plummeted that year from the all-time high of 144,000 to 113,000, with some paid-for exhibit space left abandoned. 2010 was back up to 127,000, and 2011 looks like beating that attendance figure by a decent margin, if the lines to get a taxi or a shuttle bus between the multiple Vegas venues was any indication. CES is something of a bellwether for trade shows in general. Tablets, internet-TV and smartphones were hot items, and cars (not normally thought of as “consumer electronics”) made a surprise show debut. 3D-TV was arousing less excitement than predicted.

“The 2011 International CES was a phenomenal worldwide event that spanned global industries including technology, automotive and entertainment markets,” said Gary Shapiro, president and CEO, CEA. “This global technology gathering featured more innovation, more news, more social media buzz and more international attendance than any other show in CES history.”

I believe the final booth count for exhibiting companies was 2700.
Preliminary attendance is estimated at 140,000..up from 2010.
The iStages, which showcases the newest creative innovations is now sold out for 2012.
For the 1st time “smart” appliances –those that can be controlled remotely, had their own featured section outside of the Smart House concept.

Great show! Thank you to CEA & the LVCVA for making it happen.

Back next year for 2012 CES

Oh sure — leave a 20 yr old in charge of gathering Day 3 and what do I get? Cars. Gaming. Girls. Not necessarily in that order.

Apparently that’s when all the action starts!
Just some random party pictures from various CES related events. Some are personal. Some are business related. Its the B-t-B team in action.

While it might “read” day 2, for me it is really day 4 and my last day here as I have another conference in Denver that I’m heading out for on Saturday.
Let’s talk about social networking today. More than the tablets, more than the newest hardware, more than content delivery systems (though you have to admit xBox rox) the most talked about “buzz” at CES has to be the explosion of social media from Facebook to linkedin to iGoogle, not one exhibitor or attendee was not touched by some aspect of social media. Even the “Brooklyn” contingency was hooked up at the very least on Facebook. (just so you know, I’m referring to the Hasidim who come every year with a ‘gaggle’ of 10×10 booths in the south hall. Very nice guys but not what you’d think of when you think internet savvy)
There must have been about 2K or more people at the tweet-up at the Hilton. I’m sure probably more because I was only there for a few minutes just to gauge the attendance.

Then there were the parties. I’ve been coming to CES for about 13 years and for the last 6 as a working press analyst. We get invited to every function and I never attend because normally I prefer the press conferences and actually talking to people working in the booths. This year, more than any other, the after parties were massive.
When you have bands like Coldplay (sony), Earth Wind and Fire (google) & George Thorogood playing the party or Mario Batali catering your event (Sprint) and Lenovo buying out the entire Aquaknox club for the night, you know its not your mamma’s CES anymore.

As an economist, CES is usually my ‘bell weather’ event and this year, if the past repeats itself and we know it does, then the economy has truly turned the corner and is on an upward swing. Not to be political but we are a nation of innovators. it is what we do best. Granted there are pockets of worker bees here but innovation is what has kept us in the global marketplace. If 2011 CES is any indication of what is to follow this year, then we should be well positioned in 2Q2011 and beyond to recapitalize and move forward. Not all industries, housing took a huge hit and will take longer but as long as we are getting back to our base of creativity coupled with manufacturing, then we have a healthy start to 2011.
…and that’s a wrap from Beyond-the-Booth.

Days 3 & 4 will be summarized by the staff (see the tab at the top) as I will be rubbing elbows with other economists in D-D-Denver.

…and we’re OFF…
Yes it’s official — the 2011 — come back of the U.S. driven by consumer consumption has launched. Content and delivery systems are again the most buzzed about in the press room. Boxee just signed an agreement — announced here at CES — to connect CBS programming to P/C and vice versa. So if you miss your favorite episodes of the new Hawaii 5-Ohhh or in my case Criminal Minds, they will be just a click and a few $$ away.

I started my annual (13th) CES trek where I always do: Gaming. New controllers, new ways to keep everything neat and tidy and most exciting were the new interactive options offered by Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo. We are a Wii/Kinect family so I was excited to speak with the manager of business development for Kinect. Did you know there are more Xbox live subscribers than the population of the US? For example: our house has 3 xbox live accounts. So I can certainly see that happening. Kinect is positioned to be the thread to pull in the next generation of cyber shoppers. Coming soon to a Kinect near you? boutiques where your avatar can virtually try on clothing (after being scanned by the system for body type/size etc) and you can see what the clothing will look like when you are wearing them PLUS if you are one of the 300+ million xbox live subscribers and your friend is as well? She/he can weigh on on if it makes your butt look big without leaving his/her bedroom and schelping to the mall. 1000′s of soccer moms just heaved a sigh of relief.

I’ve given up trying to match the picture to the paragraphs so here is today’s 1st day of CES selection: