Call it a crisis of confidence. I’d spent months gearing up for what will be, I think, my tenth CES, and I was having doubts. Why was I doing this? The Las Vegas-based technology show is still massive, but in the last two or three years had not produced a single major (iPad-level) product story. There’s good reason for this: most major manufacturers have shifted their big announcements to standalone events.
I worried, “Does CES still matter?” I wasn’t sure. Sitting at my desk, staring at dozens and dozens of CES product pitches and announcements, I felt strangely hollow. Nothing was moving me. It did occur to me that no one was simply going to email me the details on the next big thing. That would come in a private meeting or when I arrived at the show floor next week.
See also: CES 2014: 5 Tech Trends to Watch
Still, if faith is a lighthouse, mine had gone dim. CES was simply this giant, looming shadow somewhere in the distance. I needed help. Thank goodness for the Internet. I asked friends and followers on two social networks if they were going to CES and why it still matters to them. Their answers were, quite simply, illuminating.
This year, the cavernous Las Vegas Convention Center’s 10 million square feet will be home to, by the Consumer Electronics Association’s reckoning, 3,200 exhibitors. That’s a lot of gadgets, gizmos and ideas. It’s also a lot of companies, some big and some very, very small, and even more people. In the last few years, the show has attracted well over 100,000 attendees per event.
It’s all those people, the pressing of the flesh, and the sharing of tall tales, which some identified as a key reason to keep coming back:
@LanceUlanoff All the most interesting people and companies in the world are under one roof (one city).. Best way to kick off the #NewYear
— Colin Jordan (@ColinJordan) December 31, 2013
@LanceUlanoff important because of the networking involved @intlCES
— Timi Cantisano (@TimiCantisano) December 31, 2013
"Yes, I'm going. It's about people and devices. You'll never get more relevant consumer industry people in one place at one time. Also, when it comes to devices, touching and using is key. You can't get that through a web article.," Patrick Moorhead
Officially, the show is called International CES or CES for short. Under no circumstance does the CEA want you or anyone in the press to call it “The Consumer Electronics Show,” and with good reason.
The “C” in “CES” could just as well stand for “Convergence.” It’s electronics and media, and electronics and fashion, and electronics and cars. It’s movie stars and media (and electronics). It’s software and hardware. Home and security. You get the idea. It’s really a show about our digital lives.
@LanceUlanoff because technology and entertainment are intertwined like never before.
— James Finn (@FinnAtFox) December 31, 2013
@LanceUlanoff @intlCES Because it's no longer just "Consumer Electronics Show."
62% of #Internet traffic now #robots.
http://t.co/sPFTLhdaca
— Holland Cooke (@HollandCooke) December 31, 2013
CES officially only lasts a few days, but each of those days is intense. It’s like taking a crash course in the business of digital technology and information. Yes, there’s a lot of time spent catching up with old friends and trusted contacts, but the best part is when you meet someone new. A energized entrepreneur with a new idea. Sometimes it’s an idea that will help transform your business or the lives’ of your customers. Other times it’s a new product that we’ll all be talking about for months to come, one that can even make companies like Apple, which never attends CES, sit up and take notice.
And, yes, sometimes you find a bad idea, but you learn from those, too.
What you learn you bring back with you to home base. This is one case where what happens in Vegas does not stay in Vegas.
@LanceUlanoff @intlCES Cant wait to see all of the new technology for the security side of things to help improve business for our customers
— MijacAlarm (@MijacAlarm) December 31, 2013
“Yes. My first time and I am looking forward to it. It matters to me, as a small tech website owner, so I can bring some great information back to my readers and hopefully grow our audience,” Alex Hernandez
CES may never see another Palm Pre or Palm OS launch (the last huge unveiling at a CES), but that doesn’t mean there’s nothing to talk about. In fact, there’s so much there that it’s too much to talk about or even cover. Every media outlet does their level best to get the good stuff and more, but ultimately, much is missed. Going, walking the floors, heading into the oft-ignored North Hall where a host of Asian companies and their representatives wait to play a game of “Translate This” with unsuspecting show-goers is priceless and, quite honestly, invaluable. Every year I find unusual, almost indescribable, oddities in these halls.
@LanceUlanoff All the most interesting people and companies in the world are under one roof (one city).. Best way to kick off the #NewYear
— Colin Jordan (@ColinJordan) December 31, 2013
[There is] no better place than CES to see so much in a week,” Justin Dye
“While it is fun to see all the new things that the large companies are doing, I really go to see the smaller companies that are trying to break into the markets. I get to see a lot of innovative ideas (with a large number of copies) and it spurs my own creative thoughts. Periodically I stop and introduce them to a different perspective on how their product could be used. It is nice to go back after a few years and see that perspective being put into practice,” David H
The distance between technology and human beings can now be measured in nanometers. We not only use it, we touch it (fingerprint readers), we talk to it (speech recognition), it goes inside of us (nano-medicine) and surrounds us (our cars are computers).
Similarly, products we cover at CES have a direct impact on our lives. We no longer care so much about how fast it can print, process or scan. Instead, we focus on how these new products and services will change our everyday lives.
“I cover CES yearly for a few, select pubs as press. This year, I'm excited to see more of what HealthTech has to offer. I'm a bit over printers/cameras and tablets. To me, it's about how the tech is going to change and save lives,” Kate-Madonna Hindes
After reading all these comments I realized I was looking at CES the wrong way. It was as if I were peering at the Las Vegas Convention Center through a pair of binoculars that were turned the wrong way: it looked small and distant, yet overwhelming. I was trying, from hundreds and hundreds of miles away to see the thing that would make my trip worthwhile. What I realize now is that the destination is the reward. It’s not a single jackpot I’m seeking, but a long, complex Poker game full of give and take where, no matter what, I’m guaranteed a winning hand.
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