The final day of the 2020 CES in Las Vegas.
Robyn Beck / AFP via Getty ImagesLast January, more than 170,000 people descended on Las Vegas in early January for another edition of CES, the annual gadget fest that celebrates everything that’s anything in consumer electronics—TVs, smartphones, cars, wearables, basically anything you can plug into the wall or connect to the Web.
In 2020, attendees from more 160 countries came to the four-day event—formerly called the Consumer Electronics Show—to meet and do business with thousands of companies spread over millions of square footage of display space across the city.
About the same time that CES 2020 was unfolding, the Covid-19 pandemic had begun brewing in China. Within weeks, the virus had arrived in the U.S.—and the world was changed forever. In July, as almost every live event fell off the calendar, the Consumer Technology Association gave in to the inevitable and decided to take CES 2021 virtual.
And here it comes. This truly weird and totally virtual edition of CES kicks off late Monday afternoon with a keynote by Verizon Communications (ticker: VZ) CEO Hans Vestberg. More big names will follow: On Tuesday, we get talks from General Motors (GM) CEO Mary Barra, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) CEO Lisa Su, and Best Buy (BBY) CEO Corie Barry. On Wednesday, Microsoft (MSFT) President Brad Smith and Walmart (WMT) CEO Doug McMillon will deliver talks.
While that all feels pretty normal—and honestly, it is easier to watch a keynote from your laptop than crammed into a chair in a crowded ballroom—everything else about this year’s CES feels off. In a normal year, walking the CES show floor requires sturdy shoes, a supply of energy bars, expertise in dodging pedestrians in crowded hallways and perseverance. For reporters, the experience is both exhausting and exhilarating—every year I go, I come back with piles of business cards and a major supply of story ideas.
Of course, this year isn’t going to be anything like that. There are no aisles, no press events with piles of cubed cheese and free beer, no dinners, no breakfasts, no endless taxi lines, no overcrowded news conferences, and no price-gouging hotels. And no longer are all the events taking place in the Pacific time zone—some press events are as early as 7 a.m. Eastern time. (I think I’ll skip those.)
No one has been more thrown off course by this strange situation than CTA President and CEO Gary Shapiro, who has been playing host, cheerleader, and MC for CES for decades. When Barron’s caught up with Shapiro earlier this week, he was holed up in his house in Birmingham, Mich.—2,000 miles from the Las Vegas Convention Center. He’ll be traveling for this year’s show, but not to the Strip—he’s off to Redmond, Wash., a reflection of Microsoft’s role providing the software supporting the virtual show.
Shapiro says he’s looking at this at a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” to try some new things. He notes that the CTA started pivoting to an online model in March, initially planning on a hybrid approach, before giving in and deciding in July to go all digital. “We had time to think about it,” he said. “We surveyed the audience, and they all still wanted to have CES this year.” Shapiro says the CTA staff attended multiple virtual events to see how others approached the issue, and decided against using any off-the-shelf software, turning instead to Microsoft for a custom approach.
Given the virtual nature of this year’s events, lots of things will obviously be different. For one thing, the CTA shifted the event a week later than originally planned, giving companies a little more time to get ready after the recent holidays. He also notes that some elements of the site will remain in place for a full month after the show ends, allowing people to spread out their experience over a longer period, rather than jamming it all into four days. Keynotes and panels will be shorter, reflecting the competitive pull from every other activity you can be doing from home, and there obviously won’t be a whole lot of parties.
Nonetheless, Shapiro is expecting a lot of people to show up to listen to virtual talks, visit virtual booths, and hold virtual meetings. (Maybe they’ll also eat some virtual cheese cubes.) The CTA for weeks now has been pushing people to register early—the group vets all attendees to weed out anyone from outside the industry—and has reached over 100,00 pre-registrants. He says more than 1,900 companies are participating in the virtual event. But “attendees” are far more likely to dip in and out of a show visited from their living room, rather than the usual four nonstop days of gadget hunting.
The themes at this year’s show will be similar to last year—health-care technology, 5G, electric vehicles, autonomous driving, mobility, and smart cities, among others. Shapiro says there are even more countries at the show this year than last; without the need to travel, the show opens to more people. He says the only country with decreased participation is China, which he attributes to tense U.S.-China relations and reduced support for virtual events from China’s government.
Shapiro said the CTA rejected ideas like using virtual reality or software avatars to travel to virtual show booths. The CES website, however, will include an “anchor desk” on its home page, with news-ish people describing the major events of the day on live video. CES has created various ways to help people find companies that do the things the specific attendees care about. “We’ve tried to be as personalized and customized as possible,” he says. “And instead of three or four hectic days, you can have up to a month to see everything you want to see.” He also says they were able to get keynoters they might not have had in person.
Still, Shapiro looks forward to next year. The CTA plans to shift back to a live show in 2022, while keeping some virtual elements, which will allow more participation from people who otherwise wouldn’t be able to fly into Las Vegas. He says that floor space for 2022 is almost sold out.
Shapiro concedes that he can’t be certain how a 2022 show will play out. “Will there be hugs and handshakes?” He’s not sure. Some of that will depend on the virus—and the vaccine. But if there is a real CES next year, you can be sure Shapiro will be there. And so will I.
Write to Eric J. Savitz at eric.savitz@barrons.com
"gadget" - Google News
January 08, 2021 at 10:30PM
https://ift.tt/3orP4uV
Get Ready for CES 2021, the Gadget Fest Without Gadgets - Barron's
"gadget" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2ykEYqK
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Get Ready for CES 2021, the Gadget Fest Without Gadgets - Barron's"
Post a Comment