Update: January 16, 2024. Here is our short, 4 minute Best of #CES video where you’ll find many new products to make your life safer, healthier, easier (and dare I say cooler!) Enjoy, comment and please share!
CES, short for the Consumer Electronic Show, opens its doors this Tuesday, January 9, 2024. Despite the first word in its title, mere consumers are not allowed to attend the show, even though this is the largest technology conference in the world*.
You see, CES is for those who work in the tech industry, ostensibly to make partnerships, stay abreast of new innovations, and more likely, to excite the press to write about their new offerings.
Wait, I thought CES started on Tuesday. Why go on Sunday?
To that end, there are two really interesting press events that happen before the main floors open. The first is Sunday (tonight!) called “CES Unveiled” where, in one giant room in the Mandalay Bay Expo Center, every company with a major announcement assembles to share their enthusiasm for their new products. The second occurs the next evening in the Mirage at an event called PEPCOM which is similar to Unveiled, and attended by many of the same folks.
What is so amazing about these events, (and honestly one of the main reasons why I love to go to CES two days early) is that someone like me can get a good idea of many of the exciting new products, innovations and trends before beginning to tackle the giant CES show floor. What’s more, Unveiled and Pepcom do a great job enforcing a strict limit on the size of every company’s booth (each are 6 feet long) and the number of presenters allowed (only 4 people, please) for each exhibitor. This means that it doesn’t matter if you are a tiny startup, or a giant corporation; you get the same chance to show off your wares to eager press. Who, by the way, are trying to scoop a news story before CES kicks off. This levels the playing field for any new consumer technology to find a perch. Try to not read a story about CES this week. (P.S. you’re here, right?)
Still, two days is a commitment. Don’t you love your family?
Attending both of these shows lets me better understand what products and innovations to focus my search while giving me an appreciation for the emerging tech trends of CES, and for the remainder of the year (and beyond.) All this helps me hit the ground running, while reporting early on new opportunities and challenges. This lets me formulate what to add to my “The Best of CES 2024: Top Products and Trends to Watch” video which I’ll release on our YouTube channel after having time to see everything. Finally, attending these events gives me a chance to help our team present some of our new products and gauge immediate feedback from other attendees to see if they hit their mark as we hope it does. This year we’ll talk about new products that make our world safer, like this gunshot detection solution from Shooter Detection Systems; more convenient, like this smart sensing solution from nami; and healthier like this phased-array radar fall detector called Serenity from Cherish Health.
All this makes it so I can keep my family safe, and help you do the same for your family. I love my family and I know you do too, and would do anything for them.
Keep watching this space for more products which I’ll add to this and future posts when I discover something cool and meaningful. In the meantime, enjoy last year’s Best of CES 2023 Video:
*While it is hard to count just how big this show has become, consider this: only Las Vegas has enough floor space to host CES, and every hotel room, restaurant, and show is sold out this week.