CES, the largest technology show in the world, is something to behold. Or it would be if you watched it in person.
The industry extravaganza has expanded almost unimaginably in its pre-pandemic incarnations, spanning the entire Las Vegas Convention Center, the nearby Sands Expo, and pieces of a dozen or more hotels up and down the strip. It was like a Disneyland for technology: Since I started covering the annual January meeting in 2001, I have fired a computer-assisted sniper rifle, attended a Tesla coil music concert, taken a ride in self-driving vehicles, and met countless robots. I once took control of a Fujifilm blimp mid-flight.
This year you can see it all, but only from the small screen through which you see almost everything these days. Vegas and CES will be without each other for the first time in decades. No more blimp rides.
In the technology industry, many conferences during 2020 are virtually in the midst of Covid-related barriers, travel restrictions and a general desire to reduce viral spread. But CES is not an event based on the agenda of a single enterprise or organization: it is a global crossroads where more than 170,000 participants last year alone dealt with more than 4,500 exhibitors. It was a media spectacle, but also much more: a forum for innovators, manufacturers and retailers to meet, by plan or by chance, and find out what’s next.
For CES 2021, which starts on Monday, the organizers had to turn hard in the digital space that, perhaps ironically, is unknown – and a bit of a gamble.