CES provides for an overwhelming, yet educational adventure.
I’m still trying to process what all I did during CES week because it was a very incredible thing to be a part of but overwhelming. As the week went on I felt more adjusted to my surroundings and was able to feel at ease. I can honestly say it’s unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. This is what I learned.
The advice you are given is not to be ignored. Getting all the way to an event just to leave within five minutes was a thing. This is what will happen when you want to go to a certain event but you realize how long it took you to get to that location and the next event is more important. Anytime I asked people “is there anything I should know about CES” their response was “wear comfortable shoes.” I quickly understood why.
Select a location to stay near a monorail station. If you choose to use the monorail it will decrease the amount of extra walking. We purchased Monorail tickets that with NXP’s RFID technology was connected with our badge. Not everyone’s badge in our group worked properly. We actually went and talked to people from NXP and the whole situation was straightened out very quickly and from then on there were no issues. Besides the minor issue, if you wanted to ride the monorail, the badge method was definitely the way to go. Also, there was a small discount off the week long monorail price, but a discount none the less. I, however, got tired of walking to monorail stations and ended up taking advantage of Sprints Uber $10.00 off discount.
Use a large bag but start your day with the least amount of things possible. A number of things you will accumulate during your day will kill your back and make sure there’s room to put it so you don’t have multiple bags is so much better.
Bring plenty of business cards. Even if you’re going to do something post show floor or event there’s always the possibility of stumbling across someone. Not only that, some events even required it to get inside so have them ready at all times. Just make sure you don’t accept them from the people on Las Vegas Blvd.
Making appointments doesn’t have to kill you. I opted out of making a ton of appointments this go round. I actually only made one that required me to be somewhere at a specific time that wasn’t an event. I did this because I knew for a fact that I will get lost. Which I did…a lot. After seeing how my time was spent I feel the best option would be to assign specific days to specific areas. Make the appointments based off that. It will save you the walking and time, two of the most valuable things during CES. You will not see everything and everyone if someone did I would love to know how.
There’s a lot of really interesting things, and some not so much. I had the opportunity to walk in the LG dome wall booth and my mind was blown. I immediately started coming up with a plan to turn a room into that. Throwing 20 dollars in the slot machine didn’t work out, so I guess there’s always next year. Walking into the really big overdone booths was fun but there were equally as interesting things elsewhere that didn’t need a huge budget to accomplish. The not so much stuff I just passed up, remember time is valuable.
Overall, the experience was incredible and I more than look forward to tackling it again with the insight that I gained. However, it’s going to take the entire year to recover.
