Welcome to 2019.
Here in Las Vegas, the new year heralds the arrival of the annual Consumer Electronics Show, the city’s largest convention. Beginning January 8, more than 150,000 attendees will gather here to get a look at – and salivate over – the latest gadgets, gizmos and technologies their makers hope will change the world.
If you’ve never attended this four-day techno fantasia, a showcase for nearly 4,000 companies displaying breakthrough technologies on more than 2.5 million square feet of exhibit space across 11 venues, it is easy to become overwhelmed by the sheer enormity of it all, to be swept away on a tsunami of sensory overload.
To ensure that doesn’t happen, we scoured the internet for a best practices list for CES neophytes to follow. To be sure, we found page after page of seasoned pros proffering helpful tips to impressionable newbies, but it was an article from a 2018 newbie himself, Truong Nguyen, that proved to have just the right amount of practical suggestions and deft insight.
We present it here at the Tahiti Village blog for your enlightenment and edification.
Here are some tips I learned from my first trip to CES 2018. I hope it helps the planning process for first-time attendees.
- Arrive the day before the show starts and leave the day before it ends. This helps in avoiding crowds at the airport. Scope out the layout of the show floor and how to get places. The majority of the time you’ll be walking through casinos. Even for those with a great sense of direction, it’s challenging to navigate inside with rows after rows of slot machines. During rush hour, which really is 8 a.m. all the way to 5 p.m., you’re likely to move with the flow of the crowd. It’s easy to end up at the wrong place.
- Learn about the Monorail routes and book a hotel that has a stop. I found it to be the most convenient and affordable way to get around. Being located at either end of the Monorail can be an advantage. The majority of people get on and off at the Las Vegas Convention Center and the other stops in the middle of the Strip. The endpoints have less traffic.
- Wear comfortable shoes and travel light. There will be a lot of walking (several miles a day!) no matter how close your hotel is to the Convention Center. Events take place all over the Strip.
- Have a clear idea of what categories of products or list of companies you’d like to visit. Roaming the show floor to find cool/new products is a bad idea. I planned to visit only a handful of companies that had external graphics enclosures on display. AKiTiO was at a suite inside Bellagio. AORUS had a ballroom at Caesars Palace. ASUS hosted its products at the WYNN Hotel. Razer and Mantiz were the only two at the Las Vegas Convention Center. These five main stops essentially covered the entire length of the Strip.
- Last but not least, drink plenty of water. Also carry hand sanitizer and use it often.
Have a great time!
