The las vegas trade show industry as a whole continues to expand and grow at a healthy pace, but all of that growth is dwarfed by the sheer popularity of tech-focused trade shows, including the mother of all the big expos: International CES.
CES, which started nearly 50 years ago, has continued to grow year-over-year as the popularity of computers, tablets, smartphones and all other manner of consumer electronics rises as well. Lately the show has not just grown in size (determined by the number of attendees and exhibit space), but also in the size and scale of the individual booth displays themselves. Device manufacturers continue to wage a fierce struggle to have the most eye-catching and mind-blowing custom displays on the show floor.
The two industries which are often associated with having the grandest trade shows are the auto industry and the consumer electronics industry. Now the two are increasingly melding together as car manufacturers see themselves as selling high-tech devices and they want to get that technology in front of more tech-savvy consumers.
Automakers Go High-Tech, Joining CES In Record Numbers
Next year’s 2014 International CES will kick off on the second week of January in Las Vegas, Nevada. And one of the most striking aspects of this year’s show, besides the fact that it continues to grow at an astronomical rate, is the number of automakers who will be exhibiting at the expo.
Industry insiders and media will be able to wade through booth displays and ogle impressive car technology from automakers like Audi, BMW, Chrysler, Ford, General Motors, Kia, Mazda, Mercedes and Toyota. That’s nine automakers in total who will be joining the show to raise awareness of their newer offerings and their high-tech credentials. High-end brands like Audi, BMW and Mercedes might not surprise anyone, but carmakers like Chrysler and Kia are also getting into the game of showing off their new tech-heavy car models with flashy custom displays.
GM and Toyota will no doubt be showing off their electric vehicles, spotlighting the somewhat conspicuous absence of luxury EV maker Tesla Motors which has suffered from some bad PR lately due to battery fire issues.
The Ultimate Stage For High-Tech Product Debuts
CES is not open to the public, but it might as well be these days as the number of reporters and media covering the show stretches into the tens of thousands. This includes reporters from some of the larger tech-focused outlets like CNET and Engadget, to mainstream media companies like CNN, ABC News, Bloomberg and Fox News and small tech blogs as well.
That means that the show is covered from just about every angle and the coverage is watched, read and listened to by hundreds of thousands of consumers, drooling over the latest technology offerings from giants like Samsung, Microsoft, Sony and more.
The result is that CES is undoubtedly the best place for high-tech product debuts. Taking advantage of this media saturation and the consumer’s insatiable appetite for new tech gizmos, companies will often set up booth displays just for new product launches and larger companies will put on keynote presentations for loyal consumers, discussing new technologies and demonstrating the future of the brand.
The proof, as they say, is in the pudding. Nearly all of the tech products which have had the biggest impact in the last several decades were first debuted at CES. That list includes the VCR, Compact Disc, DVD, HDTV, Xbox, Blu-Ray, 3D HDTV and more.
CES Not Just For Tech Junkies Anymore
The growth of the International CES expo from its humble origins back in the 1960’s seems even more impressive in light of the fact that the technology industry itself has used the trade show to create a massive amount of buzz around new tech and product announcements. The media coverage and consumer interest that surround new technologies at CES dwarfs just about any other industry and the CES trade show itself is largely to be credited for this fact.
It used to be that the show was catering to a relatively limited number of wealthy, tech-obsessed early adopters. Today, that is no longer the case. New technology, especially game consoles, smartphones and tablets, is regularly discussed around the water cooler and at the dinner table at workplaces and households around the US, and around the world.
Following the new product announcements from the high-tech industry has become as popular as discussing who won last night’s football game. And high-tech gadgets continue to be some of the most sought-after products for those looking to stay one step ahead of the Jones’s.
You can bet that trend will continue for the 2014 International CES trade show, as electronics manufacturers roll out their giant custom displays for the expo, set to get underway in Las Vegas in just under a month.