CES First Thoughts

By Bayle Emlein

The number of specialized or focused vendor presentations in concert with the massive, sprawling, unfocused Consumer Electronics Show is amazing. One could easily spend the entire CES, or at least 18 hours a day, in Las Vegas seriously investigating what's new and promising without having a minute to peruse the show floor.

Interesting to see that IDG is sponsoring the Top 10 Brands from China event, at the Wynn this year. And that it will again be a stand-alone event, with its own invite. After a couple of years as an formal presentation in an elegant setting, the event was folded into ShowStoppers in 2012. While this gave the brands an opportunity to showcase their accomplishments to a possibly wider audience, the venue was not conducive to their highlighting the individual achievements. Can any of our readers provide some inside information? I have not been able to get the back story to find out whether the changing settings have to with politics, the logistics of signing up for a conference a year and an ocean away, or perhaps are a good-faith attempt to try out a different way of presenting.