As everyone gets ready for the monster that is CES in January, CEA (which puts the show together) has made two important announcements.

Firstly, CES will be in the second week of January, rather than the traditional first week of the year, so there'll be time to get over New Year hangovers and ease gently back into working life after the Christmas break before the madness ensues.

Which is just as well, really, as it looks like CES is getting too big for Vegas. For the second year running it's spilling over from the Convention Center and taking up a big chunk of the Sands and the Venetian too:

"For the second year in a row, the Sands is a must-visit venue at the International CES, and we're expecting equal or greater popularity with the addition of The Venetian to our venue lineup," said Karen Chupka, senior vice president of events and conferences at CEA, the producer of the CES.

"CES will continue to showcase the latest emerging technologies, award honorees and expert speakers and will build on this success by offering an even more powerful lineup of exhibitors, events and speakers at the Sands/Venetian."

The big question, though, is if CES is taking over most of the Sands, where is the Adult Entertainment Expo going to go?

The Sands/Venetian will again be home to Innovations Plus, which will feature more than 12 emerging technology related TechZones, the International CES Innovations Honorees displays, a dozen conference sessions, select CES Partner Programs, and live radio broadcasts from Dave Graveline's "Into Tomorrow" program.

Innovations Plus at the Sands/Venetian will feature the largest concentration of market-specific TechZones at the 2007 International CES. The Anytime-Anywhere TechArena, sponsored by Sling Media, includes content-specific areas such as The Download and the IPTV TechZone. Also, the Consumer Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) TechZone and other emerging technology-focused TechZones such as Consumer Robotics and Studio@Home each have dedicated exhibit area for the hottest companies and products in these respective markets. Other innovative TechZones at Innovations Plus include Bluetooth, Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA), ExpressCard, and Mobile and Personal Broadband.

Returning to the Sands/Venetian this year is the Innovations 2007 Design and Engineering Award honoree display, which showcases the best-designed and engineered products of the year. New this year, attendees can use touch screen voting kiosks to vote for the Innovations People's Choice award, representing CES attendees' favorite Innovations honoree product. The Innovations showcase also features a stage for live presentations and product demonstrations from honorees.

It's going to be a massive tasks to cover everything on show, but fear not - the VNU team will be out in force, keeping you up to date on the happenings and announcements direct from the multiple show floors. Roll on January.

October 31, 2006 in CES Show | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

First question for followers of VNU's CES show coverage:"Are we getting a little late in starting to ramp up coverage of the forthcoming show in January or are the organisers getting a little earlier with their marketing and promotion for the Las Vegas based, January show? "

As Europe swletered in summer heat this year, I remember seeing in July the odd email start to appear in my inbox about CES registration. I did think wow, its probably time to start posting, but then changed my mind as January seemed so far away.

My reasons for not posting probably stem from my deep seated hatred of seeing "back to school" advertising in the shops the first week of my summer holidays or seeing Xmas decorations starting to appear in September.

But the reason for starting preparations earlier and earlier for the show are probably justified as the show is rapidly becoming one of the most important shows of the IT calendar and the vendors pull out all the stops to get the punters through the doors.

One tactic the vendors use very well is to jet in the Hollywood A-list who are a mere hour's flight away.

Last year, Yahoo and Intel jetted in Tom Cruise  and Ellen for the show, while rivals Google hired in  Robin Williams. Sony, thought its interest in digital books would be helpful if Dan Brown said a few words, while Tom Hanks thought it might be a good idea to promote his then forthcoming film, the Da Vinci Code

October 30, 2006 in CES Show | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)