Tag: CES

CES Recap : How to get your startup covered at the CES show

CES, the largest consumer electronics trade event, showcases the latest in technology and innovation every January. In my latest video I recapped the show and offered some tips for startups looking to get covered at future events.

If you missed my CES 2024 coverage you can catch up on all of it here!

One of the key areas of coverage for me are attending media showcase events. These events gather up anywhere from dozens to hundreds of companies together in one place. In many cases these companies aren’t exhibiting on the floor so it gives me a great opportunity as a small outlet to get access to them. Only media are invited to attend these events so if you are looking for coverage as a small company a showcase event is a great way to get noticed.

My go-to show case events are:

CES Unveiled, held the Sunday before the official start of CES, gathers over a hundred companies, many of them small startups. Pepcom, hosts high-quality companies, some not present on the show floor. Show Stoppers, similar to the other events but with fewer exhibiting companies, provides an opportunity to stand-out a long running event popular with media organizations.

A crucial tip for startups and exhibitors aiming for media attention: press releases are key. Early press releases significantly impact my planning ahead of the show. I read all of them! A well-organized press release, like this one I received from a French PR agency, can lead to efficient coverage of multiple products. Even if you don’t get a response, know that your information is being considered and can influence coverage decisions.

I say this because wandering the show floor at CES has become increasingly challenging. The excitement of discovering new and innovative products has diminished over the years mostly because there’s less interesting things to find. The CES official maps and apps offer little help in navigating the sea of exhibits, often lacking detailed information about the exhibitors.

Reflecting on my coverage, I feel there was more to be explored and reported. The overall buzz around CES has not reached its pre-pandemic heights, impacting both the content available and viewer interest. The logistics of covering the event in Las Vegas are daunting, with time constraints and transportation challenges. Despite these obstacles, the response from viewers has been encouraging, showing a clear appetite for more detailed and expansive coverage.

CES remains a pivotal event for technology media, but certainly things are changing as this market continues to change and evolve. Your feedback and suggestions are always welcome as we look forward to future events.

CES 2024 Coverage is Complete & Thoughts on the Future of CES..

I flew out to Las Vegas once again this year for the annual CES show! CES is of course the biggest consumer electronics show of the year with over 135,000 attendees from all over the world.

As usual we produced a number of dispatch videos (four of them!) along with a special dispatch covering some enterprise products from our sponsor, SK. While it’s always fun to attend these shows the energy of CES pre-pandemic has yet to return in the post-pandemic era.

Organizers canceled the 2021 show due to health concerns and after so many 2020 attendees fell ill with what was likely early COVID. Many exhibitors canceled their plans at the last minute in 2022 due to the virus. The 2023 show was a bit of a return to normalcy but with a reduced footprint. This year felt a lot like last year. Yes, there were a few of the larger exhibitions but the show didn’t have the same buzz and energy as the pre-pandemic years.

Part of the problem is that a lot of focus is now on artificial intelligence and less on new hardware ideas. So many of the exhibits we walked past in the “Eureka Park” startup exhibition area were just screens demoing some AI app vs. something more tangible.

As a “commodity” YouTuber my videos largely succeed or fail based on what general awareness and interest audiences have about an event or product. The 2019 and 2020 shows were the most exciting ones I attended and that was reflected in the view counts we saw on my reporting.

The lack of pizzazz this year carried over to the performance of the videos I uploaded. My first dispatch did the best as we uploaded it the night before the show officially opened. But the buzz among audiences dropped quickly after that with the second dispatch only garnering a third of the views of the first. The third dispatch only received half the views of the second. The fourth one has just published but so far it looks like audiences have moved on and this one will be the poorest performer of the bunch.

So will I return next year? Most likely yes if we can find a sponsor. But sadly unless the CES organizers and exhibitors make a major push to revitalize the energy of past shows I fear we may be seeing a decline. Perhaps major trade shows like this are becoming a thing of the past?

CES 2024 Dispatch 1 & 2 Are up with 3 & 4 Coming Soon! #ces2024

Producer Jake and I are on our way back from the annual CES show in Las Vegas. We had a very productive week out here and have enough footage collected for 4 dispatch videos this year!

Dispatch 3 is being edited as I type this but you can watch the first two plus a sponsored dispatch from our sponsor SK. All of my CES content will be in this playlist on YouTube.

More to come! I’ve been reading your comments and enjoy bringing this style of coverage to you.

CES 2023 Dispatch 2 – More Tech from the Pepcom Digital Experience!

My second dispatch from CES 2023 is up! You can watch it here.

In this edition we attended the “Pepcom Digital Experience” where well over a hundred tech companies gathered to show off their new gear. This event is similar to the CES Unveiled event from my first dispatch but this one has different companies exhibiting.

We got some first looks at new HP PCs and then found a whole bunch of cool stuff at varying price points. There’s definitely something for everyone in this latest dispatch so check it out!

This footage came from our activities on Wednesday. We have at least one more dispatch coming up from all of the things we did on Thursday! Stay tuned!

CES Trip Day 2 Update!

I just posted my second live update from CES here in Las Vegas!

Last night we attended a pre-show event called CES Unveiled. This has never been a great event in past years but this year it was filled with a lot of stuff I found interesting. So if everything cooperates here we’ll have our first dispatch video posted this evening! Stay tuned for that.

I am heading over to Lenovo’s CES suite in a little bit to get a look at some of the products they have planned for the coming year which will be part of Dispatch 2.

This evening my favorite CES event, Pepcom, will be taking place at the Mirage Hotel. There are close to 200 companies there so we should have enough to finish up our second dispatch video this evening.

Yesterday I had to go out and buy some things I forgot to pack with me – specifically a battery charger for my on-camera light and my Apple Watch charging cable! Generally I’m a much better packer but we just got back from a family vacation less than 24 hours before I had to leave for Vegas.

Thankfully there’s a photo store in Vegas called B&C Camera (not to be confused with B&H) that had what I needed at a close-to-market price. It looks like this place caters to photo and video professionals who forget to pack things as they had a good selection of gear.

Tomorrow is going to be a non-stop crazy day. We are going to hit the show floor first thing and stay out there until they close. That will be followed by the last showcase event called Showstoppers that should have a good number of exhibitors. We fly home Friday afternoon. My hope is to try and get Dispatch 2 up before we leave. Wish me luck !