CES is a massive showcase of technology that can be intimidating for first-time attendees - luckily I've been going for over a decade! This episode dives into navigating the event with practical tips, insights on the layout, strategies for exploring various halls, and how to discover both big brands and innovative startups.
• Exploring the CES layout and its main areas
• Importance of the South Hall for innovation and sourcing
• Highlights from the Central Hall: major exhibitors and tech trends
• Deep dive into the automotive technology featured in the West Hall
• Looking for the wireless nerds? Check North Hall!
• Discovering entrepreneurship and startups at Eureka Park
• Developing a strategic plan for effective exploration of CES
• Transportation options to minimize stress during the event
• Dining tips within the convention center
• Recommendations for revisiting favorite booths on subsequent days
Did I miss anything? Was there anything that you like to do at CES that I didn't even talk about? Feel free to drop me a line; let's connect!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, what's up everybody?
It's Drew Lentz, the WirelessNerd.
Today I want to talk about CES.
So I've been going to CES for alittle bit over a decade now,
and it's a show that I go toevery January.
I enjoy going to understandwhat's happening in our world of
tech, whether it's in my houseor in my business, or hanging on
a wall in a restaurant, or theway people take orders, or the
cars that are driving down thestreet.
(00:21):
Ces has everything involvingconsumer electronics.
It is, after all, the ConsumerElectronics Show.
So I wanted to talk real quickabout what I do there, because
if you've never been, it can bekind of daunting, and even if
you have been, it's still prettydaunting.
There's a lot to see at theshow, there's a lot to do there,
and I want to walk you throughwhat my methodology is of it,
(00:42):
because I've had a couple ofpeople who are new this year or
new last year who wanted tounderstand what I did and how I
jam-pack everything into acouple of days.
So it's important to understandhow the show is laid out.
So this year is going to be alittle bit different.
2025 is going to be a littlebit different than it was the
last couple of years.
We finally are getting thesouth halls back.
So here's a quick little map ofwhat it looks like, the overall
(01:05):
floor plan.
So you see, on the left handside you see the North halls and
then you see the central hallsthere.
These are the main areas.
And on the right hand side yousee South hall, where it says S1
, s2, s3, so on and so forth.
This is a little bit different,because before what would
happen is for the last couple ofyears these halls have been
closed.
Now the West Hall isn't evenlocated on this map.
So let's go look at a biggermap of what overall CES looks
(01:28):
like.
This is on the CES website.
At cestech you can go and youcan see a whole view of
everything that they have.
And we're going to look at theLas Vegas Convention Center view
because that's where the mainstuff happens.
So you've got a few differentareas there.
Let's zoom in here real quick.
A few different areas.
There's our South Hall 1 and 2,south Hall 3, central Hall, the
(01:48):
meeting rooms and the mainlobby area.
Then you've got Westgate, whichthere's some interesting things
that happen at Westgate.
Is it Westgate where it happensevery year?
Yeah, westgate has its ownstuff there, and then you have
the West Hall.
So a couple of things here.
Let's start down here.
So the South Halls these arethe areas that are the
innovation areas, where peoplewho want to build and fabricate
(02:09):
and create and source materials,these are the halls for that.
So you go in there and you finda lot of different countries
that come in and represent theirdifferent products from a
manufacturing and sourcing andfacilities side.
It was closed the last coupleof years, but this year it's
back.
It's pretty neat to see whereeverything starts.
So if you want to know how tomake a case, or if you need a
(02:30):
casemate, or if you need a PCBor if you need the basic
elements of consumer electronics, that's the spot where you want
to go there.
The big, flashy hall is thecentral hall.
The central hall is the areawhere you see all the TVs.
You see all the gaming hall.
The central hall is the areawhere you see all the TVs, you
see all the gaming, you see thephoto equipment, you see the
video equipment, you see all ofthe big stuff that's happening.
(02:50):
That's where all the bigexhibitors are the huge, huge
booths that are millions andmillions of dollars from Samsung
and Sony and LG.
All those guys are in thecentral hall.
Across the grand lobby and themeeting rooms area.
You've got on the left-handside.
Over here you've got the WestHall.
Now the West Hall is like a carshow.
It really is.
(03:11):
I mean, it's like it is the carshow.
So you go in there.
You see lots of EVs, you seetons of electric vehicles.
You see things that help withthat whole area.
As you can see from thedescription, it says EVs, ev
tool, vertical takeoff andlanding.
There's a couple of those there.
You'll see those Heavymachinery so John Deere has a
big presence there.
Marine, you see some stuff withboats, self-driving and all of
(03:33):
the suppliers in that world.
There's lots that happens inthat space.
The other one that I want tocall attention to is the Central
Plaza.
This is the outdoor stuff.
So there's some test driving,test tracks out here.
There's some stuff that you cando outside.
It's a great place to, as theysay, catch a breath of fresh air
.
The Central Plaza is a reallyfun area just to go outside for
(03:54):
a minute and see some of theself-driving vehicles and some
of the autonomy that happens outthere.
But one of my favorite spotsisn't even on the LVCC campus.
If I go back and I look at theother campuses that are there,
the Venetian has a really coolcampus as well and it's got one
of my favorite areas and it'scalled Eureka Park.
And Eureka Park is downstairsat the Venetian.
(04:15):
If you've been to any of thebig, larger tech events that
happened, like the AWS reInventor HP Discover or any of those,
this is the downstairs area.
That's usually the dining area.
This area they convert over andit's called Eureka Park because
it's all the people that wantto show off something new.
(04:37):
Basically, the way I alwaysexplain it is Eureka Park is the
people who want to be at CESbut can't afford the big booth
upstairs.
So downstairs you have really,really cool stuff happening down
there.
You've got a lot of reallygreat tech, a lot of innovation
that's happening, a lot of newstartups and eventually you see
some of the stuff that'shappening down in Hall G at
Eureka Park.
(04:57):
You see it make its way up tothe next floor or even to the
main floor at some point in timeor another.
Then, above that, on thatsecond floor, for halls A
through D, you've got a wholedifferent area.
Now these are the biggerpavilions.
There's food technology, smarthome accessories, digital health
, big innovation, the innovationshowcases there where you can
(05:19):
see all the awards that havebeen nominated and won for CES.
That's there.
That area is a very cool area.
Don't sleep.
Make sure you take that areainto account.
There's a lot of stuff thathappens.
So those are the main areasthat you have at CES.
Now, how do you tackle all ofthat?
That's kind of the issue, right?
(05:40):
The way that I do it, the waythat I do all trade shows, is
what I like to do, is I like tobe very methodical about the way
that I approach it.
I read up on what the bigtrends are, what I'm looking for
in a show, what I'm trying tounderstand.
Is there anything that sticksout that I really want to see
and get hands-on with this year?
I want to see some of the stufffrom Morse Micro.
I want to see new adaptationsof Wi-Fi 7.
(06:01):
I want to see more people whoare using Wi-Fi 7 in their
products.
I haven't really started what Iwant to dig into.
That's going to be this weekend.
Over the weekend, I'm going tostart to really get refreshed on
what I want to see, and thenwhen I hit the ground on Monday,
it'll give me something to lookforward to on Tuesday morning.
But I like to go through eachone of the halls.
The car hall is a.
(06:23):
I try and get through therepretty quickly.
But the problem with the carhall the one where the West Hall
at the Las Vegas ConventionCenter that's also where all the
IoT and communication stuff is.
So I like to go there because Ilike to see the IoT stuff, but
then I get caught up talking toall the car people and seeing
what's going on there, so thatcan be a little bit tricky.
(06:44):
I would definitely recommendmaking some time to look into
what you want to view andunderstand what's happening
there.
So it looks like the IoT stuffand all the smart stuff is not
there.
It's over.
I get these.
I think I'm getting theseconfused.
It looks like it's over in theNorth Hall.
Yeah, the West Hall is justautos and the North Hall has the
(07:06):
AI, the FinTech, the IoT, thesmart city stuff.
Okay, all right, I wasconfusing myself.
There's a little bridge thatgoes across right there.
So all of that stuff's going tobe over here in the North Halls
.
That's on the other side of thelobby.
So this is a whole.
There's a whole other area thathappens right there.
So sorry about that, but that'sokay.
That's why you listen to thewhole thing.
(07:27):
You don't just clip some of itout, I guess.
But this area is where that IoTstuff is, and then across now
this is all the auto stuff.
So things have changed over thelast couple of years.
Now I don't know if this haschanged from last year to this
year, and maybe it has.
I might be confusing myselfeven more, but as the new West
Hall was loaded on and as it wasbuilt out, I think some of that
has moved over.
(07:47):
A cool trick here that if youwant to see is if you look at
the bottom left-hand corner ofthe West Hall and you also look
at the Central Hall, you'llnotice it says Vegas Loop.
If you haven't taken the VegasLoop, that is such a great way
to get to and from the event.
Now I know at Resorts Worldthere's a stop at Resorts World,
so if you're staying at ResortsWorld you can get in and out of
(08:08):
there.
You can jump on the loop and goback and forth.
Also, if you just want to cabit or jump in an Uber and take
it over to Resorts World andthen ride the loop.
Sometimes that's faster.
Traffic gets really really crazy.
Ubers get really expensive.
It gets really nuts.
The monorail is packed.
It's always packed.
(08:31):
So, getting back and forth tothe show, they do have shuttles
from the hotels, but I'm notalways.
I don't always jive with theshuttle schedules and sometimes
I like to.
You know, sometimes I'm on aphone call or I'm talking to
someone, and it's a little biteasier for me to do that in the
back of a Tesla than it is inthe back of a, you know, a big
bus.
So make a plan on how you'regoing to get to and from.
So what I do is I like, like, asI mentioned, I like to go and I
like to look at what I'm, whatI'm looking for, and then I go
(08:53):
to the show and I actually walk.
I start in the one hundreds andI walk back and forth 100, 200,
300, 400.
And I go back and forth up anddown as many of the aisles as I
possibly can.
I try and walk the entire showfloor.
I know that that's a big ask,but it's what I like to do and I
do that because, ahead of time.
I like to think about what thetheme is of the event and, as
(09:14):
I'm walking back and forth, Ilike to see how these vendors
play into the theme.
The way that I'm thinking aboutCES, what is the big
overarching theme?
Is it 5G, is it IoT, is itWi-Fi?
And how are each one of thesevendors addressing that?
But inevitably, what I find outafter doing this at all the
different halls is there is adifferent theme.
(09:35):
It's whatever the show brings,because the show has its own
thing.
The show daily, every day.
They give you this little pieceof paper you can pick up.
It's like a little magazine andit talks about all the
announcements that were made.
And, of course, you can lookonline and see what's happening.
But understanding what thetheme of the show evolves into
as the show is happening is justas important.
(09:55):
And this doesn't just go forCES, right.
This is every tech event.
So, in my opinion, you start tosee the things that stand out,
because the people that may gointo the show thinking that
they're innovators might havemore competition than they
originally thought and theinnovations might not be as big.
There might be these tinylittle things that make them
more innovative than the companyright next to them, and those
are what I'm looking for.
(10:16):
I'd like to see the big themeand see the little things that
people are doing that aredifferent.
So the way that I approach this,you know my last year I stayed
at the Fountain Blue.
It's walking distance to theWest Hall, which was really
fantastic.
I really enjoyed that.
I didn't have to drive anywhere, which is great.
So walked across, went to theWest Hall, worked the West Hall,
then worked the North Hall.
(10:37):
After I did the North Hall,then it's probably lunchtime by
then.
If you're walking back andforth, if you're not stopping to
take meetings and take notes,you can probably get to those
two in a couple of hours andthen grab something to eat.
The eating situation in theGrand Lobby is a little bit of a
pain in the butt, but that's ifyou're looking for just a
(10:59):
sit-down experience.
There's lots of room.
You can just get in and get out, get into the area, grab a
couple slices of pizza, grab asandwich, whatever it is, pull a
drink off the wall, pay.
You're on your way.
Make your way into the centralhall right across from the area
where you eat Usually.
Lg has that whole area and it'ssuper packed, super, super,
super packed.
(11:19):
If that's what you're going foris those big things, those big
consumer electronic things likeLG, and trying to see what
they're doing, I would suggestdo some research on what they're
doing before you walk intotheir booth, because if you
don't have a plan, when you walkinto Sony and LG and Samsung,
it's Panasonic and then all theother manufacturers, hcl it can
(11:42):
be a little overwhelming.
You don't really know where tostart.
So it's difficult to see theinnovation that they're bringing
unless you know ahead of timewhat it is.
So be careful when going intothose, unless you're just
looking around.
If you're just looking around,have a field day.
I mean, if you've got time,knock yourself out.
They offer booth tours and Ibelieve you can sign up for
those.
I think you might have to do itahead of time, but have a great
(12:03):
time.
Take lots of pictures you knowthat you want to share with
people.
Look at what's going on, beinspired.
There's so much creativity andinnovation that's happening in
there by the big companies thatit's great to see it.
You get to see these crazy bigscreen TVs and wonder how in the
world you're supposed to supplyconnectivity to them.
The gaming side is really fun.
You get to see all theadvancements in gaming.
(12:24):
You get to see all the AVadvancements.
You get to see all the avadvancements.
You get to see all the stuff inspeakers.
And then you know I bought awhole shower just because I saw
the way that, uh, what kohlerhad they?
Kohler has an incredibledisplay, incredible, incredible
presence at at ces and you knowbe be be inspired by what's
there.
Like don't take a minute tojust to take it all in central
(12:45):
hall again is going to be thatarea where you get to see all
the big Fortune 100s, fortune500s and whatnot, going across
the connector and then goinginto South Hall Again.
South Hall is where you'regoing to see the people that.
It's all design and source, andthen it's also the accessories.
The accessories are going to beall the things that go with
cell phones, all the things thatgo with lights and all that
other stuff.
So so I work kind of in.
(13:07):
I did last year, the last coupleof years I started over here in
the West Hall make my way tothe North Hall, grab some lunch
in the lobby, hit the CentralHall.
At that time it's usually timefor a break.
I head out, go home I thinkthat's about dinner time.
That's really all I can do andthen the South Hall.
Go and hit the South Hall ifyou can, if you're interested in
that.
If not, you know, it's a veryspecific in design and source
(13:29):
and if that's not really whatyou're there for, then it might
not be good.
Day two definitely probablygoing to want to go back and see
some stuff, because after dayone you're going to get a feel
for what it is and you're goingto say, hey, I want to go back
and see that again.
So sometimes it might be betterto break up Central Hall into
day two.
For me, if I'm working, you know, north to south, but on day two
(13:51):
, really where my focus is isgoing over to the Venetian and
over at the Venetian.
That's where I really like tohit Eureka Park.
I like to go downstairs.
I spend a lot of timedownstairs at Eureka Park.
I really enjoy talking to thepeople that are there, talking
to the people that are drivingthe innovation.
I really, really enjoy EurekaPark.
It's the startup side of thestuff.
(14:15):
Make some time there and gothere first, because when you go
up to halls A through D.
This is fun because this is theday-to-day in-your-house stuff.
This to me, halls A through Dat the Venetian are where the
rubber meets the road.
This is where it's the stuffthat's inside your house.
It's the things that you useevery day.
Are there now the big, flashytvs and stereos on and all that?
(14:37):
Of course you do.
You use that, the computers andthe photo stuff and all that
that's all over in in thecentral hall.
But the stuff in halls athrough d is really fun.
Um, there's also samples, sothey have like smokers and
barbecue stuff and the littleBartesian automatic drink maker.
You're going to find some neatstuff in halls A through D.
That's how I get through CES.
(14:58):
Basically, in two days or threedays, work the North Hall if
you're into cars and stuff, orWest Hall.
Then move over to North Hall,see the IoT wireless nerds that
are hanging out there.
Move across into Central, callit a day, hit South and then
make your way over to theVenetian.
I'm only there for two daysthis year, so it's going to be a
little tight.
I fly in Monday.
I'm there Tuesday and Wednesday.
I've got some meetings set upWednesday If you want to hang
(15:19):
out with me and walk the showfloor.
Please know that I do walk theshow floor.
I try and hit every singleaisle.
I try and put eyes on everysingle vendor that's there, even
if it's just for a split second, because I've found at this
show as well as other shows,that even when I'm not expecting
to see something crazy likelast year, I think one of the
(15:40):
coolest things that I saw was inthe Central Hall.
It wasn't even Central Hall, Ithink it was in the West Hall,
in the automotive side.
I think it was in the West Hall, in the automotive side.
I was back in the corner, theback right-hand corner, and I
(16:01):
saw an AI tire-changing machinethat used artificial
intelligence and machinelearning to understand where
issues in tires are taking place, and it was incredible to watch
.
So pay attention to everythingthat's there.
Take a look.
Have a great time.
Food make reservations ifyou're trying to go out to eat.
If not, man, there's some greatfood.
All around Las Vegas, a lot ofthe city is sold out for the
show, so make sure you planaccordingly.
But other than that, enjoy yourtime at CES.
(16:22):
Have a really good time.
Feel free to drop me a line.
Whoa, feel free to drop me aline and say hello and see where
I'm at.
There's going to be a couple ofus walking around roaming the
area.
That's really where I spend mytime.
Now what I want to ask you, dearlistener, is did I miss
anything?
Was there anything that youlike to do at CES that I didn't
even talk about, because it is ahuge show and it usually takes
three full days to get through?
(16:44):
So if there's something I'vetotally overlooked, please drop
in the comments or send me amessage.
Otherwise I will see you all atces.
I hope to see you all at ces.
It's gonna be a cool year thisyear.
South hall's back and, uh,we'll talk to you soon.
Bye.
Hey, what's up everybody?
It's Drew Lentz, the WirelessNerd.
Today I want to talk about CES.
So I've been going to CES for alittle bit over a decade now,
and it's a show that I go toevery January.
I enjoy going to understandwhat's happening in our world of
tech, whether it's in my houseor in my business, or hanging on
a wall in a restaurant, or theway people take orders, or the
cars that are driving down thestreet.
(00:21):
Ces has everything involvingconsumer electronics.
It is, after all, the ConsumerElectronics Show.
So I wanted to talk real quickabout what I do there, because
if you've never been, it can bekind of daunting, and even if
you have been, it's still prettydaunting.
There's a lot to see at theshow, there's a lot to do there,
and I want to walk you throughwhat my methodology is of it,
(00:42):
because I've had a couple ofpeople who are new this year or
new last year who wanted tounderstand what I did and how I
jam-pack everything into acouple of days.
So it's important to understandhow the show is laid out.
So this year is going to be alittle bit different.
2025 is going to be a littlebit different than it was the
last couple of years.
We finally are getting thesouth halls back.
So here's a quick little map ofwhat it looks like, the overall
(01:05):
floor plan.
So you see, on the left handside you see the North halls and
then you see the central hallsthere.
These are the main areas.
And on the right hand side yousee South hall, where it says S1
, s2, s3, so on and so forth.
This is a little bit different,because before what would
happen is for the last couple ofyears these halls have been
closed.
Now the West Hall isn't evenlocated on this map.
So let's go look at a biggermap of what overall CES looks
(01:28):
like.
This is on the CES website.
At cestech you can go and youcan see a whole view of
everything that they have.
And we're going to look at theLas Vegas Convention Center view
because that's where the mainstuff happens.
So you've got a few differentareas there.
Let's zoom in here real quick.
A few different areas.
There's our South Hall 1 and 2,south Hall 3, central Hall, the
(01:48):
meeting rooms and the mainlobby area.
Then you've got Westgate, whichthere's some interesting things
that happen at Westgate.
Is it Westgate where it happensevery year?
Yeah, westgate has its ownstuff there, and then you have
the West Hall.
So a couple of things here.
Let's start down here.
So the South Halls these arethe areas that are the
innovation areas, where peoplewho want to build and fabricate
(02:09):
and create and source materials,these are the halls for that.
So you go in there and you finda lot of different countries
that come in and represent theirdifferent products from a
manufacturing and sourcing andfacilities side.
It was closed the last coupleof years, but this year it's
back.
It's pretty neat to see whereeverything starts.
So if you want to know how tomake a case, or if you need a
(02:30):
casemate, or if you need a PCBor if you need the basic
elements of consumer electronics, that's the spot where you want
to go there.
The big, flashy hall is thecentral hall.
The central hall is the areawhere you see all the TVs.
You see all the gaming hall.
The central hall is the areawhere you see all the TVs, you
see all the gaming, you see thephoto equipment, you see the
video equipment, you see all ofthe big stuff that's happening.
(02:50):
That's where all the bigexhibitors are the huge, huge
booths that are millions andmillions of dollars from Samsung
and Sony and LG.
All those guys are in thecentral hall.
Across the grand lobby and themeeting rooms area.
You've got on the left-handside.
Over here you've got the WestHall.
Now the West Hall is like a carshow.
It really is.
(03:11):
I mean, it's like it is the carshow.
So you go in there.
You see lots of EVs, you seetons of electric vehicles.
You see things that help withthat whole area.
As you can see from thedescription, it says EVs, ev
tool, vertical takeoff andlanding.
There's a couple of those there.
You'll see those Heavymachinery so John Deere has a
big presence there.
Marine, you see some stuff withboats, self-driving and all of
(03:33):
the suppliers in that world.
There's lots that happens inthat space.
The other one that I want tocall attention to is the Central
Plaza.
This is the outdoor stuff.
So there's some test driving,test tracks out here.
There's some stuff that you cando outside.
It's a great place to, as theysay, catch a breath of fresh air
.
The Central Plaza is a reallyfun area just to go outside for
(03:54):
a minute and see some of theself-driving vehicles and some
of the autonomy that happens outthere.
But one of my favorite spotsisn't even on the LVCC campus.
If I go back and I look at theother campuses that are there,
the Venetian has a really coolcampus as well and it's got one
of my favorite areas and it'scalled Eureka Park.
And Eureka Park is downstairsat the Venetian.
(04:15):
If you've been to any of thebig, larger tech events that
happened, like the AWS reInventor HP Discover or any of those,
this is the downstairs area.
That's usually the dining area.
This area they convert over andit's called Eureka Park because
it's all the people that wantto show off something new.
(04:37):
Basically, the way I alwaysexplain it is Eureka Park is the
people who want to be at CESbut can't afford the big booth
upstairs.
So downstairs you have really,really cool stuff happening down
there.
You've got a lot of reallygreat tech, a lot of innovation
that's happening, a lot of newstartups and eventually you see
some of the stuff that'shappening down in Hall G at
Eureka Park.
(04:57):
You see it make its way up tothe next floor or even to the
main floor at some point in timeor another.
Then, above that, on thatsecond floor, for halls A
through D, you've got a wholedifferent area.
Now these are the biggerpavilions.
There's food technology, smarthome accessories, digital health
, big innovation, the innovationshowcases there where you can
(05:19):
see all the awards that havebeen nominated and won for CES.
That's there.
That area is a very cool area.
Don't sleep.
Make sure you take that areainto account.
There's a lot of stuff thathappens.
So those are the main areasthat you have at CES.
Now, how do you tackle all ofthat?
That's kind of the issue, right?
(05:40):
The way that I do it, the waythat I do all trade shows, is
what I like to do, is I like tobe very methodical about the way
that I approach it.
I read up on what the bigtrends are, what I'm looking for
in a show, what I'm trying tounderstand.
Is there anything that sticksout that I really want to see
and get hands-on with this year?
I want to see some of the stufffrom Morse Micro.
I want to see new adaptationsof Wi-Fi 7.
(06:01):
I want to see more people whoare using Wi-Fi 7 in their
products.
I haven't really started what Iwant to dig into.
That's going to be this weekend.
Over the weekend, I'm going tostart to really get refreshed on
what I want to see, and thenwhen I hit the ground on Monday,
it'll give me something to lookforward to on Tuesday morning.
But I like to go through eachone of the halls.
The car hall is a.
(06:23):
I try and get through therepretty quickly.
But the problem with the carhall the one where the West Hall
at the Las Vegas ConventionCenter that's also where all the
IoT and communication stuff is.
So I like to go there because Ilike to see the IoT stuff, but
then I get caught up talking toall the car people and seeing
what's going on there, so thatcan be a little bit tricky.
(06:44):
I would definitely recommendmaking some time to look into
what you want to view andunderstand what's happening
there.
So it looks like the IoT stuffand all the smart stuff is not
there.
It's over.
I get these.
I think I'm getting theseconfused.
It looks like it's over in theNorth Hall.
Yeah, the West Hall is justautos and the North Hall has the
(07:06):
AI, the FinTech, the IoT, thesmart city stuff.
Okay, all right, I wasconfusing myself.
There's a little bridge thatgoes across right there.
So all of that stuff's going tobe over here in the North Halls
.
That's on the other side of thelobby.
So this is a whole.
There's a whole other area thathappens right there.
So sorry about that, but that'sokay.
That's why you listen to thewhole thing.
(07:27):
You don't just clip some of itout, I guess.
But this area is where that IoTstuff is, and then across now
this is all the auto stuff.
So things have changed over thelast couple of years.
Now I don't know if this haschanged from last year to this
year, and maybe it has.
I might be confusing myselfeven more, but as the new West
Hall was loaded on and as it wasbuilt out, I think some of that
has moved over.
(07:47):
A cool trick here that if youwant to see is if you look at
the bottom left-hand corner ofthe West Hall and you also look
at the Central Hall, you'llnotice it says Vegas Loop.
If you haven't taken the VegasLoop, that is such a great way
to get to and from the event.
Now I know at Resorts Worldthere's a stop at Resorts World,
so if you're staying at ResortsWorld you can get in and out of
(08:08):
there.
You can jump on the loop and goback and forth.
Also, if you just want to cabit or jump in an Uber and take
it over to Resorts World andthen ride the loop.
Sometimes that's faster.
Traffic gets really really crazy.
Ubers get really expensive.
It gets really nuts.
The monorail is packed.
It's always packed.
(08:31):
So, getting back and forth tothe show, they do have shuttles
from the hotels, but I'm notalways.
I don't always jive with theshuttle schedules and sometimes
I like to.
You know, sometimes I'm on aphone call or I'm talking to
someone, and it's a little biteasier for me to do that in the
back of a Tesla than it is inthe back of a, you know, a big
bus.
So make a plan on how you'regoing to get to and from.
So what I do is I like, like, asI mentioned, I like to go and I
like to look at what I'm, whatI'm looking for, and then I go
(08:53):
to the show and I actually walk.
I start in the one hundreds andI walk back and forth 100, 200,
300, 400.
And I go back and forth up anddown as many of the aisles as I
possibly can.
I try and walk the entire showfloor.
I know that that's a big ask,but it's what I like to do and I
do that because, ahead of time.
I like to think about what thetheme is of the event and, as
(09:14):
I'm walking back and forth, Ilike to see how these vendors
play into the theme.
The way that I'm thinking aboutCES, what is the big
overarching theme?
Is it 5G, is it IoT, is itWi-Fi?
And how are each one of thesevendors addressing that?
But inevitably, what I find outafter doing this at all the
different halls is there is adifferent theme.
(09:35):
It's whatever the show brings,because the show has its own
thing.
The show daily, every day.
They give you this little pieceof paper you can pick up.
It's like a little magazine andit talks about all the
announcements that were made.
And, of course, you can lookonline and see what's happening.
But understanding what thetheme of the show evolves into
as the show is happening is justas important.
(09:55):
And this doesn't just go forCES, right.
This is every tech event.
So, in my opinion, you start tosee the things that stand out,
because the people that may gointo the show thinking that
they're innovators might havemore competition than they
originally thought and theinnovations might not be as big.
There might be these tinylittle things that make them
more innovative than the companyright next to them, and those
are what I'm looking for.
(10:16):
I'd like to see the big themeand see the little things that
people are doing that aredifferent.
So the way that I approach this,you know my last year I stayed
at the Fountain Blue.
It's walking distance to theWest Hall, which was really
fantastic.
I really enjoyed that.
I didn't have to drive anywhere, which is great.
So walked across, went to theWest Hall, worked the West Hall,
then worked the North Hall.
(10:37):
After I did the North Hall,then it's probably lunchtime by
then.
If you're walking back andforth, if you're not stopping to
take meetings and take notes,you can probably get to those
two in a couple of hours andthen grab something to eat.
The eating situation in theGrand Lobby is a little bit of a
pain in the butt, but that's ifyou're looking for just a
(10:59):
sit-down experience.
There's lots of room.
You can just get in and get out, get into the area, grab a
couple slices of pizza, grab asandwich, whatever it is, pull a
drink off the wall, pay.
You're on your way.
Make your way into the centralhall right across from the area
where you eat Usually.
Lg has that whole area and it'ssuper packed, super, super,
super packed.
(11:19):
If that's what you're going foris those big things, those big
consumer electronic things likeLG, and trying to see what
they're doing, I would suggestdo some research on what they're
doing before you walk intotheir booth, because if you
don't have a plan, when you walkinto Sony and LG and Samsung,
it's Panasonic and then all theother manufacturers, hcl it can
(11:42):
be a little overwhelming.
You don't really know where tostart.
So it's difficult to see theinnovation that they're bringing
unless you know ahead of timewhat it is.
So be careful when going intothose, unless you're just
looking around.
If you're just looking around,have a field day.
I mean, if you've got time,knock yourself out.
They offer booth tours and Ibelieve you can sign up for
those.
I think you might have to do itahead of time, but have a great
(12:03):
time.
Take lots of pictures you knowthat you want to share with
people.
Look at what's going on, beinspired.
There's so much creativity andinnovation that's happening in
there by the big companies thatit's great to see it.
You get to see these crazy bigscreen TVs and wonder how in the
world you're supposed to supplyconnectivity to them.
The gaming side is really fun.
You get to see all theadvancements in gaming.
(12:24):
You get to see all the AVadvancements.
You get to see all the avadvancements.
You get to see all the stuff inspeakers.
And then you know I bought awhole shower just because I saw
the way that, uh, what kohlerhad they?
Kohler has an incredibledisplay, incredible, incredible
presence at at ces and you knowbe be be inspired by what's
there.
Like don't take a minute tojust to take it all in central
(12:45):
hall again is going to be thatarea where you get to see all
the big Fortune 100s, fortune500s and whatnot, going across
the connector and then goinginto South Hall Again.
South Hall is where you'regoing to see the people that.
It's all design and source, andthen it's also the accessories.
The accessories are going to beall the things that go with
cell phones, all the things thatgo with lights and all that
other stuff.
So so I work kind of in.
(13:07):
I did last year, the last coupleof years I started over here in
the West Hall make my way tothe North Hall, grab some lunch
in the lobby, hit the CentralHall.
At that time it's usually timefor a break.
I head out, go home I thinkthat's about dinner time.
That's really all I can do andthen the South Hall.
Go and hit the South Hall ifyou can, if you're interested in
that.
If not, you know, it's a veryspecific in design and source
(13:29):
and if that's not really whatyou're there for, then it might
not be good.
Day two definitely probablygoing to want to go back and see
some stuff, because after dayone you're going to get a feel
for what it is and you're goingto say, hey, I want to go back
and see that again.
So sometimes it might be betterto break up Central Hall into
day two.
For me, if I'm working, you know, north to south, but on day two
(13:51):
, really where my focus is isgoing over to the Venetian and
over at the Venetian.
That's where I really like tohit Eureka Park.
I like to go downstairs.
I spend a lot of timedownstairs at Eureka Park.
I really enjoy talking to thepeople that are there, talking
to the people that are drivingthe innovation.
I really, really enjoy EurekaPark.
It's the startup side of thestuff.
(14:15):
Make some time there and gothere first, because when you go
up to halls A through D.
This is fun because this is theday-to-day in-your-house stuff.
This to me, halls A through Dat the Venetian are where the
rubber meets the road.
This is where it's the stuffthat's inside your house.
It's the things that you useevery day.
Are there now the big, flashytvs and stereos on and all that?
(14:37):
Of course you do.
You use that, the computers andthe photo stuff and all that
that's all over in in thecentral hall.
But the stuff in halls athrough d is really fun.
Um, there's also samples, sothey have like smokers and
barbecue stuff and the littleBartesian automatic drink maker.
You're going to find some neatstuff in halls A through D.
That's how I get through CES.
(14:58):
Basically, in two days or threedays, work the North Hall if
you're into cars and stuff, orWest Hall.
Then move over to North Hall,see the IoT wireless nerds that
are hanging out there.
Move across into Central, callit a day, hit South and then
make your way over to theVenetian.
I'm only there for two daysthis year, so it's going to be a
little tight.
I fly in Monday.
I'm there Tuesday and Wednesday.
I've got some meetings set upWednesday If you want to hang
(15:19):
out with me and walk the showfloor.
Please know that I do walk theshow floor.
I try and hit every singleaisle.
I try and put eyes on everysingle vendor that's there, even
if it's just for a split second, because I've found at this
show as well as other shows,that even when I'm not expecting
to see something crazy likelast year, I think one of the
(15:40):
coolest things that I saw was inthe Central Hall.
It wasn't even Central Hall, Ithink it was in the West Hall,
in the automotive side.
I think it was in the West Hall, in the automotive side.
I was back in the corner, theback right-hand corner, and I
(16:01):
saw an AI tire-changing machinethat used artificial
intelligence and machinelearning to understand where
issues in tires are taking place, and it was incredible to watch
.
So pay attention to everythingthat's there.
Take a look.
Have a great time.
Food make reservations ifyou're trying to go out to eat.
If not, man, there's some greatfood.
All around Las Vegas, a lot ofthe city is sold out for the
show, so make sure you planaccordingly.
But other than that, enjoy yourtime at CES.
(16:22):
Have a really good time.
Feel free to drop me a line.
Whoa, feel free to drop me aline and say hello and see where
I'm at.
There's going to be a couple ofus walking around roaming the
area.
That's really where I spend mytime.
Now what I want to ask you, dearlistener, is did I miss
anything?
Was there anything that youlike to do at CES that I didn't
even talk about, because it is ahuge show and it usually takes
three full days to get through?
(16:44):
So if there's something I'vetotally overlooked, please drop
in the comments or send me amessage.
Otherwise I will see you all atces.
I hope to see you all at ces.
It's gonna be a cool year thisyear.
South hall's back and, uh,we'll talk to you soon.
Bye.
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