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How To Effectively Plan for CES 2024 Now

January 24, 2023
By Matthew Caldecutt

With the most recent CES in the rearview mirror, it’s time to start thinking about your 2024 presence. Taking lessons from the 2023 event, we’re sharing ideas on how you can stand out.

The 2023 show featured miles of booths inside and outside; while it didn’t overtly reference the COVID-19 pandemic, many of the products featured clearly had it in mind. The electric vehicles – some autonomous and some not – provided you with your own private abode for those rare instances you felt you needed to leave the home. The Smart Cities section was chock full of tools for making it easier to take creature comforts on your journeys away from crowded areas. There were portable solar panels, solid state batteries and campers that integrated with this technology so you could be more connected on longer trips. And let’s not forget Big Tech’s take in the smart home. Expecting you’ll be spending lots of time there, attendees were shown how to organize their home into zones so each would have a purpose – from work to movie time – so that you might not notice you never left.

So, how might you plan to stand out next year? First, it’s important to begin engaging with the reporters who are covering the space you’re in early. While you don’t want to give away what’s going to be on the convention floor entirely, you’re going to want to start speaking with the media around issues relevant to what you’re working on throughout the year, including other products and trends, and even allowing them to shadow the team that’s going to bring the next concept to life. Next, take stock of the foot traffic and what each location conveys about your business. One prominent company’s booth wasn’t in the convention center – it was at The Venetian, where many attendees stayed, but, more important, the startups and other entrepreneurial types were there. Then, there’s the timing. Day Zero – before the show opens – is now the main news day, but it’s crowded. If you’ve been talking to the right press and have a good spot, maybe you can go it alone? And lastly, there’s the show itself. While a lot of attention is paid to the industry folks who walk the floors, it’s important to note that there are a lot of micro influencers in and out during the show shooting video, taking photos and more. You should be sure everyone at your booth is prepped on how best to spot such potential VIPs and how to leave them with the best impression. In summary, it’s not just about what you have, it’s about how you plan to make sure it’s anticipated and even scrutinized in the days that follow. That’s where having a partner like us comes in handy.

CES is expected to be a vision of the future and while it’s not necessarily the easiest thing to do, you’ll stand out even more if you can work with your team to present a future that projects a slightly more optimistic world. And don’t be afraid to make bold predictions. Big Tech players who have peeled away from CES to create their own events are creating narratives that have us on Mars, interacting with the world while accessible on the fastest mobile devices and enhancing the experiences we want to have in parts of our home. It’s good to dream bigger.