CES, the biggest technological show in the world, is something to watch. Or it could be if you could actually look at it in person.
Nearly inconceivable, expanding into its pre-pandemic incarnations, the extravagant industry encompassed the entire Las Vegas Convention Center, nearby Sands Expo, and pieces of a dozen or more hotels up and down the Strip. It was like a Disneyland for technology: Ever since I started covering the annual event in January 2001, I shot a computer-assisted sniper rifle, attended a Tesla-coil music concert, took a ride in a driving vehicle. automatic and I came across countless robots. I once took over the orders for a Fujifilm intermediate flight.
This year, in fact, you can see everything – but only on the small screen through which you see almost everything else these days. Vegas and CES will be without each other for the first time in decades. No more direct walks.
The technology industry has seen many conferences become virtual in 2020, amid Covid-related blockages, travel restrictions and a general desire to reduce the spread of virality. But CES is not an event based on the agenda of a single company or organization: it is a global crossroads in which, just last year, more than 170,000 participants interacted with more than 4,500 exhibitors. It was a media show, but also much more: a forum for innovators, producers and retailers to meet, depending on the plan or event, and to find out what’s next.
For CES 2021, which begins on Monday, its organizers have had to struggle hard in the digital space, which, perhaps ironically, is unknown – and a bit of a gamble.