Thinking the unthinkable-What if there is no CES in January?

One of the essential tech shows for the PC and CE industry is CES. It takes place every January. As of the last CES, I have attended 45 shows dating back to my first one in 1977.

While I missed a few over the years, I think going to 45 shows makes me a veteran of this show. For many years I served in an advisory capacity for this show. I understand well that, even today, it is an important gathering place for PC and CE companies as well as buyers and industry professionals who attended CES to further their business interests for the new year.

While it is an important show and draws over 160,000+, it is one of those shows where just walking the show floor, you are shoulder-to-shoulder with attendees. The idea of social distancing is not an option even though the show covers over 2.9 million square feet of exhibit space.

That fact that CES by nature is a packed show, many are pondering the question of whether this show could go on given the current Pandemic and the reality that it might not be safe for people to go to large events until a vaccine becomes available. If you read the current projection for an effective vaccine, most predictions suggest it would not be available until at least late mid-to-late 2021.

One company, Facebook, has already taken a proactive position on its events and canceled all large gatherings until June of 2021. Apple, Google, Microsoft, and IBM already canceled their major events for most of 2020, and some late-year customer events may not come off as planned by Microsoft and IBM. As of yesterday, IFA also announced it is canceled which is a blow to the European consumer electronics market.

Although I do expect that once a vaccine comes out that we will again see large trade shows, I am not convinced they all come back in the same form they had in the past.

One thing I have picked up from some major show planners is that the big shows try to put many of their products and services under a single venue to get as many people to the event to experience what the entire company has to offer. Now they are thinking of smaller shows targeted at more specific customers and highlight the things that are most important to that customer.

As for broad trade shows, they too could find smaller, more focused shows that might be better for their members and their customers. Perhaps, less casual consumers just coming to browse at many of these shows, and only true people in the trade may attend.

Sitting here in April, it is probably too early to know if CES can go on as planned or as perhaps a smaller, more targeted event in January of 2021. I can imagine the folks at CES are in daily discussions on how to deal with this Pandemic, knowing that keeping their members and customers safe will be their highest priority.

I do think that the vendors who would be showing at CES need to start thinking of an alternative to getting their marketing messages out at the first of the year, given the possibility that a traditional CES may not take place. They could start planning smaller customer events for mid to late January to showcase their wares if travel restrictions are looser. Or start working now on creating a virtual trade show and exhibit that they could role out to customers at the beginning of 2021.

Part of me wants CES to go on as planned as it is a show that, unlike some of my colleagues, I do like and enjoy. However, without assurances that it would be safe, if CES does take place as planned in January, this may be one I will miss in the last 40 years.