By the time you’re reading this, the Consumer Electronics Show will be less than three months away. Whether you’re planning to make the trek to Las Vegas next January as an exhibitor, or just want to soak up the scene as an attendee, hopefully you’ve already secured your spot—and booked a hotel room!
So, what’s next? Read on for your CES prep check-list.
Plan Your Booth
Whether you’re taking over the showroom, or cramming into a 6-foot table, it’s crucial to make the most of your valuable real estate. You’ll only have a few seconds to attract the attention of attendees walking the floor at the Las Vegas Convention Center, so you’ll want to make an immediate impact. How you do this will largely be determine by what it is you have on display. Have an awesome product demo? Make sure that it’s front and center. Maybe you’re aiming to tell a more complex technology story. Ensure that you have collateral and clear visual aids on-hand to help bring it to life for audience. While CES is definitely an event to see and be seen in the tech community, it’s ultimately what you’re showcasing that really matters.
Set Up Meetings
Even though CES is almost a full week long, it can book up quickly. Make sure that you have a clear sense of your objectives going into the show. Whether your primary goal is engaging directly with consumers, meeting with media, schmoozing with potential customers and partners—or some combination of all three—it’s important to have a game plan and ensure that you’re carving out enough time for appointments at your booth or elsewhere at the show. If securing media meetings is your main goal, the CES show organizers typically release the registered press list starting a month or two before the show and update it in the weeks leading up to it. This is a great place to start, but before you give it a once-over before you start outreach, and it typically includes a lot of ad sales contacts mixed in with media.
Load Up on Swag
If your booth makes the biggest impression, what visitors leave it with is a close second when it comes to importance. Branded “swag” is abundant at CES, and you’ll see attendees walking the show floor with bags to scoop it all up. While it might seem like a silly investment, it can be a great way to cut through the clutter and provide people with a clear reminder of your brand in the form of a leave-behind that will live on after the show. Opt for something that is actually useful to avoid finding it in the trash on your way out—things like portable chargers, business card phone cases and even breath mints all come in handy after 4 days in Vegas.
Especially if it’s your first time, nothing can truly prepare you for the tech madness that descends on The Strip every January, but this is a start. Subscribe to the Matter blog below because closer to the show we will be sharing our predictions about the trends that will be dominating CES 2019.