It’s been about a week since I’ve got back from Las Vegas and the Consumer Electronics show. What a crazy week it was! You can check out all of the ThinkComputers coverage here. Back in 2015 I wrote my Guide To Surviving CES as a Journalist post and I still feel that many of my suggestions there reign true. After this year I have a few more tips to add to the list!
If Possible Go To The Show Floor Only 1 Day – Lets face it, the show floor is a mess. As someone who is covering CES I personally hate the show floor. With all the people it is hard to get 1 on 1 time with company reps and if you are doing an interview people will just walk right into your shot or interrupt you. Believe me it is really annoying. What I do is schedule 1 day to knock out all of my show floor meetings.
Uber Everywhere – Since most of my meetings are actually in hotel suites I am going from hotel to hotel most days. The fastest, least expensive and easiest way to get from hotel to hotel is Uber. Before Uber it was Taxi’s, but those ended up being expensive and the taxi lines during CES were the worst! With Uber I can just go on the app, get a ride and be on my way. Also Uber drivers tend to be far more pleasant than taxi drivers.
Monorail is the best way to the Convention Center – Now if you are headed to the convention center the fastest way to get there is the Monorail. Even if you take an Uber to the convention center the traffic that way is just horrible. The monorail can get busy so I would suggest taking it after 10AM and before 4:30PM on show days. I believe its 6 minutes to the convention center from the Bally’s station.
Cheap & Fast Eats – One of the things you need to make sure you do during CES is eat! Some days get so busy you barely have time to eat. If you are in the Venetian or any major hotel they should have a sort of “food court” besides the larger more expensive restaurants. Eat here, it will be quick and get you back on your way. Also in the Venetian as well as the Palazzo (this one is less busy) is the Grand Lux Cafe. It is very affordable and they have lunch specials which are around $15.
Come Up With A Plan Before You Go – Covering CES is a task in itself, with only 3-4 days to meet with and covering quite a lot of companies and their new products. Before you head to the show you are going to want to make sure you have a plan in place as to when and where your meetings are going to be at, how you are going to get your coverage up, etc. Coming to Vegas without these things in place will just make your trip so much more stressful.
Make Time To Network – The show floor as well as your meetings is not always to best time to do deals and network. The show floor is just crazy and talking business just does not work here. During meetings most reps have a full schedule so they need to go over their products and move on to the next meeting. The best place to network are parties or dinners. So be sure to make time to make an appearance at the parties or if you want to do business with someone invite them to dinner during the week.
This year was a great one for ThinkComputers covering the show, hopefully these tips will help you cover the show better.