Making CES 2025 Better Than CES 2020

Can events get “smart”?
Will the technology that’s giving us smart factories, smart homes, smart cities and smart countries bypass events? Seems unlikely, but…

Welcome then to the onrushing age of the smart event. Well, maybe not this year or next, but sometime soon in the 2nd decade of the 21st century most major events will have gone digital or they may not be around.

Why would anyone fork over the cash for an expensive event pass, plus pay airfare, hotel and all the rest for the same old, circa 2020 event experience?

Total cost of attendance at most events is like $5k, right? Smart events will be the only way that attendees can properly max out their ROI. Dave Limp, Amazon’s Alexa exec, says that 100 million Alexa devices are in the hands of consumers. Add video, like Amazon’s Echo, and 100 million people could theoretically attend CES2020; that is, if CES was set up to greet them, which it isn’t.

Research is showing that 2020 is to see some 30 billion connected devices in the world, which means that lots of people and digital things  will also be mightily connected. 

By 2025 then, will any attendee abide any event that is not as digital as the attendees themselves?

Is there a better way than walk-till-you-drop events?

With that in mind, what better platform to go “smart” than the largest consumer electronics show on the planet? CES already sports some two-million square feet of electronic “digital” devices every year. Why stop there? At the very least, connect them all! That’s how the digital fun begins.

This year, for CES2020, the Verge sees a battle going on: “It’s hard not to see Alexa, Google, Apple, and, to a lesser extent, Microsoft fighting for dominance. And CES is the perfect place to watch that fight play out. It may not be the venue where The Next Big Thing gets revealed, but CES is the place to see where the trends are heading.” 

So, a digital connectivity “trend” may play itself out at CES2020 in front of an audience that is the best connected in history. 

If “events”, in order to be relevant, need to mirror what’s happening with consumers, is CES2020 as connected as it should be? No, not by a long shot. 

However, with CES2020, we could be on the cusp of a new CES experience. It’s one that won’t manifest itself for a while, however, we’ll all be able to sense the onrushing possibilities while strolling the exhibit halls this January.

Just look for what’s missing.

While strolling CES 2020, squint a bit to get a sense what is to come.

Here are a few look-aheads to prime your imagination. ​

Smart move #1: Keeping bedlam at bay
Immediately noticeable and the single-most constant that won’t go away between CES 2025 and CES 2020 will be the level of cacophony. Decibels will still be off the charts in 2025. But hey, it’s an event. We’ll get over it.

Salvation amid the dissonance will be wireless, noise-cancelling earbuds that will render the discord into a mild, almost pleasant background hum. Connected, directional earbuds will tune us in to distraction-free conversations with mates …as well as chats with booth personnel about their to-die-for electronics.

Just scan the QR code on the booth, and you’re in. Your ear buds will connect you to the booth crew.

Need a data fix? That same CES booth request will prompt a cascade of analytics on the booth personnel and their company (including their LinkedIn pages and WSJ news flashes), info on the company’s electronic products, instant comparisons between their gizmos other similar CES 2025 gadgets (plus maybe a consumer review or two to download); and if needed, even a set of probing questions to ask if conversation or the gizmo or both are fails. And, of course, the questions will be available as print or audio or both, and translated into any of thirty-two languages.

Ask your Smartphone to help by sorting every booth and product for any that match your interests.

If it gets to be info overkill, go off grid and stop the flow at any time.

Want to cherry pick your booth tour? Tap into the CES 24×7 video and radio streams. Search the streams for any interviews with notables or ask for the Hot Picks menu of most trafficked booths.

Or, simply let an algorithm do all the heavy lifting for you.

Keep sorting until you match the optimum number of booths to your available time, energy, and productivity limits. The onset of fatigue is a good sign to take a coffee break.

But, of course, coffee breaks won’t be coffee breaks at CES 2025: they’ll just be more work but with a latte chaser. More like quiet times spent with a digital device or two catching up with who and what you’ve missed or have scheduled next.

Swig down that frothy latte and it’s off again to the show floor.

Just want to amble around and chill during your CES walk-through? No schmoozing, just eye candy and music?  Your cell will recognize your mood and play appropriate musical accompaniment. Just make sure your shoes are comfortable.

Your cell will also update you as to when your attention span has been maxed out. Mental efficiency trending down, is it? Bad for productivity. Tsk-tsk. Power down your personal system and rest up for a while.

But then again, you didn’t spend big bucks to come to CES Vegas to rest up.

Purely optional, but a preference everyone will opt for is doing CES 2025 high on VR. That’s but one of the mega differences that will be hitting all trade shows and events when the new decade arrives.​​