ALL ON for CES 2024: What to Expect
hey it's James kekki from CES Tech talk here to tell you that registration for the world's most powerful Tech event is now open what event is that you know what event it is come on the greatest Minds the most powerful Brands the most impactful technology it all comes together at CES 2024 so discover the tech defining AI Transportation startups smart cities digital health and solutions for a better more sustainable Planet register now at c. all together all in all [Music] on this is CES Tech talk I'm James kotki the world's most powerful Tech event CES 2024 brings the future to Las Vegas January 9th through 12th today the ultimate CES preview and I mean ultimate with a literal sense of finale because this is our final episode before CES 2024 who better to give us the inside scoop than the people who put on the show so let's welcome back to the podcast three leaders from the consumer technology Association the group that owns and produces CES we've got John T Kelly who is VP CES show director Kinsey FBO senior VP CES and membership and of course the president and CEO of the consumer technology Association Gary Shapiro welcome back everybody it is great to get the gang back together thanks James the band has returned for another great show it's great to be back on the Pod likewise Gary I want to start maybe uh with you kind of for just a general sense of where we are heading into CES 2024 this event has come a long way it's been through a lot we're we've got the pandemic hopefully well in the distance uh behind us what does CES mean in 2024 well each CES actually kicks off the new year with optimism and hope and We Gather the most important and enthusiastic innovators from around the world the cxos from the biggest companies and the startups together they come from all over the world all to Las Vegas where we use three of the largest convention centers in the country and multiple hotels so they could get together in a very efficient way with the average person seeing having about 29 meetings and they could uh see what's out there they will not only have relationships but they will have Discovery Serendipity and they will get together and verticals will will um see each other and realize that Innovation is about putting together new ideas from across the Spectrum in a way which serves mankind serves industry serves business and and just uh allows the economy to move forward with Innovation driving it which is especially important in the United States but it's also important to the world yeah and and the reason this is such a a big event is because it the reason this is such an important event is because it literally is a big event can you give us some more numbers just to help us understand the size and scope of where we are at CES 2024 this is big and and it's definitely even bigger than last year we've uh have double digit growth we're up to about over 3,500 exhibitors and there'll be believe it or not in about 2.4 million net square feet of exhibit space across these facilities and that is uh a couple of dozen football fields worth of space no one can see the whole show we expect to attract about 130,000 people uh from around the world and over one out of three of those people be from outside the United States we also get several thousand important media like yourself uh that come to cover the world and expand its reach Way Beyond the people who show up physically and of course you could see that from our website and social media as well and Gary I wanted to stay with you for just uh another minute here because again CES has a theme human security again is on the agenda human security for all in fact is the name of that theme that was the theme at CES 2023 so what does it mean here now that we head into CES 2024 you know although CES is not open to Consumers ultimately the products there do get to Consumers uh about 60 to 70% are aimed at at consumers there's a lot of business to business as well but the fact is the United Nations for several years has had the sustainability goals aimed at government and sustainability is the overall theme in a sense that we're all working towards to leave the world better for our children and grandchildren but last year or 2023 CES we partnered with the United Nations and relevant bodies and focus on these human Securities are rights the right to clean air clean water the right to not be hungry to have access to food the right to Health Care the right to community there were seven of these and now there's a new one there's an eighth if you will and that is something that we were happy to announce with the United Nations recently at the opening of the UN General Assembly and that is the right to access technology which allows us to have all these rights come into play so we'll see a lot of Technologies shown which connect people to for example food um and how to make that in an efficient way how to do it closer to your home how to do it in your home even uh water we've had seen a lot of breakthroughs there so you can get basically water from air or clean water um Health Care way throughout the show and some of the other things which allow people to get together communicate uh and just be more human if you will in a sense that everyone no matter what country you live in can and should have these human Securities and Technology enables it I'll say for example something like healthcare where you have uh a shortage of doctors and healthcare workers around the world technology is absolutely essential to filling these huge gaps so people can get health care we see that at CES I mean everybody who's associated with CES I'm sure has long understood that you know technology is a fundamental part of the human experience but to see that enshrined by the United Nations as this uh fundamental right it's it's so it so that is now an eighth kind of human right is that am I am I saying that right well they call them human Securities we call them rights that means you should be secure in this and you should feel good about your life it's something we all kind of want is security that's what solve a lot of the world's problems if everyone felt that but obviously it's like maso's hierarchy of needs you need to be able to sustain yourself with food and water and obviously uh health care and and and all the other things and and it goes up into like community in a sense of community and that's what what technology is enabling all these different human Securities so we're kind of understanding the size of the show and kind of what it means to the world and even to uh humanity and it's very exciting and John I want to bring you in now and talk from the exhibitor and the participant perspective the many people who are going to be engaged in Las Vegas at CES 2024 what does it mean to them well you know we what we've learned the last couple years coming out of covid is that being face Toof face is matters it's important it's important to convene whether you're part of the tech industry or some of the other adjacent industries that come to CES to meet together to discuss how technology is solving some of these problems to be Under One Roof I mean we meet for four days in Las Vegas and the amount of business that gets done in that short period of time is incredible you know we hear on average that the average exhibitor has 29 meetings during CES so the efficiency of being in one place in Las Vegas to meet to partner to discuss ideas it's there's nothing like it and I think that's something that we hear time and time again from exhibitors right now sitting a few weeks out from CES the enthusiasm is incredible we're seeing exhibitors sending out press releases we're getting media inquiries um our numbers look really strong as Gary indicated so I think there's a lot of General excitement for CES 2024 and we're excited to see um everybody in Las Vegas yeah every time that I do an interview I also do interviews at uh CES as all of you know in the c-space Studio over at Arya and everybody that I talk to always consistently like they're wearing sneakers because they've been running around to meetings all day before and after my interviews and that's what they tell me that they're doing uh the entire time that they're at CES and they're all usually tired but in a good way because they've had so many interesting and productive meetings and they keep coming back year after year because they get to do that but I would like to do something that uh we did last year uh with you Kinsey uh last year on this episode this kind of uh triumvirate episode of the show where we had the three of you on the podcast last year Kinsey you took us on kind of a verbal virtual tour of the different sections of CES and so I'd love uh for you to be able to do that again and just kind of take us through and help us understand kind of how things are laid out in all the different uh Industries and sections that people might be able to experience there I'm happy to do that again do you have a favorite category James because I could start with that location well of course I have to uh start uh with c-pace over at ARA of course we'll start with the ARA so the Arya is where we where we have c-pace and this is the area for Content entertainment media advertising you can find all of the big Brands there we have uh conference programming programmed by C CTA as well as our partners over at the ARA it's a very exciting part of the show we um have several other locations too that I'll talk through we'll we'll move over to the Ian this is a very important part of CES and a very important venue because our Keynotes happen at the Venetian and we'll talk about those in a little bit but we also have Eureka Park in the Venetian they are on the lower level this is our area for startups there'll be over a thousand startups in Eureka Park it's one of the most exhilarating and exciting parts of the show you truly see the global startup Community come together there if you go to the level up in the Venetian you'll find food Tech smart SM home accessories will be there and then also our Global Pavilions will be there we have Beauty Tech and sports Tech over in the Venetian so very exciting and fun categories if we move over to the Las Vegas Convention Center there are um three key halls there where we have exhibits so the West Hall is where we have all of our automotive and Mobility Tech and um new venue alert outside of West Hall in the West Plaza we'll have some outdoor exhibits that will be new this year superal will be out there and they'll be showcasing their EV toll technology and Mercedes-Benz will also be out there and that's in addition to these self-driving demo tracks that we always have outside of West Hall so West Hall is all about Mobility you'll see Auto Tech marine tech a and construction Tech it's very exciting if you move on to Central Hall this is where you're going to find our traditional big AV and gaming brands at CES so than Samsung and LG uh Panasonic Bosch this is Sony this is where these companies showcase their products it's a very um Lively part of the show and it's always somewhere that I encourage everyone to get to outside of central Hall in Central Plaza is another wonderful part of the show this is where uh the Google Booth is you everybody probably knows right where I'm talking about there are some newcomers to to that part of the show as well Walmart will be out there and some other exciting new exhibitors so definitely check out that part as well and then if you move to North Hall one of my favorite categories of tech is in North Hall digital health I truly love this category of Technology it's amazing to see how Tech is transforming the healthcare industry you'll find exhibitors like abbit and why things esor luxotica firsttime CS exhibitor will be there um ResMed madna it's really going to be a unique and informative and educational part of the show um additionally in North Hall we smart cities we have ai Robotics and there'll be um some overflow from West Hall of automotive and Mobility Tech as well and sustain ability we have uh we showcase sustainability Solutions in North Hall as well and look I mean I assume that people who listen to CES Tech talk by and large are people who are probably familiar with CES but if there's going to be one episode of this podcast that people should send to their friends to help them understand CES people who might not know CES yet it probably should be this episode right and so for those people who are listening to this episode have never been to CES before I just want to reemphasize here this is huge the way I describe cribe CES to people my friends is like picture the biggest convention hall you've ever been to and there's like five of them and so Gary said earlier right you can't see all of the show 2 point something million square feet or something incredible like that and it's growing right so Kinsey what are the sectors that are actually expanding this year at CES 24 2024 because it just keeps getting bigger it does well the first one we mentioned c-pace we've actually expanded into the cosmo Hotel this year which is new and um you know we've heard from exhibitors for a while that they wanted us to expand into that area we were able to do it and we're accomodating some new exhibit accommodating some new exhibitors over there uh Disney will be over there Reddit will be over there and many popular brands in the entertainment space um I mentioned West Plaza outside of West Hall that is a new venue for us um we'll be having outdoor exibits there make sure to check those out and then you will be able to find our design and Source technology in the Westgate at CES 2024 wow um so the next question I really want to bring all of you in on which is you know we're talking about the exhibitors the exhibit space the meetings CES is also about keynote speeches and we've had some very important keynote speeches at CES over the years who are some of the keynote speeches that uh you're all looking forward to let's start with uh let's go Gary John Kinsey for this answer well certainly having the world's biggest retailer CEO uh Walmart CEO Doug McMillan rather is is huge for us uh and and Walmart doing something at CES with an activation is pretty exciting I look forward to seeing that also the the number one consumer electronics retailer that's dedicated to Consumer technology in the country Best Buys Corey Barry will be speaking at a our leaders in technology dinner with a lot of policy makers and other people there from around the world and that that'll be interesting it's more that's more of a interview format uh with the the head of Fortune uh Alan Murray but it will be it's he's a great interviewer and she's done some pretty amazing things in the last few years and that her perspective on what's hot in the future and her passions will be really great to hear well for me you know the pre-o keynote we actually starts on January 8th where Sean CEO Roland Bou will discuss how leading brands are how they work with leading Brands to improve how we live work and move so I'm really excited to see that Seaman is a first time keyter at CES so really excited to see that and then you know the opening keynote opening morning of the show our first Beauty Tech keynote with L'Oreal um that's GNA be really exciting it's a new category it's a growing category at s CES so that's really exciting to see it as well well I'm honestly I'm excited for all of them but I'll I'll call out a few um Gail buil who is the CEO of elevance Health I am really excited to see her I mentioned Health as being one of my favorite categories at CES so I can't wait to hear what she has to say about the future of healthcare I'm also really excited for Kian Chung of HD Hyundai we had a great trip to Korea and it was wonderful to see that company in action so looking forward to hearing them on the keynote stage and then of course quom Intel NASDAQ they're all going to be amazing yeah and of course CES is a place to to make news to break news so you know we're we're we're expecting some really high-profile um talks coming out from all the folks that you're mentioning and their the production values are always incredible so those are definitely going to be things not to miss absolutely and you know one more sorry I forgot to mention EV Spiegel the CEO of snap will be keynoting in c-pace and that's just going to be a wonderful wonderful presentation wow and and we also have several hundred other people speaking on panels that are um very specific subjects or broad subjects we have a hall focus on public policy you know the world is looking at things like artificial intelligence and other thing saying what do we do about this and here's here's the good things and here's the problems so we actually have policy makers that are making the decisions come speak and they're speaking with real people in business which actually makes a difference and as a matter of our own policy we present different views there even if they disagree with our own because we are a platform and we feel a certain editorial responsibility to make sure that everyone is heard with in sense of different views I was gonna say that is a good point Gary you know at CES in addition to the Keynotes the show also features more than 250 conference sessions some of the topics Gary just mentioned um and over 800 speakers so you know there's a lot of discussions taking place a lot of thought leadership at CES as well yeah and of course that policy aspect is key I think people who maybe you know wander by a CES Marquee in Las Vegas might not understand the connection between CES and the consumer technology Association which is of course the organization uh that owns and produces it which is of course a policy associ a policy group out of uh out of DC um which is uh setting the pace for Consumer technology policy so it's obviously all thanks foring yeah James that's an important point because actually you know the CES is one of the most important Global events it's one of the few that's based in the United States uh but we are a US and Canada based trade Association and those are that's our membership so we're fighting in US and Canada for good policies which favor Innovation and we try to balance between you know where China is like they don't focus on the individual all there's no privacy they have great data sensors is important for AI and then you have uh Europe which is very focused on privacy less on Innovation and so we try to be right in the middle like Goldilocks and the Three Bears and that's what we're advocating for in Congress is that we have a very Pro Innovation policy government regulations should set the guard rails business should know what's legal we shouldn't have lawyers taking over the country with a litigation tax and those are the things we're advocating for but we talk about them but we do present the all sides so um an international Viewpoint uh from a US perspective I suppose certainly uh Las Vegas provides a Us location for all of this to take place but it is an International show CES 2024 is going to see a lot of international um visitors I believe Gary alluded to the the percentage of international visitors earlier but John can you give us some some more numbers there to help understand the scope of the international aspects to CES 2024 yeah that's a great that's a great point and one of the you know values of CES is it truly is a meeting point for the global industry as Gary indicated about a third of our attendees come from outside the United States so last year that number exceeded 40,000 um and no is this more pronounced than in Eureka Park as Kinsey indicated so in Eureka Park you see many of the country Pavilions like Italy the Netherlands France Israel um Ukraine Romania there'll be a Romanian Pavilion there a Polish Pavilion there as well you know anecdotally I review many of the contracts that come through for exhibitors and last night as I was looking at the contracts I saw two come through from countries that don't necessarily have a large Presence at CES but these companies are coming because they see value in CES and see value in meeting with the Global Tech ecosystem and those two countries one was from Shri Lanka and one was from Uruguay and so again these companies are making a choice to come to Las Vegas because I understand the entire Global Tech ecosystem will be there and so I think that just speaks to the global nature of the show and why CES is so important yeah absolutely um this is just such a massive thing as we keep saying as I keep saying nobody could possibly see all the things that we're mentioning Gary said you can't see the whole show we're talking about so many exhibitors Keynotes conference sessions International opportunities and of course all the individual meetings that one could have so let's go uh Kinsey let's go to you first how do you recommend that people even start to approach uh the possibilities of CES given that this is really only taking place the actual physical part of CES only takes place over a few days in Las Vegas and they can't do it all yeah well look there's a couple things that people can do if you if you physically can't walk through the entire show though you could probably try um I I would definitely tune into the podcast and the interviews that you do James and hear from some of the great voices at CES but also we have an anchor desk that we will live stream content interviews with exhibitors product announcements over three days during CES and you can tune in to that on our website that's a great way to hear and understand what's happening at the show if you're in meetings and you don't get to see everything and be everywhere and um you can also follow us on our social channels we you know pump out a lot of information during those four days of CES and so if you follow us there you'll be able to to Really stay in the know while you're there having all your meetings and doing your important business well I have to I'd like to add to that because one of the great ways to see the coolest things at this show is the Innovations area this is a a judged area uh we had a record number of submissions several thousand up over 40% over last year and it's in the Venetian and what it does is we have a different categories of products and the Jud we show the ones that the judges have said these are the best products at the show and that way you could go into one place and see what some judges have said are the really cool products of course every exhibitor thinks their products are the coolest and the best but the reality is there are some that are really unique and it's just a great overview it's a it's an area you can go get more information about the products and see who makes them uh but obviously just going to some of the the biggest exhibits is also very exciting in central Hall where you see these massive exhibits and companies with a huge number of product lines showing the world what and how they want to be seen and it's you know they have this is the top marketers in the world the top brand names in the world are almost all there and just seeing that is another mustsee part of the show yeah and another another tool that we do offer for attendees is our Show app so you you can download the CES 2024 app from both the Android and iOS app store today and start planning your show so you can search exhibitors you can search conference sessions you can start planning your schedule so that's the best advice I offer to people when they're particularly approaching CES for the first time is where do I start I say download the app start planning in advance so you can at least approach the show with a strategy of how you're going to plan out those four days because it does get pretty busy and as keny didn't see at obviously listen to your podcast James because there's a lot of great information here as well I just want to say in the app it's something that you don't not necessarily um it's just different than it was last year there's like over a dozen improvements we've made so we think we've listened to our customers and we've come back with something better and it's something that that we're all buzzing about here well speaking of things that people are buzzing about uh Gary you mentioned Ai and I want to dive a little deeper into that topic for a moment you know Chad GPT came out um what was it like round Thanksgiving November of 2022 really just a few months before CES 2023 and that was you know it was a conversation Topic in some of the interviews that I did at CES 2023 and I'm sure now it's going to be in almost every conversation that I have at CES 2024 it probably is going to be in most conversations in general that people are having at CES 2024 um so what kind of AI advances are you expecting to see at the show how are you expecting AI to influence what happen at CES and the conversations people have there well a and I are probably the two most common letters will be used by exhibitors at the show and they'll be surprising us with a range of things there's no question about that we'll see that in everything from uh digital twins to all sorts of you know robotics other autonomic systems self-driving vehicles uh a lot of machine learning platforms like e-commerce software development and so many other things but you know where we definitely will see it is uh Amazon we'll be talking about it uh at Tech West AMD the great chip company uh will also be there as well Blue Sky AI it's in their name at Tech East uh naron uh will be talking about what they're offering as well m.ai as well but but really there be
hundreds of exhibitors we'll be talking about Ai and it's AI is not a physical Hardware product it is something that's inside there and what it does especially and as you mentioned generative AI for the masses is just a little bit more than a year old right now and now it's an opportunity not only for things like um running your office more efficiently which I know a lot of cios are excited about and freeing up people's time to do a lot of other higher level work and creative things and collaboration but it is also something that consumers want to see some benefits from soon and they're certainly seeing that look on highways now a lot of the new cars now have uh you know basically they they could take over before an accident occurs that's really really helpful for saving lives so we're already seeing it for consumers but we'll see more of it at CES I want to start to think about the different ways that uh different parts of the tech World meet and collaborate at CES that's obviously you know a physical location at the beginning of every year where these kind of meetings and collaborations can really happen um I want to ask all of you starting with you John um what are two different Industries or technologies that you hope might actually you know come together at at CES or or have an initial conversation that Sparks something Innovative down the road well I consider myself somewhat of a fashioned forward individual if you will no doubt um so I'm really excited to see or I think there's a real big opportunity for the fashion industry to connect with the tech industry and you're starting to see this and how products are designed the different types of materials companies are using when they design their products how they connect with their consumers how they Source their product how they tell that story I just feel like there's a real big opportunity there to tell that story as CES so I'm excited to see that grow in the future yeah yeah John's been pushing for a separate exhibit area for his shoe collection but we don't have the space that's right you need a few more million square feet that's right Square shoes that's pretty funny uh Kinsey do you have an answer for that question you know I do I do um I really Beauty Tech I think is is just so exciting to have it at CES I'm excited about how that might converge with many other categories of the show like healthtech for example and so I I think you know we are in some from for some exciting announcements there L'Oreal is going to be fantastic shash firsttime exhibitor at CES another big Beauty brand will be in the Venetian so I'm looking forward to those two potential uh convergences well I also think that you know I've written a few books about innovation and this is a theme that every company is a technology company they have to innovate to survive they have to Pivot uh and that's something we'll see CES one of the ones I think has been really successful CES which just continues to grow is is c-spaces as Kinsey mentioned earlier where you have the content World these are creative types and all sorts of content that has been enabled by the internet and other things which has continued to explode and and it's it's Global but the US is doing very well as a content creator that and the tech the technology world have to to collaborate and the third group that's there the chief marketing office is the marketing Community because they have to figure out like lightning speed what's the best way to Market their products uh especially because the first ones that get into a new marketing media are the ones that really get the value from the last ones are paying the most and they've already left behind for the next one so it's such a rapidly changing world for marketers that that CES is it's it's not only it's one of the world's greatest marketing events and a must attend event for marketings now from every industry uh it's in a sense like when they talk about see us now I keep hearing it from other journalists that this is the largest auto show in the world but it's certainly for the US it's the largest uh Gathering of people from outside the United States for any reason inside the to come to the United States but there's a magic that occurs there and you were talking earlier about you know how you could describe CES to me it was like when I was years ago a few decades we were working on HDTV and people say well what's so special about HDTV I'd say well it's kind of like ice cream you know I can tell you how cold it is and how it's sweet and different tastes but you have to experience ice cream same thing with CES uh same thing with HDTV once you experience it you totally understand it you get it and you are optimistic about the future of the world where we're going and our ability to solve fundamental problems whether it's in health care or education uh food delivery uh clean water you name it and that's what the CES is about well I love the call outs to Marketing in c-space which is of course my home base personally at CES every year and I think that c I think that c space is also just really about storytelling and the story of CES overall is uh increasingly important as we've all been discussing on this episode of the podcast and so as we wrap up here and of course we could keep going and I know people are going to be uh excited to come to CES after this episode um because you've been saying so many great things about it and so much important information about CEs 2024 but I want maybe to have all of you maybe kind of predict what the story coming out of ces2 24 might be so um can we can you predict kind of what CES 2024 might actually be remembered for and we'll we'll do this as another round robin uh Kinsey will start with you John and then Gary will give you the last word what will CES 2024 be remembered for do you think I think it's going to be remembered for how AI is transforming every single vertical of technology and I think there's going to be so many unique stories and announcements that come out across the entire show and the tech ecosystem yeah and I I agree with that I mean it's hard to argue against that um I do think AI will be the story of CES this year but as kyans indicated it's not just generative AI which has obviously been in the news for the past year it's how a AI is transforming all the vertical markets at CES you'll sh see how it shows up in healthcare and the automotive space at c space all the innovations that are coming out of Eureka Park from the startups and how they're leveraging artificial intelligence so I think that we're at a important place in history where artificial intelligence will change how we interact with our products and Technologies and each other in the future yeah and I think that will be on full display at CS 2024 I agree honestly but I was told as a speaker once that people don't remember anything you say but they remember how you made them feel and I think CES will make the people that come there and experience it feel hopeful for the future and in a world that's increasingly divided with friction and tension and even in our own country and election coming up interest rates High recession all the the bad news which dominates our life it's nice to go somewhere and feel good feel good about the technology solving the world's problems and about the people and the relationships behind that technology which are real people trying to do good for the world and that's the kind of people that come to see us they see a better future and they want to spend their lives working towards it and that's what makes CES makes me feel great and that's why I've dedicated my career to making this the place the Catalyst for Innovation which will make the world better I love CES I love the fact that you know people come and cover it like yourself and I I just love what it will do for the world and I my only regret in life is I won't be around for the CES 50 years from now well maybe with some of the Innovation you will be Gary so we'll uh we'll be we'll be we'll get back to you in we'll we'll get back to you in 50 years on that um well listen it's so great to have you all on the show Gary Shapiro Kinsey Fabo John T Kelly all from the consumer technology Association which owns and produces CES thank you all so much for joining us today on CES Tech talk thank you James glad you get the word out C we'll see you at the show see you at CES well that's our show for now but there's always more Tech to talk about as I said this is the last episode before CES 2024 but subscribe to the show so you don't miss content from CES 2024 and Beyond hit that YouTube subscribe button leave a comment follow on Spotify Apple podcasts iHeart Media or wherever you're getting this show you can get even more CES and prepare for Vegas at c. Tech that's c. Te You can find me at CES itself hosting the c-space studio over at Arya come by and say hello or watch the live stream CES Tech talk is produced by Nicole vidich and Mason manual recorded by Andrew Lynn and edited by Third spoon thanks also to Eric Kirkland and John Lindsay for their recording help this season I'm James kotki always grateful to be with you talking Tech on CES Tech talk
2024-01-02 23:12
