CES 2009 and the parallel show run from January 8-11th, with a special press day on the 7th (Day Zero, we call it). Click to visit each of UHF's live reports. The report will appear early the next day, if not before.

CES Preview

Day 0 (Jan.7th)

Day 1 (Jan.8th)

Day 2 (Jan.9th)

Day 3 (Jan.10th)

Day 4 (Jan.11th)

Are economic woes (or whoas) bad for trade shows? Well, sure, and when a show is as humongous as the Consumer Electronics Show, the impact has to be major. So who is going to show up at this year's CES?
     The CEA front office is paid to make it all look good, so we weren't surprised by a breathless communiqué telling us that the show would include 900 new exhibitors, companies that had never come to CES before. The cynics discounted that, opining that the newbies would be tiny companies with small booths, which wouldn't make up for shrinkage or absence of the biggies, ones reserving full rooms or even pavilions.
     But we shall see.
     Even last year, it should be said, such large exhibitors as Hewlett-Packard were grumbling about the soaring costs of rooms in Vegas, and were talking about cutbacks. That was back when pension savings were worth something. Today?
     Economy-minded exhibitors who objected to the prices of rooms, food and entertainment (the latter two mandatory) at such hotels as Caesars Palace would take refuge at the Rio, which was off the strip. Since then the prices have of course soared. We ourselves set up at the Gold Coast, next to the Rio, but it's a matter of time till it's snapped up too. Our long-time hotel, the Barbary Coast, was bought three years ago by the Flamingo. It's now renamed and repriced, though it's shabby as ever.
     You may recall that Vegas is home to another show, this one for high end audio only: T.H.E. Show. The pain is showing, too. Last year the show had expanded from its home base at the St. Tropez (a long way from CES, incidentally) to the Alexis Park. This year it is only at Alexis Park. To add to the worries, the show offered huge discounts on ads in its show guide:

     Yes, those are reductions of as much as 57%, and we were tempted to throw a little of our cash at the guide. It's going to be a difficult year for everyone. Oddly enough, our inbox suggests wild activity. We have never before received as many invitations for private sessions and interviews wth company honchos. Optimism? Or desperation?
     There are electronics industry commentators who now believe that, the economy aside, the writing is on the wall for trade shows. Apple, which has never come to CES, preferring to be the star at San Francisco's Macworld, held at the same time, says it will stop going to Macworld, and indeed to all trade shows. Isn't the Internet sort of a perpetual global trade show?
     For what it's worth we don't think so. Apple, Microsoft and H-P may not need the exposure, but there are a lot of interesting companies we would never have heard of without CES. At a show we can hear, we can see, we can touch.
     And we can report too. As in other years, we will be filing daily reports from all four official days of the show, plus "Day Zero," namely the press day. We'll bring you CES in words and pictures. The reports will be filed either in late evening or early the next morning.

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