CES 2025 ideas and tips: A information to tech’s greatest commerce present

CES 2025 is coming to Las Vegas in the course of the week of January 5, and it will likely be one of many greatest tech expos on this planet once more.

This 12 months’s present needs to be massive once more. Final 12 months’s attendance reached 138,789, in accordance with an audited report by the Client Expertise Affiliation (CTA), the group that places on the present.

Final 12 months at CES 2024, I recorded round 80 press occasions, interviews, and classes. I walked 46.78 miles, or 105,407 steps, over six days. My ft damage and my again had been sore. There have been greater than 4,300 exhibitors and a pair of.4 million sq. ft of exhibit house to crawl. And the Goodyear blimp was there.

I’ve been attending the Client Electronics Present for the reason that Nineteen Nineties when then-Microsoft CEO Invoice Gates gave the opening keynote speeches yearly. This time, the largest speech will come from Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, the graphics chip maker that has turn out to be the king of AI {hardware} with a market worth of $3.42 trillion — probably the most useful firm on this planet.

He’ll give a chat at 6:30 p.m. Pacific time on the Michelob Area on the Mandalay Bay on January 6. Most attendees arrive on the present on January 7 and keep by means of January 10, when the expos are open. However the press — a couple of thousand of us — begin arriving on January 5 for the afternoon previews and CES Unveiled (press solely, in Mandalay Bay), the place award-winning exhibitors present their wares at tables.

“The CES is an amazing, powerful tech event. I was looking back at what you had written last year about it, before and after,” stated Gary Shapiro, CEO of the Client Expertise Affiliation, in an interview with GamesBeat. “A lot of people go with a very full agenda, but we always say you have to have time for serendipity and discovery. We have a new look, a new feel. We focused the campaign on “Dive in.” We’re inviting attendees to do three issues: join, clear up, and uncover.”

He stated the common attendee has about 29 conferences in the course of the present, as face-to-face enterprise remains to be vital. About 75% of attendees say their enterprise is primarily B2B, or each B2B and B2C.

My No. 1 tip is to all the time put on comfy sneakers. I discovered that lesson after some blisters throughout a CES years in the past. As for a masks, I put on it on planes and sometimes throughout massive, crowded indoor occasions. However issues have modified for the reason that COVID days when the present was canceled outright in January 2021 and severely restricted in January 2022, with solely 45,000 exhibiting up.

A lot of my recommendation isn’t rocket science. However I renew this story yearly since there are new individuals attending the present and plenty of going for the primary time. I take no duty for dangerous recommendation. You possibly can take a look at the CES app right here.

Attendance isn’t fairly the place it as soon as was. Again in 2019, the present drew 175,212 in 2019 and 171,268 in 2020. CES 2020 had about 4,500 exhibitors throughout 2.9 million sq. ft of house. This 12 months, the present is at the very least a couple of days after New Yr’s and that provides some respiration room for these planning on going. As a bonus, right here’s my gaming predictions for 2025.

The newest phrase from the CTA: “CES 2025 will be the world’s most powerful business event, setting the tech agenda for the year. With nearly 140,000 global attendees at CES 2024, we are seeing positive momentum and interest from industry executives, top manufacturers, buyers, retailers, and media for CES 2025. Thousands of startups and companies from around the world will showcase innovation that will solve some of our most pressing challenges.”

Do you have to go?

It’s an enormous present, and, in contrast to the gaming {industry}’s canceled E3 present, it’s nonetheless related. Final 12 months, there have been 5,355 media final 12 months, up from 4,800 media attending CES 2023, up from 3,100 media at CES 2022. Eureka Park on the Venetian’s Sands Expo had greater than 1,400 startups.

There have been 46,000 worldwide guests, or 40.6% of the whole, final 12 months. Some 5,975 had been from the Americas exterior the U.S., 12,424 had been from Europe, 36,017 had been from the Center East and Asia, 229 had been from Africa and 552 had been from Oceania. About 15,723 had been presidents or founders, or 11.7% of total attendance, and one other 12,768, or 9.5%, had been C-suite executives.

Final 12 months’s prime areas of curiosity had been AI, car tech, IoT sensors, smarthomes and home equipment, AR/XR/VR, robotics, advertising and promoting, startups, video applied sciences, 5G, power/energy, cloud computing/information and health/wearables.

The 12 months earlier than, the highest areas of curiosity had been AI, IoT/sensors, car expertise, AR/VR/XR, smarthomes and home equipment, 5G, robotics, startups, power/energy, health and wearables and advertising and promoting.

I nonetheless view CES as a bellwether for the tech economic system, as no different occasion spans your complete tech world prefer it does. Corporations need to create a buzz at CES, which is designed to sign merchandise coming within the subsequent 12 months. I discover the present a helpful technique to keep in control on the newest expertise. In case you discover the well being threat acceptable, then it may possibly nonetheless be a useful technique to keep in contact.

Apple doesn’t attend the present, however nearly each different tech large does. It’s the place the tech {industry} will probably be subsequent week, although it’s not a lot of a recreation occasion as of late. Sony, nonetheless, will probably be exhibiting up and they’re anticipated to indicate off the Afeela electrical automotive (created with Honda) full with a PlayStation 5 within the car on the present.

Since 2020, CES official exhibit venues have been geared up with improved air flow methods and recent air movement. 

The Las Vegas Conference Middle, Mandalay Bay and the Venetian Expo have been awarded World Biorisk Advisory Council (GBAC) Star certification by ISSA. This accreditation means the properties are observing cleansing protocols and work practices that reduce dangers related to the unfold of infectious ailments. 

Once more in 2025, CES will work to attenuate floor contact factors and enhance recent airflow at high-traffic areas. 

Hand sanitization stations will probably be positioned all through CES venues.  Pack heat as Vegas in January is a median of 57 levels.

Masks can be found onsite. In case you select to not put on one, please respect these round you who do, the CTA says.

Getting your badge and stepping into the present

It’s a must to work within the tech {industry} to get into the present. It’s a spot for professionals, not vacationers, and registration is designed to display screen the vacationers out. With 140,000 or extra individuals on the present, you don’t need to get caught in lengthy traces.

All present attendees, together with media and particular person exhibitor personnel should decide up their very own CES 2025 official badge at a distant badge pickup location You can not decide up badges for different attendees. I often decide mine up on the Las Vegas airport.

To choose up your badge at a distant badge decide up location, it’s essential to current the next: Authorities-issued photograph ID and a registration affirmation – both saved in your Google or Apple pockets or affirmation electronic mail with QR code to scan.

Safety

The CTA stated its safety measures imply attendees will face a bag search on the entrance to all present venues.

A novel electronic mail handle is required for every registrant. CES badges embrace a photograph ID for attendees, exhibitors and media.

Date of start will once more be required in step with steerage from federal regulation enforcement and {industry} finest practices.

At CES 2025, the CTA stated you’ll discover a extremely seen regulation enforcement presence all through the present and in any respect venues. Legislation enforcement officers and K9 (canine) models will probably be at each the entrances to the venues and on the exhibit flooring. The venues will probably be performing random safety checks on present premises.

As an enhanced safety measure, the CTA is are implementing a car deterrence plan in and round key venues.

In case you see one thing suspicious, please report it to CES through the safety cellphone numbers printed on the again of your CES badge. Venue safety numbers might also be discovered on the On-Web site Companies web page. You may as well ask any CES employees member or venue or safety personnel. It’s possible you’ll contact CES Safety or venue safety by means of the CES App within the Safety part.

Attendees might carry two small luggage, every smaller than 12”x17”x6” into present venues. Attendees are inspired to contemplate their bag kind and use clear luggage (mesh, plastic, vinyl, and so forth.) to expedite entry.

Rolling luggage of any dimension are prohibited together with baggage, carry-ons, laptop computer and laptop luggage, and rolling baggage carts.

Media with an official media badge are permitted to hand-carry tools onto present premises in extra of the two-bag restriction. Tools is topic to look and tagged as permitted for entry.

Exhibitors are permitted to convey product and show materials onto CES present premises in extra of our two-bag restriction, starting January 6 and prior to eight a.m. on present days January 7-10. Exhibitors might also usher in supplies on move-in days between 7:30 a.m. and 6 p.m.

It’s best to depart your luggage at your lodge. Nonetheless, there are bag-check amenities at LVCC exterior of Central and West Halls, Venetian Expo, Degree 1 Foyer; and the Venetian Ballroom Lobby.

Peak instances for CES crowds

The press occasions begin late on January 5 and proceed all day on January 6. That’s when a lot of the tales will run from CES bulletins, with some show-only bulletins occurring on January 7.

Along with Nvidia’s Huang, different keynote audio system embrace

Panasonic Holdings Group CEO Yuki Kusumi, who’s doing the morning keynote on Tuesday January 7 at 8:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. with Shapiro of the CTA and Kinsey Fabrizio, president of the CTA.

Jennifer Witz, CEO of SiriusXM, is talking with podcaster Ashley Flowers at 11 a.m. Tuesday January 7 on the Aria.

Linda Yaccarino, CEO of X, is talking at 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday January 7 at The Venetian.

Ed Bastian, CEO of Delta, goes to be one of many highlights partly as a result of he’s acquired a fantastic location: The Sphere, the spherical live performance venue with wonderful particular results. He’s talking at 4:55 p.m. on the Sphere on Tuesday January 7. We’ll see what Delta has to say about expertise, contemplating it will likely be celebrating its a centesimal birthday as an organization.

The keynotes wrap up on Wednesday January 8 with Martin Lundstedt, CEO of Volvo Group, at 9 a.m. at The Venetian; Julie Candy, CEO of Accenture at 2 p.m. Wednesday January 8.

There are many different panels. I’m moderating a session on AI and video games. It’s known as Pace, Customization, Innovation: AI in Gaming, going down on the Aria Joshua 8 at 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Tuesday January 7. It’s about unleashing the facility of AI in recreation growth. It’s about studying how publishers and builders use AI to hurry up releases and design and tailor video games for gamers.

My panelists embrace Burcu Hakguder, cofounder and CRO, Layer; Emilee Helm, head of influencers, Gamesight; Haval Othman, senior director of expertise engineering at HP; and Devin Reimer, founder and CEO at AstroBeam.

Press days

As I discussed, the press day will begin on Sunday January 5 with a chat (solely press allowed) in regards to the CTA’s view of traits to observe. That may result in the press-only occasion, CES Unveiled, at 5 p.m. on the Mandalay Bay. That’s the place we get a primary take a look at the award winners for the CTA innovation contest.

Then comes (for the media) a baptism of fireplace beginning on Monday at 8 a.m. Pacific with LG’s press convention. It peaks with Samsung’s press occasion at 2 p.m. and continues on to Sony’s 5 p.m. press occasion on the Las Vegas Conference Middle. These press occasions occur in speedy fireplace and it’s an actual problem to maintain up with the information. Luckily, lots of the occasions are livestreamed for non-press to observe.

That is the day once I want the laptop computer with the longest battery life. (Sure, that’s nonetheless a difficulty). Then the press and others can head to the opening keynote speech for Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, on the Mandalay Bay’s Michelob Area at 6:30 p.m. I’m undecided how I’m going to go from the Mandalay Bay to the conference heart and again to the Mandalay Bay is such a short while body. CES is all about such logistical nightmares and sophisticated options to them.

There’s additionally an enormous press-only celebration at Pepcom’s Digital Expertise at Caesars Palace (RSVPs required) on January 6 (7 p.m. to 10:30 p.m., after Huang’s speech), and the rival Showstoppers press-only celebration takes place on the Bellagio on the night of January 7.

This 12 months, Tuesday is when the true crowds present up, and also you’ll discover it in eating places, transportation traces, conference halls, on line casino flooring, and on the airport. Let’s hope the climate will probably be good, in distinction to the torrential rains we noticed in 2018, when blackouts took out the primary present flooring.

In case you’re leaving the conference focus on 6 p.m., you possibly can catch a bus to a lot of the main lodges. That’s a good way to get off your ft and the traces can transfer quick. However that’s additionally the busiest site visitors time. You’ll must stroll (maybe a good distance) to designated areas for Uber/Lyft ride-sharing pickup zones. And there’s the monorail to contemplate as nicely for some lodges.

Getting misplaced within the maze

The two.5 million-plus sq. ft of exhibition house will open at 10 a.m. on Tuesday January 7.

The classes at this 12 months’s exhibit house embrace car tech and superior mobility, digital well being, audio/video, gaming, good residence, AI/robotics, good cities and sustainability, C House, sports activities and health tech, enterprise and B2B, IoT infrastructure, metaverse, fintech, way of life, accessibility, Eureka Park (startups), 3D printing and house tech.

In case you’re actually bold, you could possibly be strolling 30,000 steps a day, about three to 6 instances as a lot as regular. For me, exhaustion units in round 20,000 steps. In case you can reduce some pointless strolling out of your day, that might be sensible to do.

This 12 months’s venues have been renamed the LVCC Campus (Las Vegas Conference Middle West Corridor, North Corridor, South Corridor and Central Corridor), Venetian Campus(The Venetian, Palazzo, Wynn, Encore at Wynn) and C House Campus (Aria, Cosmopolitan, Park MGM and Vdara).

The LVCC campus has the sprawling South Halls 1, 2 and three (upstairs) with all kinds of merchandise. The Central Corridor consists of gaming, audio and video with large firms like Samsung, Sony, TCL, Canon, and extra. The North Corridor consists of classes like AI, B2B enterprise options, fintech, IoT infrastructure, sustainability, good cities, good cities IoT and car tech.

The West Corridor is filled with car tech with firms like Brunswick within the marine class, John Deere in heavy equipment, carmakers, EVs and eVTOL plane, self-driving automobiles, software program, suppliers and car tech.

Over on the Venetian, there are greater than 1,400 startups that will probably be at Eureka Park. Tech West is a bunch of pavilions on the Venetian. There are tons of startups on Degree 1. You will discover regional cubicles akin to these from France, India, Israel, Italy, the Netherlands and extra. On Degree 2, you’ll find AARP AgeTech, Kohler, Hyundai, Narwal, and extra.

One of the steadily visited halls at LVCC was the South Corridor, however this 12 months the multi-level corridor is closed.

In Tech South, at Aria Resort, you’ll find C House, which is the place there are a variety of talks about Hollywood and expertise. The Cosmopolitan has Cosmo exhibitors that embrace Nvidia, Disney, Paramount, NBC Common, Netflix, Reddit, Roku, Samsung, T-Cellular, and Snap.

What’s trending and what’s not

Whereas blockchain and the metaverse had been massive themes a couple of years in the past, AI was the massive theme for 2024. In 2025, AI will nonetheless command a variety of consideration. However that doesn’t imply that tech growth goes to occur. The worldwide economic system faces a variety of unknowns, like how pleasant towards tech and shopper gross sales the Trump administration will probably be, particularly if Donald Trump is threatening tariffs. Tariffs may result in commerce wars and that might imply a $300 to $500 recreation console may out of the blue price $1,000.

Tim Bajarin, who’s going to his fiftieth CES, expects these traits: AI PCs are all over the place; earbuds will probably be smarter and smarter; smarter automobiles; smarter and better decision TVs; AI all over the place else; and spatial computing will make many appearances with XR/AR goggles or glasses.

Below the “connect” a part of the theme of the present, Shapiro stated one main matter is human safety for all.

” We talked about human safety for all, our work with the United Nations specializing in the sustainable growth targets, specializing in basic human safety in areas like well being care, funds, private security. We see that in all types of the way. In fact accessibility is one other massive factor. Even for me, attending the present in 2024, that was one of many greatest surprises and themes,” Shapiro stated. “I don’t think I even talked about that before the show – how many people were there looking out on behalf of the disability community, and how many companies were responding to that with all sorts of technology.”

Requested about different sizzling classes, Shapiro stated, “Obviously AI is still a big thing. It pervades almost every category. Digital health is also very big. Mobility is huge with electric vehicles and connected cars, autonomy, sustainability. We’ve done our own pivots as well. The concept of electricity being available is not something we’ve talked about at CES before. Now we have a whole conference track on it. With electric cars, generative AI, and quantum, they all use tremendous amounts of electricity that we’re not prepared for. Not surprising to me, a number of companies in the last month have announced deals with nuclear power plants and things like that, which is totally new, but it’s a way of dealing with it.”

And Shapiro stated, “We’ll have exhibitors focusing on energy savings on the supply side, heat reduction, local production. We’ll also have panels talking about how we can look at the electric grid. Similarly to that vein, we’ll have a shift that we haven’t had before to quantum computing. We have a half day of programming on that. While AI and generative AI is currently the thing, now generative AI doesn’t get you to the finish line with a lot of things, for example in health care. It’s a whole shift upwards in computing that we haven’t had in a long time.”

Regulators will probably be current, and Shapiro stated (earlier than the election occurred) he was involved that the U.S. has turn out to be too aggressive in blocking mergers for antitrust causes. He worries that the Biden administration has been anti-innovation. I famous that I might like to see us return to balanced development, the place we see innovation with AI, job development for tech, and income development for firms all on the identical time.

Shapiro stated, “What I’ve learned in my career is that you never get to perfect, but you just try to do better than you did last year. The definition of perfect changes. I don’t think, in a free market economy, that perfect is where everyone gets to keep their jobs. You have to learn new skills.”

He added, “There is another theory out there, though, which is that it will add more free time, and that will generate its own economic growth. My wife goes to a lot of medical conferences, and there’s a generational difference between doctors in that the incoming doctors don’t want to work as hard. They want regular hours. They don’t want the lengthy hours. I’ve been talking about this for two years now. It’s true, and I know this because I’ve talked to enough doctors in different fields about it. People want time now. It probably predated COVID. People value experience and time. That’s what it is.”

Your CES survival ideas

A lot of the following pointers are recycled from previous years, however I’ve gone by means of and renewed them with my newest data. As I discussed, it’s onerous to get round at CES. It’s best to preserve appointments to a half hour however observe that it takes time to stroll between venues. It’s possible you’ll not understand it however the distance between lodges (that are very massive) and halls might look visually shut however they’re usually actually far aside.

It’s possible you’ll encounter delays as a result of different individuals are delayed. And chances are you’ll even have hassle discovering individuals at massive cubicles. So, it’s good to pad your schedule to account for doable delays and isolate the actually vital appointments.

The CES badges now have pictures on them, streamlining identification and making it more durable for individuals to share badges. Since they’re paper badges (plastic eradicated within the identify of sustainability), you must watch out to not lose them.

In your crowded flights, attempt to journey mild. For Southwest, I all the time examine in forward of boarding, setting an alarm for precisely 24 hours earlier than my flight. Examine your baggage should you don’t must get anyplace shortly. Be ready for lengthy cab traces and rental automotive check-in traces. (Companies like Uber and Lyft are very helpful at CES, notably as parking isn’t plentiful sufficient and the massive casinos/lodges now cost a charge per go to at their self-parking garages). I don’t hire a automotive anymore. On the airport, you must stroll to a chosen space in a parking storage and discover your rideshare in a selected parking slot to get out of the airport in an Uber/Lyft.

Uber and Lyft automobiles are actually the way in which to journey from venue to venue now. In previous years I discovered that the pickup on the LVCC (close to the Renaissance Resort) was a site visitors logjam. The Tesla tunnel (the place Tesla EVs take an underground tunnel from one location to a different) is nice for attending to among the lodges and between the central corridor and the west corridor of the LVCC. The tunnel now goes to the Resorts World Las Vegas, Westgate Las Vegas Resort & On line casino, Encore Las Vegas and Virgin Motels Las Vegas.

Schedule your appointments in places which are close to one another, and examine exhibitor places on a CES map. Arrive early for keynotes as a result of the traces are lengthy. I don’t usually stray past LVCC/WestHall/TechWest/Venetian because of the time it takes to get different locations.

I like to recommend sleep. The Vegas air is tremendous dry so perhaps use a humidier or nostril spray. If the events are what you care about, there are sometimes celebration lists that flow into. You possibly can Google CES 2025 celebration lists, however the KarenNet CES celebration listm has been round for a very long time.

Keep in mind to swap cellphone numbers with the individuals you might be assembly so you possibly can coordinate, notably as somebody is often held up by the crowds. Incorporate driving and consuming instances into your calendar or use a calendar that does that robotically for you.

Smartphone reception is best than it was once, but it surely’s nonetheless in all probability vulnerable to interference. Textual content message is often a good technique to talk with coworkers. We all the time hunt down the Wi-Fi/5G havens within the press rooms or wherever we are able to discover them.

However carry a MiFi or activate a private hotspot should you can; even lodge web connections are more likely to be careworn to the restrict in the course of the present. In case you’re chargeable for importing video, thanks for clogging the community for the remainder of us. By CES 2025, I hopefully gained’t must complain about this, as 5G networks ought to theoretically allow sooner connection speeds on mobile information.

In case you acquire a variety of swag, you possibly can ship it residence through delivery providers as an alternative of carting it on the aircraft. I believe that the price of delivery might be larger than the worth of the swag.

It’s best to print a map of the exhibit flooring or rip one out of the present information. You also needs to print your tickets, schedule, and RSVPs for occasions — or make them simply accessible in your cellphone. (If somebody steals your cellphone or your main bag, it is best to have backups in a second bag).

You want battery backup in your laptop computer or smartphone, hand sanitizer, digicam, ibuprofen, and nutritional vitamins. I’ve acquired Acer Swift Go 14 and a spare Dynabook laptop computer this 12 months. The Acer particularly has battery life. Carry a backup for every part, even when you must depart it in your lodge room this 12 months.

I used to advocate taking enterprise playing cards. I lastly printed a batch for the primary time for the reason that pandemic. Now you possibly can swap your LinkedIn credentials with individuals through your smartphone. In case you’re exhibiting, put on your organization model in your shirt. Strive very onerous to keep away from dropping your cellphone. I put on a jacket with zippered pockets so I can put my cellphone and pockets inside.

Make a while to stroll the present flooring. If the cab/rideshare traces have you ever annoyed, don’t take into consideration strolling to a close-by lodge. Chances are high the cab line there may be additionally dangerous, and the lodges are so large {that a} mirage impact makes them look deceptively shut. You probably have a rental automotive, strive to not get caught in a site visitors jam in a 10-story parking storage. And all the time mark down the place you parked your automotive in your cellphone map or paper.

Drink a lot of water. Get some sleep — you actually don’t must celebration each night time. For probably the most half, I don’t shake palms anymore, because it’s a good way to cross germs round. As a substitute, I do fist bumps. You don’t need to come again sick with “CES crud” or COVID.

Don’t miss your flight on the way in which out. Pack up a bunch of snacks early on to keep away from getting caught in breakfast or lunch traces. Take a smartphone with digicam as a result of what occurs in Vegas … will get shared on the web.