Tech Trade Show Beats Projections in Record Fashion
By Chris Jones, Las Vegas Review-Journal
Jan. 10–Last week’s International Consumer Electronics Show set event records for attendance and exhibition space.
And in the process, January’s trade show giant also cemented its place among the city’s largest business gatherings on record, sources said Monday.
The Arlington, Va.-based Consumer Electronics Association, which annually presents CES, said its 2006 event drew more than 150,000 attendees. That’s up nearly 3 percent from last year’s record.
The only other annual Las Vegas trade show at which attendance topped 150,000 was Comdex, John Piet, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority’s senior research analyst, said Monday.
In its dot-com era peak, the defunct November computer industry expo drew more than 200,000, Piet said.
Separately, Conexpo-Con/Agg, a triennial construction equipment show, last year became the largest trade show in North American history when it used nearly 1.88 million square feet of space at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
CES 2006 occupied a show-best 1.67 million square feet of exhibit space, which eclipsed preshow estimates of 1.6 million square feet.
Last year’s CES used 1.5 million square feet.
Adam Schaffer, publisher of Tradeshow Week, a Los Angeles-based magazine that monitors the convention industry, said the Consumer Electronics Association puts on a good show that could continue to ride consumers’ increasing fascination with all things electronic.
“Trade shows rise and fall with the success of their industry, but (CES) is serving a popular business right now,” Schaffer said. “My only question is at what point does the show get too big? But my guess is that show is going to stay healthy for some time.”
Gary Shapiro, the Consumer Electronics Association’s president and chief executive officer, called his 2006 gathering “a success in every sense of the word.”
Shapiro based his assessment on foreign attendance and media coverage, keynote speeches from top business leaders, the presence of major exhibitors, as well as cameos from celebrities such as actors Tom Cruise and Morgan Freeman.
“The 2006 International CES shifted from simply a trade show to a major global event,” Shapiro said in a written statement.
CEA leaders were traveling Monday and could not be reached for further comment.
The association’s preshow estimate said CES would draw 130,000 attendees, or about 11 percent less than last year’s 145,868 total.
That count became an official show record last summer following an independent audit by VERIS Consulting.
The convention authority, which closely monitors the city’s trade show industry, was a bit more bullish in advance of this year’s event.
It said approximately 140,000 visitors would attend, down slightly from the prior year’s 142,000 estimate.
Based on Monday’s revised information, it raised CES 2006′s nongaming visitor spending estimate to $218.1 million.
Piet had projected $203.6 million in visitor spending based upon a 140,000-attendee estimate.
CES also bolstered the city’s ongoing push to attract more foreign travelers.
Nearly 23,000 attendees came to CES from outside the United States, the association said.
Tradeshow Week ranked CES No. 1 on its latest yearly ranking of the nation’s 200 largest trade shows.
That list, released in April, was based on CES 2004, which drew nearly 133,000 attendees and used 1.39 million square feet of exhibition space.
CES also ranked first in 2003 and 2001, and finished fourth in 2002′s Tradeshow 2000.
CES ran Thursday through Sunday at the Las Vegas Convention Center, Sands Expo and Convention Center, Alexis Park, Las Vegas Hilton and Renaissance Las Vegas.
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