CES 2009: An Attendance Decline Suits Many Folks Just Fine

Suzanne and Steve have both already commented on the economic malaise-fueled decrease in attendance at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show. Here’s some pictorial confirmation of the situation:

True story; on the way to the Flamingo for Storage Visions after I arrived on Tuesday morning, the taxi driver laughed when I told him that conference organizers were still predicting 130,000 attendees (which would still represent an 8% drop from the 141,150 that attended in 2008, and a 10% decrease from 2007’s highest-ever 143,695 figure). He said that word on the street (and taxi and other infrastructure staffing) said to expect a drop of 30-40%. “Thank goodness there’s still the Adult Entertainment Expo,” he concluded…

This is the inside of the Monorail car on the way over to the Las Vegas Convention Center, at 10AM on Thursday morning. That’s right, the start of the show. At this time in past years, the Monorail looked like a Tokyo commuter train, with passengers squeezed in like sardines.

There’s a large paved ‘courtyard’ area outside the LVCC that’s normally jam-packed with trailers and tents touting various companies’ wares. I took these shots on the way to the LVCC from the Monorail.

The outside walkway between the Central and South Halls. Note all the ‘personal space’ between the various sidewalk-strollers.

10:05 AM, the Intel booth right at the entrance to the Central Hall. Sparsely attended…

…as was Microsoft’s, right next to it. If you’ve never been to CES before, it’s hard to get a sense of the contrast from past years, but take me at my word when I say that on this day and time I’d previously find it impossible to see the booth, far from take a picture of it (especially considering my diminutive 5′5” stature).

Panasonic’s traditional booth location is at the edge of the raised portion of the Central Hall. This walkway is normally insanely packed, especially for the first few days of CES. It’s Thursday at 10:15 AM, 15 minutes after the doors opened, folks…

A view of the lower portion of the Central Hall. Is that a tumbleweed?

Down on the floor. It’s spacious…which is not a good thing.

SlingMedia’s booth in the LVCC Central Hall, at 10:22AM on Thursday morning. In previous years, they’ve been at the Sands. In previous years, their booth has been packed.

Sony’s booth, 1 minute later. Are those crickets I hear chirping?

Canon’s booth. It’s now 10:30AM.

The walkway between the LVCC and the Las Vegas Hilton. Normally, I consciously avoid this route for the first two days of the show. It’s 10:49AM on Thursday; I’m headed to the AMD keynote.

The conference registration area at the Hilton. Each line is a few people deep, versus many dozens deep in past years.

The lack-of-line eight minutes before the start of Dirk Meyer’s AMD keynote. This looks ominous…

…as does the view inside. Did I mention that the entire upper balcony area was also closed?

12:15 PM, Thursday afternoon, the Las Vegas Hilton. No line for taxis. If you’ve never been to CES before, you may not grasp the profundity of the statement I’ve just made.

The number of companies exhibiting is, according to the Consumer Electronics Association, down ~300 from last year. How do they obscure the extra space? False walls for artificial floor space shrinkage, in some cases. Additional food courts as replacements for company booths, in others.

Sometimes, the conference organizers didn’t even try to disguise the loss…

…and apparently, some companies who didn’t cancel in time (and presumably got stuck with a booth bill) still didn’t bother sending representatives. Translation: the number of companies really exhibiting is down more than 300 this year.

Considering that consumer electronics forms the nexus of my editorial beat, you might think I’d be pretty bummed about the situation. And I admit that I was fairly shell-shocked at the onset. When I saw how dead things were on Tuesday, I said to myself "well, the opening keynote isn’t till tomorrow evening, anyway"…conveniently forgetting that it hadn’t been this dead at equivalent periods in past years. When I checked into my hotel that evening and saw how dead it was, I thought to myself "well, my hotel isn’t an official CES hotel (from a travel registration standpoint) this year." And when I saw how empty the LVCC was at the initial door-opening point on Thursday, I thought to myself "well, the Sony keynote may still be going on…" Rationalization can be a very powerful temptation.

But upon further reflection, I’ve concluded that this attendance retraction was sorely needed in order to ensure CES’s long-term survival. You’ve heard of the term "jumping the shark", perhaps? If so, you know where I’m headed. I sure appreciate how much easier it is to get from one appointment to another. And I sure don’t miss the vile bathroom stench of past years, either (I hope you weren’t eating when you read that).

More generally, I’ve got to wonder how many of those ~300 companies that aren’t here this year are manufacturers of mouse pads, USB flash memory sticks (along with other shapes and sizes), iPod cases, and lousy digital cameras, along with other crap. While I’m not trying to ‘bite the hand that feeds me’, I feel compelled to confess that the CE industry sure tends to churn out a lot of junk. Tight fiscal times are forcing folks to direct their remaining dollars towards essential items, and companies are no exception to this trend. A re-embrace of fundamental concepts like "true value" will, I think, benefit us all.

Numerous companies I talked to who have invitation-only hospitality suites report no decrease in attendance compared to past years. Folks out on the show floor note the drop-off in traffic, but they also point out that as a result, the average return-on-investment from each engagement with a passer-by is much higher than in in the past. The companies (and the folks at the companies) who in previous years were primarily at CES to exemplify the ‘what goes on in Vegas stays in Vegas’ party-hearty motto aren’t here this year, but plenty of business is still going on. For CES, and for all of use in the CE industry, that’s a good thing.