Overview
Senior leadership from the Consumer Technology Association (CTA)®, the owners and producers of CES®, share their top tips on how to meet the right people and build your business at CES.
Whether you are a CES® veteran or a first-timer at the world’s most influential tech event, make sure you know how to get business done at CES.
Here is what some senior leaders of CES show management had to say about how to be successful at the show.
Jean Foster, SVP, Marketing & Communications
Know your pitch; make it count.
Whether you are an exhibitor with a product to pitch and investors to find, or an attendee looking for new partners or inspiration, know what you’re going to CES to accomplish. And know your pitch cold.
Every interaction you have during the show may only be 15 minutes, so make those moments count.
Brian Moon, VP, Sales & Business Development
Teleportation is not here — yet.
As we oftentimes say on the CES Sales & Business Department, “If you’re on time, you’re late.” With 170,000+ attendees at CES, there is always a chance of traffic between venues and throughout the city. Give yourself enough time to travel from one meeting to another.
Create an action plan, dedicate each day to one venue, and schedule meetings and exhibit space visits accordingly.
Kara Dickerson, VP, Strategic Partnerships & Conferences
Plan your time wisely.
CES is spread across multiple venues, so you’ll need to plan ahead for where you want to be each day. Our website and app have a great calendar tool that allows you to see what conference programming and events are happening by day and by venue.
You can also use our topic navigation pages to learn about all exhibits, conference programming and events focused on topics like AI, autonomous vehicles or digital health.
Gary Shapiro, President and CEO
Be open to serendipity.
Be open to the unexpected. Walk the show floor, but also visit Eureka Park™ or another section you haven’t seen. Leave time to explore. Force yourself to break out of natural shyness and introduce yourself to new people.
Ask open-ended questions:
Remember, everyone at CES shares a desire to learn something new, do business and be wowed.
Preserve your contacts and moments of inspiration.
CES days are so full, it is difficult to process and sometimes recall valuable insights and contacts. Getting business cards is a minimum. I sometimes immediately write on the cards I get so that I can recall why I wanted the card. If the person is there, it is polite to ask permission to write on the business card, and this is important in some cultures.
If I visit a booth I want to remember or see a great product, I’ll pull out my phone and take a picture. I sometimes use the plane ride back to act on and process much of what I collected.
Follow up.
This means from a short email to planning a call or meeting if you see value in the relationship. For some people, it is just a good contact to have and an opportunity to take the relationship past the CES meeting.
We’ll see you at CES 2020. Are you CES Ready?