A Strange and Wonderful World Called Las Vegas
My first glimpse of Las Vegas as I arrive for CES 2012.
I started off the year with two adventures rolled into one. I’ve never been to Las Vegas, that legendary desert oasis also known as Sin City. So what better time to go than during the city’s largest tradeshow of the year.
Of course, you know I’m referring to the 2012 International CES show. This was my first CES experience and I was blown away by the latest and greatest in innovation and technology. I’ve heard about the show, but could never have comprehended the enormity of it without having seen it firsthand. It literally holds the city captive for five days.
Some Fun Facts of About the Show
- The International CES is the world’s largest consumer technology tradeshow.
- Exhibit space at CES covers 1.7 million net square feet of space-the equivalent of more than 35 football fields.
- The show draws more than 140,000 attendees-3 times the number of slot machines on the Las Vegas Strip.
- Some 30,000 international attendees travel to CES-more than double the population of Santorini, Greece.
- By attending CES, attendees avoid 700 million miles of business travel-enough to travel from the earth to the sun seven times.
- The show recycles 122 tons of waste and has been named North America’s Greenest Show.
- There are 17,135 cups of coffee sold at CES-enough coffee for one person to drink a cup a day for 47 years.
- A person walking the carpeted aisles of the CES show floor would walk almost 15 miles-and burn up to 1,500 calories.
- The average U.S. household has 24 consumer electronics products and U.S. consumer electronics industry sales exceeded $190 billion in 2011.
The Year of the Headphones
These speakers double as a docking station and embody the theme of primary color and great industrial design.
Velodyne kicked off 2012 by unveiling the vPulse at this year’s show. It was a huge success. And I’m not just saying that because I work at Velodyne. Just take a look at the cnet vPulse review. I was blown away by the buzz these headphones generated. Our suite at the Venetian Hotel was jam packed all week long. I have the blisters to prove it.
Although we exhibited at the Venetian, I was able to make it over to the convention center to take in some of the main floor. And it was impossible not to notice that headphones dominated the show. There is no denying that 2012 is the year of the headphone. There were headphones in every price range and style. And strong branding was the cornerstone of this market.
The other undeniable was color. Most booths were dominated by shades of primary colors, although white seemed to be popular too. A splash of clean white or pop of bright color combined with sleek industrial design brought new life to classic products.
And speaking of industrial design, some of the docking stations I saw could take center stage in an art gallery. They were truly works of art.
So, that’s a quick rundown of the highlights. I’ll be off to ISE 2012 in Amsterdam soon. I look forward to sharing the highlights with you, so be sure to check back in with me.
The vPulse display at our suite in the Venetian hotel.
