Sunday, January 13, 2013

Decision-Making At The International CES



Attending the International CES is a challenge in decision-making. After choosing which airline to take and which hotel to stay in, you have to decide which of the events organized for members of the Press to attend, which exhibitors to visit, and which sessions and press conferences to attend.

The decisions were not really hard to make after developing the criteria for decision-making.  Of course, one criterion that I used in the case of the exhibitors was to give priority to those who invited me to check out their new products. Another was to visit those that express excitement over my interest in visiting their respective booths.

There was one dilemma that presented some difficulty to me last Sunday.  I had to decide which of three events happening at the same time to go to.

First, I was supposed to attend a luncheon at the Storage Visions 2013 Conference at the Riviera Hotel. I had RSVP’d earlier that I was going. Second, there was the first session for members of the Press on the topic, “The State of the Consumer Electronics Technology”.  Third, was to watch the Washington Redskins-Seattle Seahawks NFL playoff game.

The first was free food and drinks. The second was on a subject I was very interested in. And the third was a game that RG III fans like me who live in the Washington, D.C. area do not want to miss. Watching the game at a Sports Bar at the Mandalay Bay meant I had to pay for food and drinks while watching the game.

I decided to watch the game. As I said, it was a game I could not miss. I watched it until the early part of the fourth quarter when I decided to leave in order to attend the CES Unveiling of new products and technology. This is an event that the Press gets the first look at the new inventions and/or creations. There was also a big reception for the members of the Press with virtually unlimited food and drinks.

The Redskins were leading 14-13 when I left the Sports Bar. Although I was hoping that they would still win, I noticed that the momentum was on the side of the Seahawks and that I thought that my favorite player RG III was hurt and would be replaced soon.

I was enjoying the free food and drinks at the CES Unveiling when I noticed in the Exhibitors’ List two companies, namely Griffin Technology and Wilson Electronics. Griffin “designs, manufactures and delivers useful and fun solutions for digital entertainment and personal computing to people in the Americas, Europe and Asia.” Wilson Electronics “designs and manufactures a wide variety of cell phone signal boosters and related components. It has solutions for poor cellular reception in mobile, building and machine-to-machine (M2M) applications”.

In the Washington-Seattle playoff match, it was a battle between two rookie quarterbacks whose last names are Griffin and Wilson. It is indeed a strange coincidence that in the CES are two technology companies battling for the big consumer market. While in the football game, it was noticeable that Griffin was hurting;  in the CES exhibit, Wilson, the company was demonstrating a signal booster for cellular phone users. It was quite ominous that in both the NFL and CES battle, Wilson would be the winner. J

As I write this column, the International CES has officially started.  The expected 150,000 attendees have started crowding the Las Vegas Convention Center to visit the exhibits which number more than 3,000.

The attendees also have choices to make given the limited time. There are celebrities galore – Corporate executives that include Qualcomm’s Chairman and CEO Dr. Paul E. Jacobs; Panasonic President Kazuhiro Tsuga, Verizon Chairman and CEO Lowell McAdam and Samsung Electronics President Dr. Stephen Woo; Music industry titans Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, and will.i.am; Actress Felicia Day and other celebrities in the TV and Movie industries as well as some Sports figures like Sugar Ray Leonard.

There are also special social events such as the Official CES Opening Night Party; the Gibson Guitar: Happy Hour & Jam Party; Startup America Live Eureka Park; the Global Matchmaking and International Reception; the CES Social Hour; the Mark of Excellence Systems Integrator Awards Reception; the Leaders in Technology Dinner; and the Official CES Closing Party.

I will again write about some of the amazing products that are launched in this year’s CES. It will be under the topic, “Little Miracles in the Sin City” again.

I will also write a review of some of the products that were displayed in the show.

My reports will most likely appear in the coming issues.

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