CES 2021: Will it happen? And if so, how different will it be?

2020 will be remembered as the year we stayed at home, sheltering in place from the Covid-19 pandemic.
Millions of people have shifted to working from home and distance learning. Meanwhile, movie theaters, sports and concert venues, and other establishments have been closed to stop the spread of the disease. Restaurants and retail businesses have either shut down or transitioned to takeout and curbside delivery.
The year started off promisingly for me. I traveled to the annual CES consumer electronics show in Las Vegas as one of more than 170,000 attendees. At the time, the as-yet-unnamed novel coronavirus was believed isolated where it began in China in December 2019.
CES 2020 ran Jan. 7-10, with preshow events beginning on Jan. 5. The World Health Organization declared the disease a “public health emergency of international concern” on Jan. 30 and a global pandemic on March 11.
Some media reports have speculated that CES 2020 could have been catalyst in helping to spread Covid-19 throughout the U.S. (See article by Mashable.)

The Consumer Technology Association, which runs the show, says planning for CES 2021 is underway, according to a May 7 post. The show is scheduled for Jan. 6-9, 2021, in Las Vegas.

On its website, the trade group says “major brands are committed for the show.”
“We will showcase our exhibitors’ products, technology breakthroughs and ideas to the world, both physically in Las Vegas and digitally,” it said. Organizers plan to expand the show’s digital reach by offering more livestreamed CES content and other virtual opportunities.
Those attending CES 2021 can expect changes to increase their safety. Those changes include asking attendees and exhibitors to wear face masks and avoiding shaking hands.
CES will provide “sanitization stations throughout,” which I assume means more hand-sanitizer dispensers. Show venues will be regularly cleaned and sanitized, especially product demonstration areas.
CES 2021 also will promote social distancing of attendees. This will include widening aisles in many exhibit areas and providing more space between seats in conference programs.
The conference also might implement “contactless thermal scans at key venue entry points.”
This is the current thinking of CES organizers, but a lot could change in the months ahead.
I have no doubt that the Consumer Technology Association is committed to holding CES 2021, even if it must be scaled back because some exhibitors and participants will be afraid to attend.
The trade group faced similar fears when it held CES 2002, just four months after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. It responded to those concerns with an increased security presence and bag checks and body scans at venues.
But companies are proceeding cautiously in the Covid-19 age. Many have canceled in-person events and business travel for the rest of the year.
Microsoft plans to make all its internal and external events digital-only until July 2021 due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Likewise, Facebook canceled all planned physical events with 50 or more attendees until June 2021.
Creative Strategies analyst Tim Bajarin said in a Forbes column that companies planning to exhibit at CES 2021 need backup plans.
“The vendors who would be showing at CES 2021 need to start thinking of an alternative means to getting their marketing and product announcements out at the first of the year, in case a traditional CES does not take place,” he wrote.
The prevailing wisdom is that things won’t get back to normal until there’s a vaccine for Covid-19. That’s not likely to happen until mid- to late 2021 at the earliest and even then, supplies will be limited.
Las Vegas casinos have been closed for two months now because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Their tentative reopen date is June 4, with restrictions, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal and Vox Media.
After a year of cancellations, it would be nice to see a return to some semblance of normalcy in 2021. That could start with CES 2021, which is an uplifting event that shows the promise of technology to improve our lives.
You can be sure that CES 2021 will highlight technologies that can provide solutions for day-to-day challenges created by the pandemic. It also could offer a look at how the technology industry is assisting medical fields in battling infectious diseases like Covid-19.
CES 2021 was scheduled to be the debut event for the expanded Las Vegas Convention Center. The LVCC expansion will include an underground transportation system built by Elon Musk’s Boring Company.