Saturday, December 18, 2021

Covid omicron wave threatens to disrupt CES 2022


Still known to many as the “Consumer Electronics Show,” CES 2022 is set to open in two weeks in Las Vegas amid a winter wave of Covid-19 infections from the more contagious omicron variant. That fact is making potential attendees nervous about going to the large technology trade show.
The Consumer Technology Association, producer of CES, is taking numerous steps to minimize the risk of its conference becoming a super-spreader event. It is requiring all attendees to provide proof of vaccination and wear masks while indoors at the show. The conference also is distributing one complimentary Abbott BinaxNOW Covid-19 Self-Test kit to each attendee upon receiving their badge.
On Friday, CES announced that it has more than 2,100 confirmed exhibitors for the in-person show. That’s up from the 1,943 exhibitors that participated in the all-digital CES 2021 last January after the in-person show was canceled because of the pandemic. But the last in-person CES show in 2020 had 4,419 exhibitors.
The Consumer Technology Association hasn’t disclosed how many people have registered for CES 2022. But it has said “tens of thousands” of people have signed up. However, CES 2022 will be a hybrid event with a physical show plus a digital component for industry professionals and media who can’t or won’t attend the show. That means the registered attendees number includes a mix of online and in-person attendees.
The last in-person CES two years ago attracted 171,268 attendees. TechRadar reported Friday that just 21,000 attendees are expected for CES 2022.
More than 2,400 members of the media have registered for CES 2022, Gary Shapiro, chief executive of the Consumer Technology Association, producer of CES, said in a post on LinkedIn. But how many will show up in Las Vegas?
Meanwhile, some smaller conferences have canceled their in-person shows this fall and winter because of Covid.
For instance, on Dec. 15, JPMorgan canceled its annual health-care conference set for Jan. 10-13 in San Francisco and will go virtual instead, CNBC reported.
Some companies that usually attend CES are taking a pass on the upcoming show. (They include Dell, Logitech and iRobot.) Others are sending skeleton crews or are just attending special events like Pepcom’s Digital Experience or Showstoppers.
CES organizers are setting low expectations for the event, given the on-going pandemic.
CES 2022 will showcase the latest automotive technology, digital health, food tech, smart home, televisions, and other advancements. Augmented reality glasses, the metaverse, NFTs (non-fungible tokens) and space tech are poised to make headlines at the upcoming show, which officially runs Jan. 5-8.
Based on commentary on Twitter, some people are getting cold feet about attending CES 2022 in person because of Covid-19.

Related reading:

Will Omicron Shut Down CES 2022? (ChannelNews; Dec. 6, 2021)

Will Covid-19 variant omicron impact CES 2022? (Tech-media-tainment; Nov. 28, 2021)

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