CES Plans to Push Forward With an In-Person Conference Despite Omicron Concerns

With the omicron variant fueling another wave of Covid-19 across the United States, the organizers behind the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) are putting extra precautions in place as they forge ahead with the first in-person iteration of the event since January 2020. The trade group that runs the show, the Consumer Technology Association, announced last week that each attendee would receive kits containing two rapid tests, which they will be encouraged to use throughout the three-day event in Las Vegas. The measure adds to existing requirements that convention-goers be fully vaccinated and recommendations that attendees return a negative test within 24 hours of arriving at the gates. The premiere tech industry trade show was already set to be a more pared-down affair this year, with a guest list far shorter than the 175,000-strong international audience the convention used to attract before the pandemic. Organizers have widened the aisles between exhibits, upgraded the venue's ventilation systems and instituted a system of stickers for attendees to indicate whether they're comfortable with a handshake. Masks are required throughout the Las Vegas Convention Center in accordance with Nevada's laws. But as health officials warn that the omicron variant is set to bring a record number of cases to the country in the coming weeks, many in the industry have questioned whether the event should be held in-person at all. Jean Foster, senior vice president of marketing and communications at the CTA, said that while the group was monitoring health metrics in the area, organizers remained fully committed to keeping the show in-person. Some large exhibitors, such as Google and multiple major home entertainment companies, were already on the ground setting up as of Monday. "At this point, we're very much focused on having this show and doing it safely and putting the right protocols in place to ensure that people feel comfortable with it," Foster told Adweek. "We've been working with our board, with different health advisory groups; we talked to exhibitors, and we've asked them what works." Foster said some exhibitors will also have their own individual restrictions in place, such as limits to the number of people at a booth at one time or more physical barriers around displays. The CTA plans to closely monitor the number of exhibitors that remain signed on to present and take further action if the numbers begin to decline, Foster said. Despite Covid-19 fears, however, Foster said the event was still adding new exhibitors as of Monday, and the total number had reached around 2,100. Michael Kassan, chairman and CEO of MediaLink, a major partner of the CTA and a big presence at the event, said in an interview in mid-December that the management consultancy was fully committed to the show despite the uncertainty. Its contingency plans focused more on taking safety precautions than scaling back its presence. "We felt that once we knew we were in, we were in and we were going for it. And we are," Kassan said. "So our contingency plans are really more about the safety procedures, things of that sort that we needed to implement. But we're committed. And we're in and we're going full bore, and we're not being irresponsible about it." Kassan said MediaLink was doing "everything we can physically, humanly possible" to make sure those attending the event would be best protected. "We are doing testing. We're doing all the stuff that a responsible person should be doing to make sure everyone's safe, full stop." At the same time, this year's CES is also set to have a substantial virtual presence in addition to an in-person show, a legacy of the entirely remote event held amid the winter wave last year. The conference now offers a digital-only pass that offers virtual attendees the ability to view more than 50 sessions in keynotes and digitally interact with some exhibitors. Martha Cotton, a digital co-lead at Accenture-owned design and innovation firm Fjord who is slated to present on tech trends at CES, said that the smaller attendance at this year's CES also has the potential to change the overall nature of the event. Rather than an often chaotic and crowded ordeal, Cotton said the scaled-back show this year could foster deeper discussions between attendees. "It's hard to think of CES as an intimate experience, but I'd like to think that it potentially can be," Cotton said. "We might have ways to have deeper conversations about how we might engage with with technology because I think people are considering it in a much more introspective way than we were in years past."