CES 2017 - anyone attending?

Registration is finally open for the 2017 CES. I was a little wary because I thought they were going to start charging to attend. In fact when I was registering I noticed they had rates to attend the CES. $100 to attend, $300 if you register after a certain date, sometime in December. I couldn't see my rates because I had my window at 125% zoom so at first I thought that I had to pay $100 this year (couldn't see the part of the screen with the billing amounts). Luckily I normalized my screen and found that it was still free for me to attend. Maybe they are charging new attendees $100 but at least us old timers (I have been attending for probably the last 15 years, every other or every 3rd year) aren't charged to attend (Yet).

I already booked my room just in case so now I have to find good airline rates for January. Unfortunately prices are still high, in the $700's to fly right after the new year so I have to wait until prices drop before booking. I hope that prices will get below $600 so will have to wait for that.


edited: I just got an email from the CES people. They are offering free admission to the CES if you register before the end of September so make sure you register before the end of the month to get free admission. Even if you don't go in 2017 you may be grandfathered in so in 2018 you may still get free admission into that show.

 

So I will be in town during CES but not for.

Worth a stop by or not?

 

Side note, how nuts is things then? Or not really all that noticeable?

 

The other year they estimated that 125k will attend the show. It is nuts if you are on the strip, downtown not as bad. Expect to see table minimums raised to $15 or higher during the show, especially in areas near the convention like Venetian.

Parking may be a problem, with M charging for parking the attendees with cars will then start to park at the other hotels that do not charge for parking so those lots may fill up. Don't expect to visit the old LVH at that time (unless you are a hotel guest) because you may have to pay for parking.

BTW, if you are a returning attendee you should register before the end of September. Right now it is free to register for the CES but after September it will cost you $100 to attend the show.

Is it worth a stop? Depends on you. They showcase the new electronic products for the year so if you are into electronics you can keep up with the new technologies coming out. I like that but I also go for the freebies, they give out a lot of free stuff like flash drives, cel phone covers and other things. Would I pay $100 to attend? Maybe, maybe not. Guess that's why I'm going to the 2017 CES because I'm not sure if I will attend if/when they start to charge us to attend.

 

Well I am staying downtown on Thursday Friday and strip on weekend.

Do people usually leave sunday,or is,monday,departure,gonna be terrible.

Thanks,for the tip, I won't mess with rental Center

 

The 2017 CES starts on Thursday and runs through Sunday (January 5 - 8, 2017). On Sunday most of the vendors are packing up so many of the attendees leave Sunday afternoon/evening but you still have a number of people leaving on Monday so they can get their las vegas fix after the electronics show. I figure Monday morning departure after the CES might be real bad, plus you have all the people carrying stuff they picked up at the show so the airport might not be a nice place to be.

I am planning to leave Monday night or sometime Tuesday so I can try to avoid the big crowd at the airport. I am renting a car the whole time but I plan on coming in on Wednesday so hopefully I can get a decent car.

IMHO, if you can get into the show for free I would say to go for it. There will be just about everything under the sun dealing with some electronics stuff. They also bring in some star athletes and some stars so the convention hall is real busy during those times. I usually try to avoid those times or visit the different parts of the convention hall to avoid that crowd. There are so many places to go at the show, they also have vendors at the sand's expo, usually an international area for the different countries showcasing their wares. In addition to the LV convention center and adjacent LVHilton (old name, I forgot what it is called now) they also have some other places where the CES is at including the venetian conference halls and at some of the other hotels.

The best day for me is on Sunday, the last day of the show. Since many of the vendors don't want to pack their wares to take home you can negotiate with them to pick up some great stuff. If you live in vegas it is great because you can pick up those big tv screens and other stuff for a steal. Many companies don't want to pay for shipping the heavy stuff so they will try to sell them instead. My friend picked up some mAh chargers for his camera. He got some 65,000 mAh portable charger for only $15 (in many places these chargers go for over $50 or more) so he can recharge his cameras and other things when he travels.

Another good day is day 1 because many vendors are amped up and will give away lots of freebies to draw the crowd to their booth. Some even have drawings to give out free ipads and even cel phones.

 

Well I arrive Thursday about 430 but I always book last arriving flight to Chicago so I am,leaving Monday but at 6 or,7 pm.

I will avoid the rental... last MLK day the rental,center was a,wreck at that time. Ended up splitting a cab back to LAS.

So if I register now I can get a free ticket if I understand, maybe I will do that just in case.

Maybe I can do friday... I don't wanna miss football games on the weekend.. plugs Saturday I move hotels as it is.

Great tips on Sunday.

I am sure we will cross paths at a,MSS craps table.

 

We were there in '14 when the convention was in town, couldn't really tell. The restaurants seemed busier is about all I noticed.

SEMA is crazy, but I think it was EDC back in June was the most crowded I've seen the strip, won't be going during that week again, had no idea lol

 

I will be there for the first week in Jan but not for CES, that week is a quiet time in my industry so i make it a point to squeeze a week in Vegas in that time

 

If you already attended the CES before you may be able to register for free (that is if you are still on their registry). If you have never attended the CES I don't think you can attend for free. That said you will never know unless you try to register for the show, only then you can tell if it is free or not.

There is so much to see, even without stopping at booths it will probably take you a day or two just to walk the convention center floors at the LV convention hall, sand's expo and the other hotels that hold the convention.