After going fully virtual in 2021 to mixed reviews, CES will be returning to Las Vegas next year but will also incorporate a digital component, underscoring the ongoing impact of the pandemic and new ways of doing business that the world has adopted over the past year and a half.
The Consumer Technology Association, which produces the show, has announced that it has selected Web Summit’s proprietary event operating system, Summit Engine, as the digital platform for the event. Web Summit is returning in-person in Lisbon next week and will also be leveraging the platform for their event. CES is the second organization, after the UN, to license the software.
Virtual attendees to CES will have access to pretty typical online content, including livestreams of keynotes and select conference sessions, and will also be able to connect with onsite exhibitors and other attendees. Those who attend in-person will also be able to use the platform to plan their event agenda and connect with each other and virtual participants. Networking and on-demand content will be open to all attendees until the end of January.
Allowing both audiences to connect and use the platform was a key part of the decision process for the event. "For CES 2022, we sought a platform that would benefit both in-person and digital attendees," said Jean Foster, senior vice president of marketing and communications for CTA, in a statement. "Working with an innovative and unique company like Web Summit allows CES to, once again, reimagine how we convene and collaborate as an industry."
So far, online components of trade shows have not been a very popular value add in the industry, so it remains to be seen how useful this added functionality of being able to “expand their reach to CES digital participants” will be to exhibitors.
Paddy Cosgrave, co-founder and CEO at Web Summit, added: "We're delighted to be chosen by CTA as their digital platform provider for CES 2022, and we understand what large scale, complex events like these demand. We've been quietly building our software, Summit Engine, for nearly a decade to augment our physical events so moving them fully online during the pandemic was easy for us."