I spent a few days at CES, the biggest trade show in tech - here's what it's like to attend the 53-year-old show for the first time

Connie Chen,Connie ChenJan 14, 2020, 03:04 IST

Connie Chen/Business Insider

CES, now in its 53rd year, took place this year from January 7 through January 10, 2020 in Las Vegas, NV.
I was just one of more than 170,000 people, including industry attendees, exhibitors, and media, on the ground at the most famous global conference for tech.
Unlike many of my colleagues and fellow attendees who have been braving the show floors for years, I was a CES first-timer.
It was as high-energy, fast-paced, and interesting as I expected from an industry event of its size and caliber. This is what I saw, learned, and wrote about during my week at CES.

Every industry has its can't-miss trade show. Health and wellness professionals have the Natural Products Expo. Outdoorspeople have Outdoor Retailer. But the undisputed king of trade shows - in tech and beyond - is CES.

CES stands for Consumer Electronics Show and the Consumer Technology Association puts it on every year. First held in 1967 with 250 exhibitors and 17,500 attendees, the show now draws more than 4,500 exhibitors and 170,000 attendees from more than 160 countries.

Anyone who works in anything remotely related to tech attends CES to see and try the latest innovations, network with fellow industry experts, and discuss the future of consumer tech.

This year, I attended CES for the first time ever, and after hearing from past attendees about the overwhelming size and pace of the show, I got on a flight from New York to Las Vegas with equal parts trepidation and excitement.

Tens of thousands of steps, a full stack of press materials and business cards stuffed in my bag, and a few empty packs of Emergen-C later, I've emerged from my first CES with a better understanding of the tech products to look forward to in 2020 - and why people come in from all over the world to get a first glimpse of them at CES.

Here's what it's like to go to CES, from a first-timer's perspective:

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See I spent a few days at CES, the biggest trade show in tech - here's what it's like to attend the 53-year-old show for the first time >>

One of the first things I did after stepping off my flight was pick up my badge.

The multiple badge pickup stations spread out across hotel lobbies, bus and monorail stops, and McCarran International Airport was my first clue that "CES takes over Vegas" is no understatement.

This badge, which you get when you register as an attendee, grants entry to the CES show floor, which includes company booths, keynote presentations, summits and sessions, and lounges. As a member of the media, I could also attend press-only previews and news conferences and get priority entry to keynotes.

CES doesn't only take place at one location. It's actually split up into three areas: Tech East, Tech West, and Tech South.

According to my more experienced colleagues, the main exhibits and keynotes have been at the same locations for years.

Since this was my first time, I still studied maps and transportation options closely. Luckily, I've been to Las Vegas many times in the past with family and friends, so I was at least somewhat familiar with the Strip and the city — I probably would've gotten even more lost otherwise.

Once inside each venue, I faced the crowds. I stuck to the two main exhibit spaces, the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC) and Sands Expo.

This is what one of the entrance halls of LVCC looked like. The expo centers opened at 9 a.m. each day and were usually already bustling within the first couple of hours. Since there was so much to see, getting started early (and wearing comfortable shoes) was the right move.

In total, there's more than 2.9 million net square feet of exhibit space to explore, and floor maps like these attempted to help me find the exact companies and booths I wanted to see.

I personally didn't use these overwhelming maps too much, though. While I had a list of companies that I definitely wanted to check out, I also gave myself time and freedom to wander the aisles.

On the floor, I felt like I was being tugged left and right by all the companies competing for my attention. Many used large and visually stunning displays to lure attendees in.

LG's OLED Wave, made up of 200 55-inch screens, was a mesmerizing welcome to LG's booth. Nearly every person walking by stopped to take a photo or video and enjoy the vibrant videos of our planet's natural wonders.

While I could read press materials and watch videos all day long about the innovative tech being featured at CES, at the end of the day the best way to understand it was to see it in action.

Hands-on product demos were available for all types of products, like this at-home cocktail machine developed in part by Anheuser Busch and Dr Pepper Keurig. After seeing how the machine worked, we, of course, had to taste-test its creations.

Other cool product demos I saw and participated in included this Samsung smart fridge that can play music, show security camera footage, and help you re-order grocery essentials...

...and a home gym and personal training system from a new startup called Tonal.

While I wasn't in the proper clothing to give its programming and equipment a full spin, I could still do a few reps to see how Tonal's "digital" weights worked.

There was never a dull moment on the floor because of the pure diversity of products at the show. Being at CES underscored for me that "tech" is truly an umbrella term that can touch everything from kids' toys...

...to recreational water sports...

...to BAC-estimating devices.

As an Insider Picks product journalist, I was specifically tasked with checking out the coolest tech to hit the home and kitchen space.

I spent the majority of my days seeing how my time at home could be made more convenient and enjoyable.

At CES, I noticed quite a few different bidet concepts. Bidet usage, while popular in other parts of the world, is only just starting to rise in the US, and companies like Coway want to capitalize.

CES is often when companies debut new products for the upcoming year, and for Coway that was the Bidetmega 400 (an upgrade from our favorite Bidetmega 200), which features wash care systems and cleaning technology to make your bathroom experience more sanitary.

Smart toothbrushes were another big theme.

Toothbrushes from household names like Colgate and Oral-B want to make your nightly brushing routine more effective and accurate, and they connect to apps that give insights into your brushing patterns.

The Colgate Plaqless Pro toothbrush above won a 2020 Best of Innovation Award, which recognizes outstanding design and engineering in consumer technology. Each product that received a CES Innovation Award usually had a plaque sitting close by to distinguish it from the thousands of other products at the show.

Meanwhile, the Picks team devised its own roundup of the most notable products of CES.

Outside of the show floors, keynote presentations placed products in larger contexts. They were largely infused with hope and excitement about the potential for tech to improve lives and bring people together.

Samsung's packed keynote, for example, called the new decade "the age of experience." HS Kim, the President and CEO of Samsung Electronics' Consumer Electronics Division, said this is the age when "innovative products foster seamless experiences and memorable moments."

Another presentation I attended was given by NBCUniversal. It brought together a star-studded panel to discuss how streaming technologies have changed the way content is produced and consumed.

Other keynotes revolved around transportation, sustainability, and corporate responsibility. The CTA's choice to invite Ivanka Trump as a speaker in a keynote about tech's role in the future of work caused some contention, but these speaking events otherwise went off without a hitch.

All in all, CES was a huge learning moment and an exciting opportunity to preview cool products and connect with tech companies small and large.

I wasn't sure exactly what to expect going into CES, but I finally understand what veterans mean when they say that CES is the show to attend.

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