Nearly every reader of this newsletter will attend CES 2007. And I'm sure many of you, as do I, have a love/hate relationship with the show-love the products and love seeing our friends and colleagues, but hate the interminable taxicab/bus lines, the two-hour wait for dinner, and the severely constrained on-site food and restroom situation.

I thought we'd been through the worst of it in 2004 when, after waiting four hours to get through airport security, the majority of Sunday fliers missed their flights. The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), the organization that puts on the show, worked overtime behind the scenes to get the Las Vegas Airport to clean up their act
before the next show.
That was awesome.

By 2006, the airport had improved, but the show had expanded to ludicrous proportions. People were piled on each other like slaves. The restrooms smelled like death. You couldn't do anything-eat, move, drive, ride. It was total gridlock, even indoors, as if Mexico City's rush hour collided with Atlanta's rush hour and skidded into Hong Kong.
At rush hour.

So I felt compelled to pen a strongly-worded letter to Gary Shapiro, President of the Consumer Electronics Association. Here it is:

From: Charles Thompson [mailto:charles@sellthroughsolutions.com] Sent: Friday, January 27, 2006 1:04 PM To: 'cea@CE.org' Subject: Note to Gary Shapiro

Mr. Shapiro,

Congratulations on the TWICE report that the 2006 CES was the "best attendance ever." This, to me, seems akin to each successive Olympic city striving to achieve the coveted "best Olympics ever." The problem with CES, however, is that "best attendance" translates into "most traffic snarls" and "worst people-moving" and
"most overloaded hospitality" ever.

The TWICE article stated that CES partially dealt with the ever-expanding show by relocating some exhibits to the Sands, a "short shuttle ride" away. The ride was indeed short, after an hour-long wait
just to get on the bus.

Mr. Shapiro, did you ride the shuttle buses, or stand in the cab lines? Did you attempt to eat lunch at the show? Did you attempt to get back to your hotel at the close of each show day, using one of the recommended modes of transportation? If so, you know that the wait times were
absolutely unacceptable.

As a CEA member, I appreciate the CEA lounge, and the privacy and professionalism it affords. Have you considered a shuttle just for CEA members? Whether you do that or not, the focus should no longer be to increase attendance at the CES ad infinitum, while transportation and hospitality remain the same. What does the industry gain with such numbers matched with such a poor around-the-show experience? Instead of focusing on "best attendance ever," which we hear every year as if it's some sort of achievement, CES should, like the Olympics, strive for "best CES experience ever."

By the way, a rumor made its way extensively through the show that non-industry civilians were being allowed into the show for a fee, ostensibly to inflate the numbers. If this is true, we in the industry are owed at least the courtesy of knowing this in advance.

Best Regards, Charles Thompson
Sell-Through Solutions, Inc.

I never got one word back from the guy.