The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) will celebrate its 50th anniversary from Jan. 5 to 8 in Las Vegas. Touted as the global stage for innovation, CES is widely considered the most important trade show for consumer tech brands and innovative startups.
Whether you run a young company or an established consumer brand, there are many advantages to appearing at CES. However, the costs of attending CES can be difficult for many companies to justify. So, does appearing at CES actually pay off?
The cost of appearing at CES
Exhibiting at any trade show takes an investment of time, labor, money, opportunity or any other number of resources. CES is no different. The exact cost of appearing at CES will vary for each company, with many shelling out tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars for the event. Regardless of your company’s size, it’s evident that exhibiting at CES doesn’t come cheap.
1. Successful exhibits take time.
It takes a lot of time to prepare for CES. This could include time spent getting your product or prototype ready, training your employees, practicing your pitch, marketing your booth location or creating a post-show sales strategy. The most successful companies spend a lot of time preparing for CES.
With every hour you spend preparing, you sacrifice time that could be going toward customer service, lead generation or other critical areas of your business. This opportunity cost is difficult to put a price on, but it’s something you have to take into consideration.
2. There are several booth options.
While putting a price on time might be difficult, you can put a more definitive cost on your exhibit space. Traditional exhibit space ranges from $38 to $43 a square foot depending on your membership status with the Consumer Technology Association, the trade group that runs CES.
The standard booth size for a traditional exhibitor is 10 by 10, which puts average booth space between $3,800 to $4,300. With more than 2.4 million square feet of exhibiting space, many companies choose to rent more than the minimum. For instance, at CES 2012, Samsung spent more than $850,000 on a 25,000 square-foot booth.
The minimum $3,800 for booth space might be too steep for a young company, so CES has another option for companies that meet its requirements. For $1,000, startups can rent a turnkey booth at the Eureka Park Marketplace. This space is located outside the traditional exhibit area but does attract media, investors and attendees looking for the next big thing.
CES has 600 startup companies set to appear at the Eureka Park Marketplace this January, a jump from the 500 in 2016. Appearing at the Eureka Park Marketplace is a great alternative for bootstrapped startups that want to get a taste for CES.
Whether you have an established brand or a young startup, CES has several resources to help you discover the best options for your needs.
3. Expect secondary effects and expenses.
More than 177,000 people attended CES in 2016. That number is expected to grow this year. With this influx of people visiting Las Vegas, there will be secondary effects and expenses. Hotel rates will increase as fewer options become available, restaurants will become booked, meeting areas will be unavailable and travel will become difficult. It’s important to expect these side effects when preparing for your trip to CES.
As an exhibitor, you’ll also incur expenses outside of the booth rental rates. You should expect a substantial cost for food, travel, lodging, employee time, booth setup and design, internet usage at CES, company swag and many other peripheral…