WORLD’S LARGEST TECH SHOW TO RECONVENE IN JANUARY

CES, the world’s pre-eminent annual display of innovation in consumer electronics, will convene “in person” as customary in Las Vegas this January, the sponsoring Consumer Technology Association (CTA) has announced.
The event’s physical restoration assumes that the successful U.S. COVID vaccination campaign will continue and the virus will be largely contained by then.
More than 1,000 companies already have registered to display at the event, CTA said in announcing the convention.
The week-long 2020 CES gathered 171,000 people from 164 countries, CTA reported.
This year’s conclave used online portals to bring together exhibitors and customers, enable networking, and conduct meetings and offered a live “anchor desk” delivering news and interviewing attendees and company representatives.
The CTA will monitor public health guidelines issued by states and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as it prepares for the meeting, it said.
CTA also will again offer online CES access for those preferring not to gather in large groups.
TREND FORECAST: Cities and businesses across the globe have been hit hard by the decline in conventions and trade shows. We note the CES event since it will be an important barometer to help determine the percentages that will return to these types of events. 
We also forecast that just as frisking people and putting them through metal detectors when attending conventions, concerts, etc., became the new ABnormal after 9/11, so, too, will temperature checks and vaccine passports for convention and big-event goers.