Next year’s CES, the world’s biggest consumer-technology trade show, has been pushed back a few days in January 2021, the Consumer Technology Association announced. CTA also announced Verizon chairman/CEO Hans Vestberg as the kickoff keynoter for the online-only event.
Originally, CES 2021 was scheduled to run Jan. 6-9, 2021, in the trade show and conference’s first-ever virtual format, after the CTA canceled the in-person in Las Vegas because of the COVID pandemic.
The new dates for CES 2021 will be Monday, Jan. 11, to Thursday, Jan. 14. That starts with media-only access on Jan. 11, with Jan. 12-13 open to all registered attendees, featuring the exhibitor showcase and conference programming. The final day, Jan. 14, will offer conference programming.
The date for Vestberg’s keynote address has not yet been set. The Verizon chief is slated to discuss 5G as “the framework of the 21st century,” how the next-generation wireless technology is transforming every industry, and discuss 5G applications such as telemedicine and distance education. CTA said it will add more keynote speakers in the coming weeks.
CES 2020 in Las Vegas drew 170,000 attendees and more than 4,400 exhibiting companies across more than 2.9 million net square feet of floor space, according to CTA. That was down from 175,000 attendees and 4,500-plus exhibitors in 2019.
CTA has not yet opened up registration for the all-digital CES 2021 (it says that will be coming later this fall) nor has it announced what it will charge attendees to the virtual confab.
“CES 2021 will digitally convene innovators and business leaders from around the world showcasing tech changing lives for the better on a global scale,” CTA president /CEO Gary Shapiro said in a statement. “Technology is not only connecting us to one another, but is providing solutions to many day-to-day challenges created by the pandemic and that innovation is helping us reimagine CES 2021.”