CES 2016 and the Evolution of Conferences as Global Media Platforms
Photo Credit: 2016 is going to be the breakout year for virtual reality with Oculus Rift VR consumer headsets shipping soon. CES
Skift Take
CES 2016 shows how conference organizers can reposition an event from a narrow industry focus to a global forum for discussion around larger themes impacting a broader audience.
Over 170,000 people attended the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas earlier this month, including 50,000 international visitors.
CES 2016 marked somewhat of a transition year for the overall positioning of the conference. The discussion on the trade show floor transcended the individual technology products and services to themes about how technology will impact every facet of our daily lives.
“We’re talking increasingly about what’s technologically meaningful versus technologically possible,” said Shawn DuBravac, Ph.D., chief economist and senior director of research for the Consumer Technology Association, which operates CES.
Driving this shift is what the World Economic Forum is calling the Fourth Industrial Revolution, “characterized by a fusion of technologies that is blurring the lines between the physical, digital and biological spheres.”
Virtual reality, for example, goes mainstream this year when Oculus Rift starts shipping its consumer VR he
