Due to “recent global tragedies” attendees of this week’s Consumer Electronics Show will experience a myriad of changes related to bags they take with them on the show floor.
The changes are being made with respect to the safety of attendees, show personnel, exhibitors and media, the newly-renamed Consumer Technology Association announced.
There’s no specific threat to this week’s show which opens on the 6th, however CTA “wants to ensure we provide as safe an environment as possible given recent global events,” spokesman Jeff Joseph told USA Today.
Previously attendees were free to carry as many bags as they could handle throughout the show, which is now spread way beyond the LVCC to include various exhibit halls in several hotels.
Now, attendees will be restricted to two (12” x 17” x 6”) bags each, though exhibitors and press may get special exemptions. No rolling bags are allowed at all and no luggage will be allowed in the exhibit and conference areas. Bag storage will be limited so CTA is telling attendees to leave luggage in your hotel. (That’s a drag for those used to toting their luggage to the LVCC and getting a cab from there to the airport.)
Attendees should prepare to have their bags searched, and go through metal detectors and/or body pat downs when coming onto the show premises. CTA suggests attendees bring clear or mesh bags if they must bring bag at all. “Bags and backpacks with many pockets are not helpful. Pockets slow search times,” says CTA in its instructions.
The last time bags at this show were searched was in 2002, after the 9/11 attacks.
Given these huge changes, I asked NAB whether they are considering any bag restrictions as well for the upcoming spring show.
NAB EVP Communications Dennis Wharton tells RBR+TVBR that “NAB is revisiting all of our security and emergency procedures. We may consider additional restrictions but have not finalized plans at this time.”
RBR+TVBR observation: I can’t stress enough what a huge change this is for CES, which in the last few years has had an annual attendance of an estimated 170,000. The roller bag ban is telling, since for many years the press bags were roller bags and many people even in January 2015 were still lugging those around. CES is the kind of show where you get a lot of swag and need several bags to carry that around; some people opt to use huge bags given away by vendors all day rather than tote their own bags into the exhibit hall. I’d be interested to hear from attendees (at [email protected]) how the bag limits, searches and general change affect the lines getting into venues. As broadcasters who go to CES to get a jumpstart on new product knowledge know, the first two days are especially difficult to navigate, given that it’s a larger show than the spring NAB. Top NAB executives go to CES in addition to broadcast vendors and some broadcast station owners. My guess is NAB will ask CTA, as well as any broadcasters who attend this year how the new restrictions affected their experience and take that into consideration before implementing any bag changes or searches for the spring show.
