The Consumer Electronics Association, which holds the International CES show each January, says an independent audit has confirmed the number of exhibitors at its technology and product tradeshow is up and the event is attracting more international attendees compared to the year before.
CEA says the results verify CES’ status as the world’s most important technology event and North America’s largest annual tradeshow of any kind.
Veris Consulting audited attendance and other figures for this year’s CES show, held Jan. 10–13, in Las Vegas. Overall attendance this year was 156,153, according to the results.
Veris is certified by the Exhibition and Event Industry Audit Commission to perform audits. As part of the Veris audit, each CES attendee is counted only once, and show size is calculated using only exhibit space sold, not hallways or bartered space.
The resultsshow that 3,319 exhibitors were at the event, a 22% increase over last year’s show. The exhibit space at this year’s CES spanned 1.86 million net square feet.
Also, international professionals — 35,734 — attended the show from more than 150 countries, representing an increase of 13% over last year. After the United States, the top 10 countries represented in terms of attendance were Canada, South Korea, Japan, China, Mexico, United Kingdom, France, Taiwan, Germany and Brazil.
The CES audit verifies exhibition records, including direct on-site observation, examination of registration systems and testing of attendee records. Post-show analysis included direct confirmation sampling, reconciliation of attendance lists, elimination of duplicate names, and verification of demographic data with the source of documentation.
Next year’s CES is slated for Jan. 8–11, 2013, in Las Vegas.
