I Used to Wear Skirts and Panty Hose to CES

My name is Julie and I have been to the Consumer Electronics Show 19 times. I don't necessarily choose to go. It just sort of happens to me. I fight it, but then I find myself on a plane to Vegas and the next thing you know I’m living on peppermint candies and high-priced steaks, fending off PR people from obscure toy companies, and nursing a Chapstick hangover long after the show closes.

I can't say that I've always enjoyed fancy meals during CES. In the early days, EH Publishing couldn't afford it and neither could our advertisers. Oh wait, we didn’t have any.

But as the industry grew, so too did the throng of partners lining up to lavish my editorial colleagues and me with fine wine and sumptuous food over three-hour meals, after which someone is bound to order coffee and dessert (Arghhh).

Dinner for One

Thirty pounds later, I learned to say no. Now I pick up some Chinese food or a sandwich and eat dinner in my hotel room. Alone or with my husband. Quietly. I’m in bed by 9 p.m. and up by 5 the next morning to get some writing done before the craziness begins again.

I’m older and wiser, and so is CES.

Here I am on the morning of “press day” at CES, the day before the expo opens, reflecting on shows past. Flash back to 1994, the year we formally launched EH Publishing after acquiring this dinky little magazine called Electronic House. We had magazines (pamphlets, more like) on a table in magazine alley, and CEO Ken Moyes and I would look at each other and grin like little girls whenever someone stopped to pick up a magazine or chat with us.

That wasn’t my first big trade show – I had been to the big security expos – but it was important enough that I kept my badge for a few years (admit it, you all did it).

Up in the press room, I collected every press kit for every exhibitor that wasn’t peddling cars or trinkets. I had the paper shipped to the office. Boy did I learn that lesson! For the next five or six years I brought an extra suitcase just for press kits and related slides and photos (real ones, the kind printed on glossy paper).

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EH Publishing, 1994
Those were the days. We didn’t have laptops … or the Internet or email addresses for that matter. There was no crush to break news right away because there was no place to break it. We just collected news and saved it for the next issue of the magazine. The downside? We had to dress up back then. I wore skirts and panty hose.

CES 2012: The Changes and the One Constant

My how things change. Remember when CES spilled into the parking lot across the street? Today, the show is smaller, reflecting not just a weaker economy but a shift in marketing budgets to more intimate events and new media. Next year Microsoft will leave a gaping hole in the event.

Much of the excitement has moved over to the North Hall, with new technologies launching in cars before they hit the living room. Back in 2005ish, GM showcased some cool connectivity via OnStar in partnership with the Internet Home Alliance. That fizzled, but GM continues to develop for the platform, even demonstrating last year a standalone 4G version of OnStar in partnership with Verizon. This year, Ford Motor Co. is keynoting the Digital Home Summit, touting mobile health solutions on its SYNC platform.

Right next to the cars are the digital health sections and the growing iLounge for all things Apple and now Android and Kindle. Lots of interesting connectivity solutions there.

RELATED: Home Automation at CES 2012: Where to Find It

It’s good that we have those developments in the mobile and health arenas because they’re largely absent from the in-home space on the CES showfloor. Control4 (and partners) and Lutron have moved off the main floor, opting for hospitality suites; Crestron and AMX have been absent for years. URC and other CES staples have shrunk their booths. The one “smart home” demo is in the NextGen home, powered by Savant Systems and Leviton. Granted, the Z-Wave Pavilion had quite the showing this year, and Motorola Mobility continues to push its 4Home automation platform. There’s integration activity, just not in-your-face like it used to be.

We now have many editors at EH Publishing – for years it was just Lisa Montgomery and me – so I don’t have to cover everything from computers to TVs to cars speakers to cables. But I do have to wake up early every morning to post the latest news. I travel light these days. There are no skirts and blazers and high heels to pack, and no press kits to tote home. I travel so light, in fact, that my little laptop has no disk drive … and exhibitors still like to hand out disks as sure as they did floppies back when.

One thing I will always treasure at CES? There’s never a line for the ladies’ room. Take that, boys!
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