Final preparations are in place for the 2000 International CES, which takes place January 6-9 in Las Vegas and will bring together more than 1,500 exhibitors and 90,000 attendees, according to show organizer the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA).
Exhibits at CES will be held at four familiar venues. The Las Vegas Convention Center will be where home entertainment, work-style products and other categories will be displayed. The Sands Expo & Convention Center is where autosound, wireless telephony and digital radio will be on display. The Las Vegas Hilton will be the home of home networking, integrated home systems and home theater. The Alexis Park Resort is headquarters for high-end audio.
Four notable chairman/CEOs will be keynote speakers during CES. Microsoft’s Bill Gates will deliver the “New Millennium Keynote”; Eric A. Benhamou of 3Com will handle the opening keynote; Sun Microsystems Scott McNealy will deliver the executive perspective keynote; and RealNetworks’ Rob Glaser will present the technology keynote.
During the CES Executive Briefing luncheon on Sunday, January 9, Joe Clayton, vice chairman of Global Crossing, will discuss the opportunities he sees for both telecommunications and consumer electronics participants in the global and digital markets.
In addition, the show will present more than 130 targeted sessions and seminars covering a variety of topics. Three of the most visible will be the E-Commerce Supersession, Retailing For The Digital Age and Internet 2000.
The e-commerce session will feature moderator Jaclyn Easton of the Los Angeles Times. Retailing For The Digital Age will feature executives from Best Buy, Circuit City and Tandy, while Internet 2000 is a half-day summit hosted by Virginia governor James Gilmore, who examines the Internet’s impact on American society in the new millennium.
CES will also feature its product awards program, Innovations 2000, as well as the first-time presentation of the CES Workstyle Awards, covering PDAs, notebook computers, wireless information and telecommunications devices, and related categories.
Another first-time event will be inducting members into the Consumer Electronics Hall Of Fame. The first 100 inductees will be announced at the show, with plans calling for one new inductee being named annually.
