Last week, the BIGfish team traveled to Las Vegas to take on the International Consumer Electronics Show. We attended press events Pepcom and Showstoppers alongside clients Ring, TYLT and Inmoji, and spent some time walking the show floor at CES where we encountered some pretty cool tech! With more than 20,000 new product announcements made by 3,600+ exhibitors laid out 2.2 million square feet, CES can be daunting. It’s hard to pick out just a few special products, but here are a few that really stood out to us.
1. Jacqui’s Pick: Beam

As we approached the Beam booth we couldn’t help but stop to figure out what was going on. While many booths are built up into two story structures, feature colorful, moving signs or loud music to grab your attention, the Beam booth had nothing but its product on display. About 20 screens on wheels zoomed around the booth and approached passersby. We spoke with a woman located in France who, since she couldn’t fly out to CES, volunteered to participate via Beam program to experience CES the telepresence way. The simplicity of this booth, combined with its unique human connection at a show that’s so overwhelmingly tech-focused, really caught my attention.
2. Brigid’s Pick: Intel’s RealSense
This interactive hallway featured a long wall of screens that reflected and responded to your physical movements. Wave at the blue sky and it looks like snow is falling where your arm was. Raise your arm in “space” near a meteor, and it will explode on screen. Or, make a fist to capture a gem as it floats by. While some of the more obvious applications for RealSense are gaming or graphic design, it’s also a useful tool for video or photo editing, and it can even capture 3D images. Click here to watch a video demo of RealSense. 
3. Bristol’s Pick: Parrot Drones
Like most “booths” at CES, Parrot’s was anything but traditional. The Paris, France based company designs civilian drones for average consumers and professionals alike, and they put on quite the show at CES this year. A large cage served as their booth, which enabled the company to show off their extensive line of aerial drones. Check out this video below of the drones “dancing,” together to music. Practical? Maybe not, but really entertaining either way!

4. Meredith’s Pick: Audi A7 Driverless Car
Audi put its A7 driverless concept car has made vast improvements since last year. The A7 drove itself from San Francisco to Las Vegas (over 550 miles) this January, reaching speeds up to 70 mph, changing lanes and driving through rain along the way. The A7 made it to CES 2015 without issue. How did it do it? Sensors, cameras, and navigation data. All data collected by these systems are processed by the car’s computer. As if the technology wasn’t enough, the A7 looks incredibly sleek, too.
5. Dave’s Pick: JuiceBoxx

MacBook chargers go anywhere a MacBook goes and in the case of entrepreneurs, that’s just about everywhere. Wound up and unwound over and over, MacBook chargers can fray at the point where the cord exits the charger body. I personally have had to replace two chargers from fray failure in the last year and was thrilled to discover a startup out of Ohio that solved this problem through an innovative MacBook charger case called JuiceBoxx. The JuiceBoxx case slides nicely over a MacBook charger and completely prevents the cord from bending at greater than 90 degrees from the base of the charger, effectively saving your cord from fraying. Click here to see more of Dave’s favorite CES gadgets.
6. Biggest Trend: Connected Home Devices
We noted this trend after the 2014 CES, and if the 2015 show is any indication, it’s not going away anytime soon. In fact, there was an entire Smart Home Marketplace where brands like ADT, Bosch, Honeywell and Lowe’s showed off their connected gadgets. BIGfish client Ring is another product in this space, with a Wi-Fi video doorbell that enables users to stay connected to their homes from anywhere in the world.
7. Most Talked About Tech: SlingTV
Cord-cutters rejoice: with DirecTV’s SlingTV, users can stream content from top-tier networks like ESPN, ESPN2, CNN, TBS, TNT, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, Travel Channel Food Network, ABC Family, HGTV, Disney Channel and Maker, for just $20/month. Need we say more?
Key Takeaways for a Successful CES

1. Set up meetings ahead of time by reaching out to a targeted list of attending press.
2. Attend the press events (Unveiled, Showstoppers, Pepcom). The show floor is hectic, and it’s often challenging to track down a reporter. These press events provide a more intimate setting to network with reporters and highlight your clients’ products.
3. Collect business cards like they’re gold (and take notes about your conversations).
4. Follow up and make it personal.
5. Have a big breakfast to power you through the morning.
6. Wear comfortable shoes!