The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), the owner and producer of the International CES, today announced that verified attendance at the 2015 International CES reached a record 176,676 industry professionals with 48,833 coming from outside of the U.S. The 2015 CES also set a number of other records, including more than 3,600 exhibitors, more than 2.23 million net square feet of exhibit space, 6,952 media and analyst attendees, 703,602 mentions of #CES2015 during the show with 7.51 billion total potential Twitter impressions, and 153 countries represented. The independent audit, performed by Veris Consulting, LLC, confirms CES’ status as the world’s gathering place for all who thrive on the business of consumer technologies. The full CES attendance audit summary report will be available online at the end of June.
“We are thrilled to have produced such a phenomenal, record setting International CES,” said Gary Shapiro, CEA president and CEO. “Our event offers a one of a kind, ‘can’t miss’ experience that allows our global attendees to see how different technologies from a range of industries impact each other. The International CES remains the single best place to experience the products, services and trends that will be driving the global industry in the months and years to come.”  
As CES and the consumer technology industry continue to grow, CEA is establishing procedures to cap attendance at the 2016 International CES at 176,000, or close to a level comparable to the 2015 CES, in an effort to ensure that attendees continue to have a quality experience.
“With the growth of the consumer technology industry and the parallel growth of the International CES comes an increase in the qualified registrant base for our show. While these individuals are qualified industry professionals, we are reaching space capacity and simply can’t accommodate every qualified individual to our show,” said Karen Chupka, CEA senior vice president, International CES and corporate business strategy. “We take seriously our efforts to make sure CES attendees have a positive experience. Enhanced credentialing procedures will enable us to ensure that qualified attendees can participate in our show and conduct business while providing a high-quality experience for all. These efforts also will allow us to improve some of the logistical and operational challenges that come with producing and attending such a large event.”
The new procedures that CEA will enact for the 2016 CES include:
Enhanced credentialing: 

• New registrants or previous registrants who did not attend the 2014 or 2015 CES will be subject to new enhanced credentialing and tighter qualification criteria. This means that although individuals may have qualified for registration in previous years, they must resubmit credentials to qualify for the 2016 CES.
• To qualify, all registrants must provide a brief description of their industry affiliation along with links to their company website with an employee roster, a description of their business engagement at CES or a link to a current publication or article the registrant authored or in which they were quoted or cited as an industry professional. Alternately, registrants may also provide a business card, health insurance card or other proof of employment verification. In addition, in order to expedite affiliated registrants through the verification process, CES will ask registrants to include a business email address. Additional details can be found at http://www2.ce.org/e/26962/Register-Plan-Register-Now/43nchn/404603827 once registration opens later this year.
• Those who attended one of the past two shows will be allowed to register without providing additional industry qualifications, given their loyalty to CES. 
• CES remains a trade-only event and is not open to the general public.

A new registration fee structure: 

• CEA is implementing a $100 advanced fee for all registrants beginning July 8 when registration launches.
• CEA is providing our loyal alumni who attended the 2014 or 2015 CES with a 30-day window of complimentary registration before the $100 fee goes into effect for this audience. 
• Registration for qualified media will remain free of charge.
• Registration fees will increase to $300 beginning December 21 through the 2016 CES. This move is to encourage more registrants to sign up prior to December 21 to allow CEA ample time to verify credentials for those who register after that date.

“Our new procedures will help us cap the overall growth in CES attendance, promoting a quality business experience for our guests while focusing show and consumer technology industry growth in key areas, including new markets and trends,” stated Chupka.
“The average CES attendee has 33 business meetings at our event so it’s crucial that we make the networking and dealmaking opportunities as easy as possible for our guests,” said Shapiro. “CES is the world’s leading annual innovation event and is setting records across every major category including international attendance. We must always innovate to ensure that CES remains the must-attend event for any professional connected to innovation. These new procedures will help us meet this goal.”
Through these new policies and procedures, CEA is aiming to cap 2016 CES attendance at 176,000.
“We believe this number strikes the balance we seek between producing a show that truly reflects the size and scope of the global consumer technology industry while helping our participants have a positive, quality business experience,” said Chupka. “We won’t, however, turn qualified attendees away at the door! We will refine our new processes as necessary during registration in an effort to stay within our target attendance.”
Veris is certified by the Exhibition and Event Industry Audit Commission (EEIAC) to perform audits. The CES audit provides absolute verification of 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. This audit complies with the industry standards for audits adopted by both the EEIAC and the International Association of Exhibition and Events (IAEE). An independent audit is required to be certified by UFI, the Global Association of the Exhibition Industry, and the International CES is believed to be the only UFI approved event in its category.
Registration for the 2016 CES will open on July 8. More details on 2016 CES policies and procedures can be found at CESweb.org.