Did you feel a little cramped at this year's International CES? It wasn't a paranoid case of claustrophobia kicking in. The show was insanely crowded.
According to new numbers released by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), CES had a staggering 156,000 attendees this year. In case you are keeping score, this is a record for the annual show.
Breaking it down, the CEA says that January's International CES had 1.86 million net square feet of exhibit space with 3319 exhibitors from around the globe -- a 22 percent increase from 2011's show.
Out of that number of attendees, 35,734 were international professionals from more than 150 countries. This was another 13 percent increase. Right behind the U.S., the top 10 countries included Canada, South Korea, Japan, China, Mexico, United Kingdom, France, Taiwan, Germany and Brazil.
The CEA verified its numbers with an independent audit by Veris Consulting, LLC. According to these numbers, CES is North America's largest annual tradeshow in technology -- or any "ology," for that matter. It's the biggest tradeshow in North America, period.
The Veris audit says that more than 12,000 retail buying organizations, 5000 manufacturers and 6000 engineering companies came to CES. Other attendees included members of the Obama administration, the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, the Federal Communications Commission, the Office of Management and Budget, the Office of Science and Technology Policy, the U.S. Department of Commerce, the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security,the U.S. International Trade Commission, and the Environmental Protection Agency.
"The 2012 International CES was the largest in show history and was bursting with innovation as the world's most important technology event," said Karen Chupka, the CEA's senior VP of events and conferences. "These record-breaking audit results confirm that CES continues to be the must-attend event that unites the global technology industry, including Fortune 500 executives, retail buyers, content producers, entertainment executives, venture capitalists, engineers, government officials and media from every corner of the world."
The 2012 International CES was held in Las Vegas from January 10-13, 2012. Expect attendees to converge upon Vegas again in January for the 2013 International CES, which is scheduled for January 8-11, 2013.
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