CES 2021 will go ahead with a live show, but planners claim health is a priority

CES press photo of attendees at the show — (Image credit: CES)

Many tech events have been cancelled, postponed, or transitioned to a livestream-only affair amid health concerns surrounding Covid-19. Nevertheless, the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) seems set to proceed as usual as an in-person convention in January 2021.

"While we plan to produce another in-person event in Las Vegas, we all face new considerations around attending conferences, conducting business and traveling to meetings. Just as your companies are innovating to overcome the challenges this pandemic presents, we are adapting to the evolving situation," the event's planners said.

The group overseeing the event maintains that "safety, security, and health are always a priority." Rather than postpone or cancel the event outright, however, several new health policies will be in play.

One thing working in the event's favor is that the show is still seven months out. Businesses have already started opening back up, and it's possible things could be back to normal (or the new normal) by then.

That seems to be what the event's planners are hedging their bets on, anyway, versus there being an increase in COVID-19 cases between now and January. It's a difficult thing to predict that far out, though.

It's a big event where companies have an opportunity to showcase their newest products and prototypes of upcoming ones. Whether it will be as big in January 2021 remains to be seen, and will depend on how many companies and media personnel choose not to attend.

Paul has been playing PC games and raking his knuckles on computer hardware since the Commodore 64. He does not have any tattoos, but thinks it would be cool to get one that reads LOAD"*",8,1. In his off time, he rides motorcycles and wrestles alligators (only one of those is true).