Ep 146 - Maximize Your CES 2024 Experience in Las Vegas: Uncover Top Insider Strategies for Unforgettable Success!

Maximize Your CES 2024 Experience in Las Vegas: Uncover Top Insider Strategies for Unforgettable Success! Dive deep into the heart of CES 2024 with our expert-guided podcast, designed to elevate your Las Vegas adventure to new heights.

Ronjini Joshua (Owner & PR Expert - The Silver Telegram) has gathered a treasure trove of insider tips, tricks, and strategies straight from industry insiders to ensure your experience is nothing short of spectacular. Whether you’re a first-timer or a seasoned attendee, our actionable advice and exclusive insights will empower you to navigate the event like a pro, make meaningful connections, and uncover opportunities at every turn.
 
Tune in to transform your CES journey into an unforgettable success story!  Please click the like button and share it with your friends.  You can reach out to us to help navigate your next PR Campaign.

Transcript

Hi, everybody. welcome. My name is Ronjini Joshua, I am the owner of the silver telegram. I've been doing PR for the last 20 years I've been going to CES for the last 20 years I've been tech PR for the last 12 years I've owned the silver telegram and we've been helping clients, both consumer and b2b, get more media visibility and brand visibility. And so I have been excited and waiting to have this conversation. I'm also going to turn this into a podcast, but I love sharing tips and tricks and secrets. They're just my jam. So I'm really excited to kind of share this all with you. These are some of the folks that we've helped in the past. We've been going to CES 2024 and doing all kinds of crazy media stuff. So today, I'm just gonna really unveil, lift the veil of PR. And I don't know if people will like that or not. But today we're going to cover pre show preparation, we're going to cover I mean, closes real quick, during the show preparation or during the show what you should be doing. And then following up what you should be doing, and some of it might sorry, some of it might seem a little obvious to you, but I'm just gonna cover everything because I think what's obvious to one person isn't obvious to another person. And so I'm just really eager to make sure that I'm covering all the bases. So I'm not questioning any anyone's intelligence or experience at CES, this has been my experiences at CES. And so I just want to make sure that I cover all the bases. And again, if you have questions, you can shoot them to me Ronjini At the silver telegram.com. Or if there's another piece of something that I missed, I would love to interview you and talk about it on the PR playbook podcast, which is our podcast that we have. But yeah, I will cover the best of everything that I can to give you all the juice possible, all the tea, all the water that I'm drinking right now. Alright. So pre show planning, if you plan fail to plan you plan to fail, we all love that quote. I think this is something that's happening right now. And it's very, very critical. Sometimes people slap things together, especially when you're a smaller booth when you're smaller company or startup, and it kind of goes by the wayside, then the holidays come around, and things get really chaotic real quickly. So it's really important to set aside a couple of hours to really plan your goals for the show, whether it's marketing, PR, business development, messaging, I think it's really important to streamline and create a line of consistency between all those different departments. And that's one of the things that I've seen fail in the past with clients is that everybody's a little bit disjointed. And so you really have to come together, have a group meeting, if you're the one to call that meeting, do it. I encourage it at least one or two or one a month until the show comes. It's very, very important. We suggest and we typically when we kick off and do stuff, create a first like mainline messaging for everybody. Hey, this is our key messages for the show. This is what we want people to feel and take away when we leave CES. And that means the media that means partners, that means customers, that means just stakeholders in general. So what we typically create, and I'm just sharing this with you so you can maybe come up with something and I actually have a checklist. I will be sharing with you guys as a follow up item. So watch out for that checklist. So a timeline and checklist. For each month. I do mainstream team and brand messaging. This is something that should be reviewed before you guys head over to CES, media marketing and new business goals. So I usually identify three to four goals, loose goals or HARD goals. If you need numbers and use numbers you use UTM. Use you know number goals, how many pieces of coverage, how many interviews you want to have how many sales calls you want to have or sales meetings you want to have that kind of stuff. So set those up in advance is kind of like I don't know business development one on one, but I just want to say everything and then establish a portal manager. I think one of the big things I find is that the exhibitor portal if you are an exhibitor is very poorly managed. I've gone through the entire exhibitor list, and I've seen seven being 60 to 70% of them do not fill it out properly. And that can be a gateway to a lot of media, you can actually upload your press kit there, you can upload your press releases, you can have all the information that you need for sales biz dev PR, so make sure you have someone who's managing that that is uploading those assets. I would also say create your own asset folder as well on like we use Google Drive, but I don't know a lot of companies are using Microsoft Office and stuff for security. So if it's Dropbox, or if it's something else, find find a place that's your own to store your own press kit media kit, you know, marketing materials, brochures, something with an easy link, and we're going to talk about what to do with that link. Canva actually now offers these like kind of drive style things. Now if you're designing something like a brochure, so we're gonna talk about some cool things that you might be able to do going forward. So pre show messaging strategy. So right now we're in the pre show section, we're coming up with strategy and messaging and it can be very creative when we're talking in relation to PR. Sometimes we have great product launch news, right? And then sometimes we think we're going to have a customer and we get really excited and it happens, and we get huge news. And then sometimes we think we're going to have a customer and it doesn't happen. And it's very disappointing. And then last, but not least, we don't have anything and we have to just make something up. There is a way to do make anything exciting. What I would say is, what is the first like, first, what is the unique angle your brand can take, okay? Try to focus on something that's, you know, first, first, only better best, which is our kind of like rule of thumb when it comes to press releases and announcements, okay. Don't click bait the media, they will not appreciate it. So let's not like over exaggerate or lie. We're not that needy. There's other ways to get press. But if you can make it kind of glamorous, I'm working with a client right now to really kind of showcase what they're doing with their technology, innovation, it's really interesting. But it's very hard to explain in layman's terms. And so that's what we're doing, we're kind of dwindling it down. And I always tell people that your grandmother should understand what the headline is, they should understand it to some degree, you know, not to a technical degree, she should understand what you're doing and what it means, at a higher level, create news of credibility data or assets behind it. So this is something that you can do if you don't have a lot of news. You can use surveys, you can use internal data. You can use milestones, you can use iterations of your product that you haven't announced before, which is something we've done and I can, I think we'll talk about it a little bit in the coming slides. So you can make something out of nothing or something out of something you haven't said before. I know I know. It's very cryptic. But if you aren't sure if you have something or not, again, shoot it to me, email me Ronjini At the silver telegram.com. I do have like a Calendly link for like a 30 minute strategy meeting, I'm happy to do it, just to help you uncover that. So there is a lot of opportunities. Maybe it's something that you haven't thought of before. Maybe it's a customer case study or announcement, maybe it's something that's industry related. So really dig deep. I also suggest that you kind of talk to your sales team and ask them what's working and maybe use that as a topic. So the sales team can be a really great place for gold. So nail this information down first, what are you going to say? What is the message, you're going to share it and share it with your team and make a plan around this particular message. You can use it for media outreach, bizdev partner outreach. So one of the things, again, that I mentioned is that people don't streamline their messaging. And so every department doing something else, let's not work harder, let's work smarter and work together. And I think it'll be just a better collaborative experience and create some kind of brand consistency. When you're speaking with the press. And when you're speaking with partners. And when you're speaking with everyone, you guys are all talking the same language. What's something that you guys can come together on and agree on, right? This is what I'm saying streamline your messaging creates repetition and bring consistency. It's been a crazy week. So some of this I might be like, just like just materializing as I talk. So, cre show logistics. I'm gonna just real quickly. Here we go. I'm going to open my chat. And if you guys have questions, I have the q&a open. So if you feel free to dump it in there. Please appreciate the logistics and planning. Okay. So first thing, we're gonna get into the nitty gritty, but these are some little things that maybe you haven't thought of and kind of suck when you get there. Make reservations before you go reservations at restaurants, the restaurants get booked up. Your customer wants a meeting, just make a reservation. Most of these reservations are free on Open Table, make a reservation for every night at a restaurant, and just have it available. My suggestion is doing nothing before six o'clock. It's really hard to get around right after the show floor closes. It's chaotic. There's no There's no YouTubers or there's a huge line. Not everybody's taking the metro. So I would say six o'clock. But yeah, make reservations before you go. Just make a reservation for every night. Sometimes I do that and you don't use it. That's fine. They don't charge you. It's just you have something if you need it. Make it for larger than the party that you think it's going to be. Some great restaurants include Yardbird is my favorite. I love going there. I don't have a lot of barbecues. So when I go to Las Vegas, I love going to Yardbird. Hell's Kitchen is amazing. It's on the strip, very busy Momofuku very busy. Also, the cosmopolitan has five or six great restaurants that you can book at. And they're all like in the same group. So you could just book a restaurant every night, like I said, from one page. So do this reservations before you go. I know it sounds silly. But once you get there, you'll be so much happier you did it. And someone will say, Hey, does anybody have a reservation and you can raise your hand and be the winner? The CES party list. Another thing people put on the backburner. So there is this list and everyone that is attending or registered is going to get this deck. So you'll have this link to ces bible.com. There's a bunch of different ces resources on that website. But they have the CES 2024 party list. And so you can RSVP to those parties. And a lot of those get booked up around November, December. Again, register early, do it even especially the free ones. Register, even if you don't know if you're going to go or not. Because it's better to have it than not. I also always do a plus one. And just put my name twice, if it's Eventbrite or whatever. Use FedEx and Starbucks before you get there. And what I mean by before you get there before you get to the show floor, don't try to go to Starbucks. I mean, you can go to Starbucks, everyone ended up going to Starbucks at some point at the show. But it's the line is huge, and nobody likes it. So try to find one that's local. That's nearby. I don't know how many of you typically drive. I always like to have a car because I have a story about that a little bit later by I ended up tend to end up being Uber and that kind of bodes well for me because people need rides. And so it's great for us, because if it's a journalist, we can give them a ride somewhere and gain their favor a little bit. And Las Vegas is pretty quick and easy to navigate. So if you have a car, or you live in LA, or you rented a car, I highly recommend it. And I usually stay off the strip. So that isn't usually an issue. But if you have not identified a FedEx or Starbucks, my favorite FedEx is 395 Hughes center drive. It is big enough to work in it is not busy and not too busy to help you. I know the last two years have been a little bit of a conundrum because it was one year there was nobody. So I'm gonna say this is 2024 coming up. So 2022 There was practically nobody there. 2021 There was no ces 2023 It was just starting to rebuild. So but this huge center drive, they are prepared. They're awesome. You can send them something, they do it quickly. They're just amazing. So Mark that down. 395 hue Center Drive, it's next to Gordon Biersch brewery. That's awesome. Arrive early. If you can arrive at the venue early, do it try not to stay out too late. Okay, sounds like mom. But this can benefit you in many ways. For me, it's usually parking great parking opportunities. I parked next to the bagel shop and it's 20 bucks. So I don't factor that into my budget. And then I just walk. And now that the convention center has expanded, it's a lot quicker to get to the convention center, and it's cold, so you get nice heat. media opportunities early in the morning are really great, especially with broadcast. So we're going to talk about media opportunities and depth. And then there is a quieter show floor if you want to have meetings with partners or customers a breakfast meeting in the North Hall. There's a Starbucks and a breakfast place and it's very busy. However, it could be a great place to have a meeting in the morning. I encourage morning meetings with journalists, everybody's got to eat and everybody wants to have breakfast. If you could do it off the strip, give them a ride. That's great. If not, I would suggest this like kind of like a cafeteria. And I think anybody who goes has gone there knows what I'm talking about in the North Hall. At the Venetian. There's this really great yoga place, but I'm not sure if it exists anymore, but it's on the way to the Expo Center. Actually, I feel like it's gone. Once you get close to the Starbucks. That's when everything gets crazy. So if you do have a booth bars, fruit, water and caffeine, these are the essentials for your booth. I know it's very mom vibes. But I like to tell people to get this stuff situated. I go to Walmart as soon as I get to Vegas and stock up and make sure that we have our daily needs so that you don't have to leave the booth or that you don't have to pay dues Whoever didn't amount or wait in a one hour Starbucks line. Okay. Now into some logistics issuing a press release for at CES. Is that something she wants to do? That is a question for the ages. If you're a small brand, it's very difficult. If you're doing something crazy innovative, then i Yes, yes, I raise my hand for you to do it. And the question would be before, during or after the show, so never after, because after the show, there are a series of other trade shows, and RF hymns, outdoor retailer, people are on the go after CES. So you really want to get things in December before so before the Christmas week, this week, Christmas is I think, on a weekend. So it would have to be that week before I think it's something in the teens, that would be the last opportunity for you to do briefings and maybe like do a press release beforehand. And if you want people if you want to track people to your booth to see your new product, I would do that, or maybe do it under embargo and say, Hey, we're gonna launch at the show, we'd love to talk to you before the show so that you can get that news. Or you can get them to come see your product up at CES. So it's kind of like a media media lead gen. If you're doing it during I say do it early. So you could do it on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Monday, Tuesday, preferably. And then this year, because CES is in the second week, you couldn't do it the week before just to draw some more attention. So I mean, the timing of CES has never been like a great thing for anyone. So that's, that's something that we all have to deal with. But if you are going to do it, I say do it early. We're going to talk a little bit about press conferences in a bit. So make sure that you do it early and that you're following up. I'm going to talk about all these details. Okay, make sure that when you get the process, which is typically the week before the first week of December, and some of this might be again, I might be doubling up sorry, I'm just trying to make sure I don't miss anything. The first week of December, you'll get the MEDIA list. If you are an exhibitor, if you're not an exhibitor and you want the MEDIA list, there could be ways to get that. So keep your feelers out for other exhibitors, friends, the silver Telegram, there could be ways to get that. But you really want to, you know, be mindful when you're reaching out. So that's another thing is mindfully using that press list. Comb through the media list to highlight key targets. Everybody on the MEDIA list is not going to be your target. There's 3500 media on this list from all over the world. You know, you want to really focus on company media outlets that are from your country, or your target regions. So make sure that you're going through and doing that and you can actually I think you can actually filter them by country. So that's typically what I do first, and then I start going through which outlets were looking for, like which target outlets would I want to generate a media list for and then just find out who's attending from there. So I would start coming through the media list and highlighting the targets early. I will tell you that every week, there is an updated media list. And they do provide the date of when it's been updated. So you will know if that person is new on the list or not. And so make sure you're downloading the list. I wouldn't say every week but more like every two weeks starting the first week of December. If you do have a press release plan, send it before it goes out with the embargo date. So we talked about embargoes and exclusives in some of my podcasts. So if you look at the PR playbook podcast, you can look at the podcast about embargoes and inclusive what that means. But do never send anything out unless someone has agreed to an embargo. Sorry about that, guys. Let's PR 101 Turn off your phone. So make sure that the Agree to the embargo before if it's very important to you. Sometimes it's not as important as you think to have an embargo date. Sometimes it's nice to have a little teaser. So just depending on who you're talking to, and and unless your investors are gonna get upset with you, I would just send it out with an embargo date, make sure you get agreement grants beforehand, and then work with that press. So I have a quick question from an anonymous attendee. So the question is you send the press release when you reach out to a reporter for the first time? No, no, no. What you want to do is warm them up a little bit. First, you want to see if they're going to be interested. So the way I would do it, if you have a press release the way I would do it, I would say hey, we have news coming out. It's around this topic area. Would you be interested? Can I send it to you it's for CES. Can you under an embargo, just literally ask them that. And then if they say, Yeah, sure, please send it to me, I'll honor the embargo, which is what most 90% of media will say, if they're interested, then you send it. So make sure that you get that agreement beforehand. And also make sure they're interested right beforehand. So you don't want to just send it blind because they have no loyalty to you. And I will tell you, you send a press release to Wall Street Journal, they're gonna publish it. So they don't really do embargoes in general. So like, publications like that. I mean, obviously, the Wall Street Journal. But you know, that's an example of somebody who does not under embargo, so you just want to ask them first, and it's pretty standard. So they will be okay. Another question I had is how far in advance from CES, you don't want to do it too early, because they will. They're going to put you in the CES bucket, right? So you don't want them to forget about you. Also, if you're not following up, and I know marketing managers, and PR people and CEOs, and founders, everybody has like 500 things to do. So you may forget to follow up. So I would say I usually do my last outreach the week before Christmas. And then this year, I would send a reminder the first week of the year, because we have that whole buffer week, because I think New Year's Day is on a Monday, I would send it the Wednesday before and then follow up that that way. So not too far in advance two to three weeks. I mean, by by the week of the 20th ish, people are going to have their idea of what they're going to do. So I hope that answers your question. Um, and then when you are ready, do issue the press release, make sure you do it. And you also send back out email to the people that you target when you're highlighting the list beforehand. So literally, you would maybe put it out on the wire, we can talk about the wire, if anybody has questions about that. But you can put it on into PR Newswire, but since you have this amazing ces exhibitor list, send it out individually, send it out individually to those people say, hey, this came out this morning. Here's the press kit, if you have any questions, we're here, we're at booth this. And then also sometimes when we are next to bigger booths, or things that are like, you know, markers, I would just say we're next to the, I don't know, Samsung booth, or you know, we're next to this huge helicopter, whatever you're next to at that point. And I know it's really hard to find, find those markers until you get there on the show floor. But do that identify those early so that you can tell them where you are and they can find you. And then I would say make sure that you're monitoring for media coverage daily. The other caveat to this is ces press coverage comes out the entirety of January. So if you didn't get it immediately, that doesn't mean you're not gonna get it. It may mean you're in the queue. It's all about how you follow up and how you stay persistent. And we're going to have some more stuff on media relations. So hang tight. Okay, some of this stuff is out of order because it just everything applies to everything. So just bear with me and you will again you'll get this so you can guys can comb through it on your own. So tip number one, make sure you get the list first week of December in your exhibitor portal. Tip number two, when you're at the show, make sure you identify the media badge colors. So media badges are going to be a different color. Green Orange, it says media on it. The media has now started doing a tricky thing because a lot of them are also exhibitors, so sometimes they're an exhibitor. So that's kind of tricky, but if they're an exhibitor holding a humongous camera, you kind of know that they're the media. So it's a little bit tricky, but yes, you can identify media badge color colors early so that you can target them and make sure that you're we call it like sleuthing, we're doing a lot of detective work as PR people. We kind of look crazy on the show floor. We're just like hyper targeted on the on the badge. So you know what, what a PR person is, if they're looking at your badge real hard. Number three media stages and pre show content starts booking and recording in October. That's right. It is October 19. Today, they are booking they are booking CNET is booking their pre show TechCrunch is booking their pre show. I mean PC Magazine, I think is booking their pre show. So a lot of these people are booking in advance if you have contacts there reach out now if you have last year's process reach out now if you don't know who to reach out to look for the editor in chief or a producer show producer at those places, because they are booking their ces content now and you're gonna miss it. Once you get to the show. It might be too late. The book very early, I would say Oh, caveats I would still pursue them when you're on site because sometimes people fall through. Oh, I see a question popping in, I'm going to do these live because I think the flow is better. Is it true that reporters are going to see Yes, already know which booths are going to visit? And already have these stories have written? Very good question. And we're going to be answering these in the next couple slides. They do know who they're going to meet for the most part, which is why we have to start booking early, we start booking November, December, I don't, they do not have their stories written because they don't know what they're gonna get unless you've given them the materials already. So I wouldn't say they have their stories written, they're riding every night. They're publishing every day, a lot of them. And then some of them wait, and then publish the next week, or they stock up a pile of stories. So they're writing constantly, but they do have a lot of the stuff booked in. And so that's why Pete, that's what PR people do. I mean us as a PR people like we scheduled in advance all the meetings. So that's another I know, pain in the butt for people who are kind of DIY and all of this. But if you can do at least half of this stuff, you you will get results, I promise. What is the media stages and pre show content? It's ces content? That's a great question. And it's just interviews with founders interviews about launches. So if you have a product launch, this isn't the target for you. If you have a really crazy innovative founder, that's also a target for you. So if you want to get on CNET TV, TechCrunch, TV, and gadget TV, all those places, you're gonna have to start looking at that, and preparing your narrative around that that's part of the messaging. On site media ops, this is the last one in this section. I'm gonna get to that last question in a second, onsite media ops. And this actually follows that question as well. I get there early. And on the very first day at seven or 8am. If you're an exhibitor, you have show Pat, show access very early in the morning. The broadcasters are there six o'clock, they're broadcasting by 6am. Pacific time. So I get there with a card, information about my launch, products, Booth, whatever should be all I have at that moment. I have this card, I have contact information on there, I have a QR code, I have the media kit, and I go to those booths and hand it to them personally. And just tell them, hey, look, we have this product. It's really cool product. I take it with me. One year, I had October, which is one of the ones that you mentioned here. It's like an educational technology. It's a kid's toy that is reading and interactive. And we took October and they they took them and they're like, can we have them for the day, and we can feature them on, you know, eight o'clock and come back and get them at 12. So you can get those opportunities on site. However, not all of those are like that you're coming to meet BLS. The media list is really important. And it's I know, it's exhaustive. But that's how you book you find the producers, the producers or show Booker's The titles are on the MEDIA list, you can find those and then same thing with if you don't have the MEDIA list, you can actually go to the target media Allah if you know, I will tell you like if you're not totally sure who you're targeting, or who you're looking for, look up 2023 media coverage from CES, you can just do that and Google and put our age date range, I would put the date range from November 2022 to January 30 2023. And you can see all that CES coverage. And you can see the producers and the hosts. So the host and producers are going to be the ones that book or the booking agent. If you want to use a resource we have we use something called muck rack. But there's a lot of other tools. scission is another tool. And so you're looking for the producer Booker. And lastly, maybe the host because sometimes the host is also a reporter. Reminders, send them oops, sorry, guys. Oops. All right, send the media reminders before the show. So you're booking your scheduling you do in December, week before the show comes, make sure you send reminders, same thing with bizdev, sales, all that kind of stuff, send reminders for everything, sales reminder, send reminders to your team. It's just incredible how people forget everything last minute. So send reminders to everybody and make sure that you guys are all on the same page. Make sure you're having a weekly regroup on messaging on meetings on all those things, block them into a calendar, we usually do something on Google Sheets, and make sure that everybody has a shared calendar so we're doing it properly. Okay, pre show media opportunities. First thing first, finalize what you want to say and what you want from the media. What's your call to action, where are you sending them? Do you have any more products? Are you talking about innovation? Are you talking about a CEO? What are you saying? If you can pitch from last year's list, do it and start early. We talked about that. Pitching starts in October for pre show coverage. Oh, my animations are off. Sorry, guys, secure meetings as early as you can. But the sweet spot, excuse me is the first week of December. We all know who's going you don't really need the MEDIA list. But the temperature of the media is shifting so fast these days. So there's a lot of people who are leaving going to other places. I mean, mock rock is like my ultimate tool. But But yeah, you can you can check the website, check Twitter or check LinkedIn. It's, it's a little, it's a little challenging, but and time consuming. But I think if you're a little bit diligent, you should be able to find Hold on, let me just typing some of these here. Okay. Um, I mean, you're scheduling, if you are scheduling, in fact, so first, second week of December are usually the sweet spots of scheduling. When you're scheduling, try to get phone numbers, I know, it's so hard to ask for a phone number. But if a media person is really interested, they'll give it to you. And then you could text them. And usually, what I found in the last few years is very useful, because they gave you the number because they're very interested, and they don't want to not find you. And typically what I do is every morning. So if if we schedule a bunch of meetings the night before, so we send reminders of the week before, and then we send reminders the night before with those like significant markers of like, where we are a map highlighting where we are showing them so like there's no reason you've left no stone unturned on why they should be finding how they should find you and meeting with you. So I mean, this is a PR kind of thing is we're very, we're very diligent, and kind of exhaustively annoying, but that's our job. Use the Show Map to highlight this bar on the show floor when booking and then making it as easy as possible for journalists to show up, right? We don't want them to have a reason not to show up. Um, okay, I got a question earlier, what exactly is a December Preview? I'm going to answer that. I'll answer that. If we have time. At the end, I just want to make sure I want to be mindful of your time. I know, we have a lot to get through. So I want to keep going. But just in short, the December preview and you can always shoot me an email, if you have like specific specific questions, I'm happy to do it. It's basically you're giving a preview of whatever you're going to do at CES in December, and you're kind of encouraging them to come meet you coaxing them with a breakfast or lunch or a dinner or drink or coffee, whatever. So that's just a it's just a preview of what you're going to be doing. All right, I wanted to give this uber rides example. So I was talking about having a car there. One of the things I did was offered rides to some of the journalists. So I said, Hey, if you meet with us, I'm happy. We're happy to give you a ride wherever you need to go. Because the one of the biggest annoying things at CES is the vastness of the show. There's the North Hall, there's a South Hall, there's the West Hall, there's the Venetian, it's like just madness. And usually what ends up happening is you're at the main conference for one day, you're at the Venetian and other day, you're at, you know, where else do they have an aria another day? So I think it's just people pick days where they're going to be at that location. So if you can provide a ride or if they're feeling stressed, and you can tell usually, if they're in a conversation with you, you can say hey, look, we're happy to give you a ride or give you a free Uber or something like that. I mean, you know, whatever works, right? You're you're kind of wining and dining these guys in in a different kind of digital way. Or modern way I guess. That's only if it comes up. Okay. Um, so pre show press conference opportunities. One thing that people overlook and maybe don't know about, all exhibitors have an opportunity to have a power session or a press conference add on. Power sessions are about 500 bucks and then press conference. I want to say it's 1250 but it's between 1015 100 These are intensely valuable ways to augment your presence at CES if you are an exhibitor. Just apply today and you know what, actually I'm gonna I am going to give you guys right here in the chat If you're an exhibitor, go ahead and apply today. Please don't worry about the $500 It's gonna be worthy. So basically, what immediate days is for you to have the opportunity to do a press conference, it could be 30 minutes, and it could be an hour. The press conference is like the more exhaustive one you have control the room for like two or three hours. Power session is something that's very quick. You go up there, you make your announcement, but you can schedule it. I would say the earlier the better. Create media invitations for that. With an RSVP, RSVP request, you get captive audiences at the press day. It's, it's amazing. It's the Venetian ballrooms and you come prepared, you'll actually probably get a lot more media than you originally expected. So I think it's I think it's really, really worth that money. You're already spending money. So this 500 bucks is nothing compared to that. So definitely do it. And then make sure there's time to speak with the press afterwards. Follow up with that list with the media kit that you might have already created. showstoppers and PEP comm I know, it's a always a question I get from people. Is this worth it? Or I'm doing this instead of Eureka Park? It is worth it. If you do not. If you're not exhibiting at CES already. It's definitely worth it. Mind you, it's a few hours, $6,000 minimum for a few hours. And mostly the journalists are there to get some food and some drinks. And you have about three to four minutes to talk to them. And again, like back to the question that someone asked before. Was, Is it true that they already know what they're going to some of them already know what they're going to look out there? Because they'll say hey, are you going to be at Pet calm or showstoppers when we're booking? And then he's like, Well, I'll just stop by when we're there. People are not going to set time slots at that, at that those events. They'll say okay, we're just gonna stop by. So they have their own media RSVP list, My language is going crazy. Now. They have their own RSVP list. And so if you are registered for those events, and you pay for it, well the starting price for pep comm is 6000. I think showstoppers is a little bit more. They'll give you the RSVP list, and then they will allow you to email them. So I'm going to answer this question What is showstoppers and PEP comm? These are events for really, it's a media only event for product launches, I would say, or brands that have big news. And it's their like, you know, six foot table, you get a table with a drape. And you can showcase your product to a roomful of just media. And it's usually about 500 media attendees, I want to say, like, you know, results wise, the RSVP list is usually bigger, but I would say results wise, it's about 500 to 600 attendees. It's like a three hour event, cocktail event. there's food, there's cocktails, the media come in, they make a big circle, it's in a ballroom, at the Venetian. And then they check out your product. And that is an opportunity if you have decided not to exhibit, I think is a great opportunity. If you have a lot of money to spend. Also, that's a great opportunity. So if you don't have a booth at the show, or if you have lots of extra money, that's another way to get a captive media audience. However, if you are going to be in Eureka Park, leverage your Eureka Park booth, do not spend I my opinions do not spend this extra $6,000 When you can use that six to $12,000 for something much better. I work with so many startups that are always counting their pennies, and I just would hate for them to be disappointed to do this because they're gonna be like, well, didn't you actually get me as much press as I thought it was going to because they're just they're mingling, really. So don't take that space for granted. If you do get it, you really have to work hard for that coverage if you're there. And they are mostly all media, some analysts but again, like it's just, it's a very different vibe. It's usually the first two days pre day of the show and the first day of the show. They used to be the same day which was like kind of be really competitive, but I think they've negotiated being on different days now. I'm okay during the show and uncovering media opportunities. So we talked actually about this already. broadcast tower and podcasts. So there is the broadcast towers in the North Hall of the convention center. They're also in the Venetian. They're also in the South Hall. You can actually walk around and seeing them you see people with lights and stuff like that and the podcast. You can see people with microphones kind of like this one. Go up to them. There is a booker and there might be an opening, and I would just don't be shy. You just have to take a chance. Go up to them and talk to them. day one and day two is when all the big guys are there. They start packing up on day three. They're out of there. They're like, Okay, we got what we needed from CES, we're out. So that's why I say the very first day, seven o'clock in the morning, six o'clock in the morning, go and see if you can get in there if you haven't already booked them through email. Best of CES, sorry about this. Best of CES is something so obviously there's a CES Innovation Awards, those are done on those finished in April. You can't submit for those. But there is the best of CES awards. There's best of CES news recaps for companies that are launching new things. And so I have a shortlist here Android authority, CNET CNN and gadget PC Magazine, Tom guide, Tom's guide wired these publications, and BBC I think also has a so they have an a various amount of ways some of them have award. So like CNET has, like Editor's Choice Awards, PC Magazine has an editor's choice award. And then some of them are just recaps roundup coverage, which I call the round ups basically naming four or five companies in one piece saying like, this is the cool stuff we saw at CES. So keep mindful that those opportunities are happening up like at the show during the show. They're not really like the fact that they're doing it is pre planned, but the content is not pre planned. They're looking for things that stand out at the show what's looking popular. So having a lot of people at your booth, also a great thing, make sure you're keeping it active, you have to look interested in people if you want them to come to you. So, you know, stand up, don't be in your phone unless you have to be. I mean, this is what PR people do. Like I basically don't sit down for eight hours. And we're we're inviting people in even if they're not media just for the booth to look busy because that helps the optics of everything. sleuthing, that's where our specialty is, and camera spotting. So make sure you're looking for those media badges and you're looking for cameras. Now microphones or just even cell phones, it's a little bit harder. The more digital we get, because people are using all these little micro devices but just keep an eye out for those people that look like they could be covering something. You know, publication at CES is too small. Just everybody's looking at CES covered all the time. Get everything you can it's all about quantity when you get there. It's all about quantity. I mean quality, yes, of course is always better. But the more the better. At this show, I cannot stress that enough. Don't think someone's too small for you, unless they're like totally down the different a path but like don't think anyone's too small for you. Watch for coverage. So if you could just do a quick monitoring for coverage. What was hot last night, what was hot this morning, before you go to the show, you can speak to that at the show floor. Um, you could speak to that with other people. So sales meetings, partnership meetings, you just have a pulse on ces while you're there. And then also, if you see something that actually relates to you, you could do a follow up email, maybe even after ces just keep these tabs going. And I know it's a lot of work. But that's what CES is it's so funny, because whenever people tell me ask me about CES, I always tell them like Yeah, I like CES, it's really cool to go see all this cool stuff, but it's exhausting. Tip I didn't mention is take those vitamin C packs Airboard make sure you're staying healthy and getting enough for us. Las Vegas is just a terrible place for a trade show, especially one to this magnitude. Okay, during at your booth, you want to make sure you review your messaging the first day, make sure you have a schedule. Talk to everybody at your booth. First thing in the morning, if nobody shows up early on any other day, get them to show up early on day one, please, please, please, please, I cannot stand it. And maybe that's just me as a PR person and someone who hates to be late. I cannot stand it when I see my booth empty. My clients booth is empty. I'm the only one there. And the show starting in five minutes. That is such a bad look. And I've had people press show up during their scheduled meeting times and everyone's kind of hungover or sleepy or whatever the case maybe if you're not late on any other day, don't be late on day one. Okay. Make sure you review messaging with your entire team. Identify the spokespeople make sure there's a spokesperson that's specific for media and that person is sought out for every media opportunity. It's usually going to be the CEO, the founder or product manager or marketing person. Nobody wants to talk to the marketing person so it's usually co founder or product manager and you want them to have those key points down I agree on break times, make sure you're I mean, this is like kind of like family life. But you know, make sure your people know where you're going, you know, if you're going to the bathroom, just let them know, I'm going to be back in 10 minutes or 15 minutes, or whatever the case may be. But it's communication is very key, especially when you're trying to capture as much media attention as possible. And then if it's super slow, obviously, you're not going to have these problems. Always approach when you see a media badge, always just say, Hello, at least at least make them and a lot of times media will walk by and they're just like, kind of looking at the at the side and you're like, you know, would you like to hear about what we're doing, just invite them in. Another really cool thing that we've done over the last couple years and have been so youth useful, is create just like it's almost like a business card. And you could do this at FedEx, you could do it. You know, while you're there, even we've done it on site, create a QR code that goes to your media kit, put make it on Canva put the name of your company, your one sentence, mission, value, Proposition, differentiator, and media contact or regular contact information on the back. That media card is going to be so great for all the media interviews you have for anybody you want to give it to. And it was just it has saved us so many times, make sure you have your booth number on there, I actually created one media card with like a notes section and we kept it on matte paper so they can write on it write notes. But that QR code, and that card just for that media kit is actually very great. And I know it's paper, but it actually just saved us so many times, I always follow up with the media that same night, but you know, less is more. And again, you don't want them to have any reason to lose your information. Um, post, event, recap and report I'm hopefully, I'm almost done, guys. I know it's been a long informative meeting. So you want your post event recap and reporting to be really holistic, you can track so many things, you can do QR codes for sales or business leads, you can do UTM is for your press release via tracking, tracking links, unique tracking links for your press releases, you can make sure that you're following up every day, you can count your media monitoring and coverage. So make sure you can you know, monitor stop eyes, use a clicker, I don't know, whatever you need to do capture as much information as you can. Usually my team what they do, I take pictures of badges. I am I'm very old school I like to write so I just write down who it was the outlet person, I just look at their badge, I don't even ask permission, I just take down the information. But sometimes, you know, you already know who's coming. So I usually have a printed schedule. And I'm checking people off as they come. But yeah, have all these things handy. Have a notepad handy for written things and make sure that you have like a, you know, if you're not getting the scanner or whatever, whatnot, you know, you're taking pictures of the badges or you're writing down who's coming by or you're making sure you're getting their information. I mean, these are really like easy things that you can miss during the conference that can make such a big difference when you're following up. And following up is key, you know, I am the champion of following up timeline events. So I kind of position this based on the fact that this is October 19. But November is really when you're finalizing everything, getting ready to pitch and making sure that you're good to go with all your logistics and everything December full steam pitching, full steam marketing, make sure you got everything ready to go before the holidays, do not fail to do this. I'm going to send to everybody a checklist and hopefully that will help. But yeah, don't fail to do this. And it'll might have stuff that you don't need. But you know better to have more than less, more than Yeah, more than less. And then January full steam on actual activation and then follow up. Make sure you're following up. So I'm gonna ask if you guys have any other questions, I appreciate all the questions that have been answered and I I know I kind of sped through this. So anybody who's listening on demand, you might want to go halftime. We do have support and the next slide but before that, I just want to answer any other questions that people might have. I feel like I did a pretty good job of covering a lot of things you may know and a lot of things you may not know at CES. The thing I love best about it is that it's just such a great opportunity to set yourself up for the entire year. We've had clients Garner coverage, the the whole year afterwards. We have had some great case studies on clients that we've worked with last year, we did a press conference, made something out of nothing. And we've got 59 pieces of media coverage 24 interviews. And we got on later that year, CNN Fox Business. So it's just so essential to be at the show ready to go. I see here a question. How necessary is it to work with a PR agency for CES, they're really costly. And we're just the start, of course, is necessary as you feel like you want to book stuff, right? Like it is, depending on what agency you go with their cost differs we have here, I guess I'll just show you guys. We have three different packages to IES Light, which is pitching and scheduling, we have ces basic, which is a little bit more in depth than that we create, like all these materials for you. And then premium, which is on site support. But it's not necessary. That's why I'm doing this thing. It's just a lot of work. It's a lot of work. But if you have someone and you guys clearly kind of come up with some messaging and define what kind of media you want to meet at the show, and who's going to be your target and just work on those, like scan those out of the MEDIA list. Because that media list, it's a beast. And if you guys want to do a strategy meeting, I'm so happy to do it. So email me. But um, but yeah, it's not you don't need a PR agency. But if you want to be effective, I would say having a at least a small team, or a CES lights kind of package is something that can really help manage the load, which is quite a bit a lot of follow up. It's like a whole nother it's a whole nother job. Another question, how do you approach a media person on the floor at CES? Good question. What do I see that will make them interested in doing a piece on us, given that they might have a lot of people selling to them? So that's a great, great, great question. Look, they know people are there to approach them. So what I typically go up with is, have you heard of our company, and this is what we're doing? This is what we're announcing at the show, I usually say lead with the announcement. Hey, did you hear about the announcement that we had yesterday or this morning or whatever, if you have a product, you could stick it in their face? If you you know, you can invite them to try a demo. If it's a cool demo. Hey, do you have a minute, we're happy to have you, we really want to show you this demo, it may or may not go anywhere, right? A lot of these, all of these meetings does not mean you're going to get the coverage from them. If you can get 80% coverage that is a win in my book. But just use whatever you've got. I mean, that's the only thing we can do. Because you don't necessarily know who that person is at that moment. But if they're pausing, or stalling or looking for something, just dive right in there and say, Hey, did you hear about our announcement, this is what we're announcing at the show. That would be my first go to you, which is why I encourage everyone to have an announcement at CES because it's a talking point, right? And then if you have a demo or product, that would be the second thing or not second thing, but another tool that you can use. Hey, I'd love to show you a demo of how this works. Or hey, you look like you could use a pick me up. Here's here's a piece of candy. I don't know, there's a lot of, you know, funny ways that you can get in to people. But those are the first use press release demo. And then some kind of Loring tactic that you would use. So I hope that answers that question. So as in the silver Telegram, we have a three packages, one that's super light, again, covering just the basic pitching, and then one that's basic, but also enhances to whatever you're actually doing with your business. And we can actually create another Custom Media list of people who might not be at CES. And then we have the premium which is like onsite support. You want us to handle everything. We're happy to do it. If you're not sure about anything, and you still have lots of questions about CES and you feel like you're overwhelmed, which I can totally understand. I'm happy to help you di DIY or anything else you need. My email is right here. My direct phone numbers right there. Probably don't call because I get a lot of spam calls and ignore them but which you could call or text me or you can email me and we can set up a quick strategy meeting and see what opportunities might be there that you haven't thought of or that you might need some help with. And I really appreciate you guys joining me today. I've had a great time. I hope I covered restream and everything. Well I don't know I don't know what's happening. I suppose I'm screen sharing so I'm gonna stop the screen sharing. And yeah, I appreciate you joining me if you guys have questions please reach out to me at Ronjini at the Silver telegram.com and happy ces Good luck I know it's a beast but I'm here if you guys need me and our team is here if you need support alright Ciao