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Friday Buzz: CES Bursts At Las Vegas’ Seams

The International Consumer Electronics Show may be growing beyond even Las Vegas' ample means. Is that good or bad? Plus: What's next for nonprofit communications in 2015?

The International Consumer Electronics Show (CES), the electronics show that everyone looks forward to every January, reached the last day of its stretch in Las Vegas today. Has the event reached the city’s limits?

Last year, the show hit attendance records with more than 160,000 attendees from more than 140 countries.

And as Associations Now‘s Rob Stott reported on Wednesday, the event for the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) is an immense challenge to put on. And it puts a strain on resources, such as electric outlets at the airport.

The event’s scale is creating another problem: Not enough hotel rooms.

Las Vegas hotels can host up to 150,000 people—but CEA’s annual show brings 10,000 more, Bloomberg News reports. The result is that CEA officials want to keep the event from getting much larger.

“In order to enhance the experience for our attendees, we aim to keep attendance between 150,000 and 160,000 so that everyone can get where they need to go,” CEA Vice President Karen Chupka told the wire service.

To be fair, CES is not the only event to face this problem: San Diego Comic-Con International, which draws 130,000 people annually, has similar issues with scale.

Still, the visceral effect of such a huge show can be overwhelming, even for the pros. Mashable‘s Chris Taylor put it best: “I’ve never felt the lack of indoor Google Maps more keenly in my life.”

One thing that might help: CEA is planning to launch its first International CES Asia show in Shanghai this May—which will serve the growing audience in Asia while lightening the load a bit in Las Vegas.

Infographic of the Day

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Communication is key. This can ultimately be seen with the latest infographic from Kivi’s Nonprofit Communications Blog, highlighting the results of the 2015 Nonprofit Communications Trends Report. The report includes interviews of 1,535 nonprofit staff members from small and large organizations, who completed a survey on the topic of, you guessed it, communication trends.

In terms of communications, the majority of respondents said that engaging the community, retaining current donors, building brand awareness, and acquiring new donors are among the top three goals.

Other notable trends include plans to boost email marketing in 2015.

Those interested in learning more can download the report here.

Other Tips of the Day

The holiday season has come and passed. And now it’s time to send some thank-you notes to donors, members, and contributors. Liz Ragland, marketing content associate for Network for Good, has a few suggestions to get some ideas going.

Does your mission statement need updating? Writer Christina Green says that a more casual approach may be the ticket. On Frank J. Kenny’s site, she says a mission statement should be something that staff will remember and visitors can understand.

(Tech Cocktail/Flickr)

Patrick deHahn

By Patrick deHahn

Patrick deHahn is a contributor to Associations Now. MORE

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