Advice
10 Tips for Startups Exhibiting at the Consumer Electronics Show
Ten tips for a startup's first CES, from Eureka Park and early buyer meetings to the follow-up that turns a booth visit into a retail submission.
Yohan Jacob
15 min read
For over a quarter of a century, I’ve attended the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). I have watched it grow into one of the most influential trade shows in the world. For product startups, CES is a rare chance to meet retail buyers, media, distributors, and potential partners, all in one place.
But here’s the truth: CES is only productive if you prepare properly.
Going in unprepared means wasted time, wasted money, and missed chances that may not come again until next year. If you are still weighing whether a trade show is worth the spend, settle that first.
With CES 2027 right around the corner, now is the time to get organized, sharpen your pitch, and build a plan that sets you up for retail success. These are my exhibiting at CES tips for startups, ten of them, in the order I would work through them.
Key takeaways
- CES rewards preparation and punishes improvising. The meetings that make it worthwhile are booked before you arrive, not found on the floor.
- Eureka Park is CES’s startup area, and most first-time product startups exhibit there. But retail buyers may be working the category halls instead. Ask before choosing.
- Ask for a short, specific slot rather than inviting a buyer to stop by. Halls are far enough apart that travel time between meetings is real.
- Personalized follow-up within 48 to 72 hours is what converts CES conversations. Write it before you travel, because nobody writes it well afterward.
- A buyer met at CES has agreed to nothing. The real next step is a submission timed to their category review window. Ask when that is before they leave the booth.
- Accommodation is the cost line that moves most during CES week. Booking late is the expensive version.
- If you are exhibiting at CES 2027 for the first time and want to maximize your ROI, check out our CES Prep Package.
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1. Perfect Your CES Pitch
Every person in your booth needs to deliver the same confident, clear message. Too many exhibitors rely on vague or mixed pitches that confuse buyers and journalists.
Create your pitch well in advance and practice it with your team. Build it around what retail buyers are prioritizing this year. Include a clear call to action, something like:
“I’ll email you our product sheet once I’m back in the office.”
A consistent pitch helps people remember you, even in the chaos of CES.
Eureka Park and Where a Startup Should Actually Exhibit at CES
Eureka Park is CES’s dedicated startup area. For most first-time product startups, it is where you will end up. It sits apart from the main category halls. The booths are small and uniform, and the companies in them are early stage by design. If you have never exhibited at CES before, this is the part of the show built for you.
Exhibiting there changes who stands in front of you. Your neighbors are other startups, not established brands with two-story stands. The people walking the aisles skew toward investors, accelerators, corporate innovation teams and journalists hunting for a story nobody has filed yet. That traffic is valuable. It is also not the same as retail buyer traffic. A buyer who owns a category tends to walk that category’s hall. That is where the assortment they answer for sits.
Much of Eureka Park is organized into country, regional and university pavilions. A trade body, an economic development agency or a university program takes a block of space and gives it to companies from its own region or program. This matters for two reasons. It usually cuts what you pay for the space, sometimes a lot. And it decides where you sit, because you go where the pavilion is, not where your category is. If your product is a garage tool and your pavilion neighbors are health software, the passing visitor is not in your market.
The honest trade-off. The startup area gets attention from press and investors that a small stand in a category hall would never get. The category halls get the buyers. Which one is worth more depends on what you need from the week. If you are raising money, Eureka Park is the better room. If your whole reason for going is to meet retail buyers, you need a plan for reaching them. Do not rely on them wandering past your booth.
Two things to do before you commit. Ask CES directly where buyers in your category are expected to walk. Their exhibitor team knows how the halls are laid out and how the categories are grouped. And ask your pavilion organizer exactly what the fee covers. The number quoted is often the space and a basic booth package only. Graphics, power, internet, furniture and material handling are billed separately. Get the full list in writing before you budget.
2. Bring Enough Staff
Exhibiting at CES isn’t cheap. Don’t sabotage your investment by understaffing your booth.
You never want to miss a key moment because someone stepped away for lunch or a meeting.
Make sure your team knows the basics:
- Warm greetings
- Professional demeanor
- Positive, approachable body language
A well-staffed booth does more than improve engagement. It creates a better experience for buyers and press.
What CES costs beyond the booth
Booth space is the line everybody budgets for. It is rarely the largest number by the end of the week. These are the other lines, and what drives each one. Our general trade show tips for exhibitors apply here too.
Space. Charged by the square foot and by location. Corner and aisle positions cost more than the rest. Pavilion and program placements are priced differently again.
Booth build or rental, and graphics. A custom build costs more than a rented modular stand. Graphics are a separate job with their own print lead time. Rework close to the show is the expensive kind.
Drayage and material handling. Getting your crates from the loading dock to your stand and back is a charge on its own, usually by weight. It surprises first-time exhibitors more than any other line.
Electrical, internet and rigging ordered through the venue. These come from the venue’s contractor, not from you. Ordering them late costs more than ordering them on time.
Freight in and out. Shipping the stand and product to Las Vegas, then home again. Plus whatever you need shipped in as a replacement partway through the week.
Staff travel and accommodation. Flights and hotel rooms for everyone working the stand, during a week when the entire city is booked.
Meals and ground transport. Between halls, between hotels and between meetings, for several days, for several people.
Samples, sell sheets, media kits and giveaways. Printing, duplication and the cost of any product you hand out or use for demos.
Pavilion or program fees. If you exhibit through a country, regional or university pavilion, that fee may include some of the lines above or none of them.
The line that moves most is accommodation. Hotel pricing in Las Vegas during CES behaves nothing like the rest of the year. It gets worse the closer you book. Locking rooms early is the single cheapest decision on this list. Freight and drayage are the next most volatile. Both are driven by weight and by how late you are.
For real numbers, go to the CES exhibitor kit and the official service contractor order forms. Both are published, both are current, and both are specific to the year you exhibit. Any figure you read in an article, including this one, would be out of date before you used it.
3. Schedule Appointments Early
CES is massive. Don’t rely on walk-in traffic alone.
Weeks before the show, start reaching out to:
- Retail buyers
- Journalists and media outlets
- Distributors
- Influential partners
Confirm these appointments again right before CES. Yes, some meetings will fall through. But you can easily reschedule after the show once the conversation has started.
How to get Retail Buyer Meetings Booked before you Land in Las Vegas
Walk-in traffic at CES is a bonus, not a plan. The meetings that justify the cost of the show are the ones in your calendar before you get on the plane. Here is how to fill it.
Start with named retailers, not categories. Write down the specific chains you want to sell to. Then the specific department or category inside each one. “Consumer electronics buyers” is not a target. “The buyer who owns the category my product would sit in, at these four chains” is. You cannot research your way to a meeting with a list you have not narrowed.
Use CES’s own exhibitor and matchmaking tools first. Registered exhibitors get access to the show’s directory and its meeting scheduling tools. Retail buyers who attend often register through those same channels. Get into them the day they open, not the week before the show. The calendars of the buyers worth meeting fill early.
Then go around the tools as well. Ask distributors, reps, investors and other founders in your category who they know at the retailers on your list. A warm introduction from someone the buyer already deals with gets read. A cold note to a generic address usually does not.
Ask for a specific slot, not a visit. “Stop by our booth” puts the work on them and gets ignored. “Fifteen minutes on Wednesday morning, at our stand or wherever suits you” is a decision they can make in one line of reply. Say the category you are in, the shelf problem the product solves, and exactly how long you need. Nothing else belongs in that first message.
Confirm the week before, and again the morning of. Schedules at CES fall apart. A confirmation the night before is the difference between a meeting and a gap.
Booked meetings change two other things you have already planned. Your staffing has to cover them. Somebody senior has to be free at that hour, and the booth still has to be worked while they are gone. And the halls are far enough apart, with enough people between them, that travel is real time. Do not book back-to-back meetings in different venues and assume you will make both. Leave a gap. Give your team the meeting schedule before you leave for Las Vegas, not on the show floor.
Pro tip
Ask every buyer you meet when their category review window opens. Write the answer down next to their name. That single date decides whether your follow-up is useful or premature. It is the one piece of information a buyer will give freely at a show and will not volunteer in an email three weeks later.
4. Research Your Competition
CES is the perfect place to see what others in your category are doing:
- Who are they targeting?
- What messaging are they using?
- What features are they highlighting?
Set aside time to walk the floor and take notes. Knowing your competitors helps you refine your pitch, pricing, and positioning, especially once you begin retail conversations.
5. Make Your Booth Fun and Memorable
CES attendees are flooded with information, demos, and meetings.
Your booth needs to feel like a break, not more noise.
A relaxed, friendly, energetic atmosphere draws people in.
It doesn’t need to be gimmicky. Just engaging, inviting, and different from the standard trade show setup.
6. Give Live Product Demonstrations
Nothing draws a crowd like a strong product demo.
Practice your demos so they’re tight, engaging, and repeatable all day.
Pro tip
Collect business cards or scan badges during the demo. That way every warm conversation gets added to your follow-up list.
Pro tip
Rehearse your demo to work in under a minute, standing, with noise, and with somebody who has never seen it before. CES halls are loud and buyers are walking to somewhere else. A demo that needs a quiet room and three minutes will not be seen, however good the product is.
7. Choose the Right Booth Giveaway
A smart giveaway boosts traffic and starts conversations.
If you can, offer one of your own products as the prize. This is great for both attention and market feedback.
If that’s not possible, choose something small and useful (mints, branded accessories, and so on).
The goal is simple: make people stop long enough for you to make a real connection.
8. Provide High-Quality Product Sales Sheets
Many CES attendees won’t have time to stop and talk, especially if your booth is busy.
Make sure you have well-designed product sheets ready for quick pickup.
If your budget allows, load all your product info onto a branded USB drive. It saves attendees space and keeps your materials together.
Pro tip
Bring two versions of your sell sheet, one for press and one for buyers. The press version leads with what is new and why it matters. The buyer version leads with the category, the shopper it brings in, the pack and the case configuration. Finish pricing your product for retail before you print the buyer version. Handing a buyer a press sheet is a wasted conversation. At CES you will be handing out both all day.
9. Create a Complete Media Kit
Press coverage can be one of the biggest wins from CES.
Prepare a media kit that includes:
- Company overview
- Product specs
- Pricing
- Awards or certifications
- High-resolution photos
- Contact information
Have the kit ready on a USB drive so you can hand it out the moment journalists stop by.
10. Build a Strong Follow-Up System
The biggest mistake exhibitors make?
They never follow up.
As a former retail buyer, I handed out dozens of business cards at CES. Most exhibitors never contacted me. That’s thousands of dollars lost on booth space, travel, and marketing.
Before CES even begins, build a follow-up process.
It can be as simple as:
- Log every conversation
- Sort leads into hot, warm and cold
- Send personalized emails within 48 to 72 hours
- Schedule post-CES calls or demos
A strong follow-up plan turns CES conversations into real retail opportunities.
Turning CES Conversations into Retail Conversations
The email you send within 48 to 72 hours does its job when the buyer remembers who you are. It does not do the next job, which is getting your product into a retailer’s assortment. A buyer who spent ten minutes at your booth has agreed to nothing. What you have is permission to start a process. And the process has its own shape.
In most categories the next step is a formal submission, not a conversation. The buyer will point you to a line review, a new item submission form, a vendor portal or a distributor. It depends on the retailer and the category. What goes into it is not your CES pitch. It is your landed cost, your suggested retail price and the margin in between. Your case pack and pallet configuration. Your barcodes, your certifications, your capacity, your lead time. And whatever proof you have that the product already sells somewhere. If you can send that within a week of the show, you are ahead of almost everyone else the buyer met.
Then it goes quiet. The quiet is not rejection. Retailers review categories on their own calendar. A buyer who loved your product in January may not be able to add anything until their category comes up for review. When it does, they compare your product against everything else submitted since the last one. Your momentum from the show has nothing to do with their schedule. First-time exhibitors read this part as failure. It usually is not.
That is why the most useful question you can ask at the booth is about timing. Before that buyer walks away, ask when their category is reviewed and what they need from you before then. It is a normal question. Buyers answer it. The answer turns a vague follow-up into a dated plan. It also tells you whether to keep the product’s retail-ready work moving now or whether you have months to strengthen the case. Ask it while they are standing in front of you. It is far harder to get answered by email three weeks later. Use the waiting time for planning the in-store launch that follows.
Pro tip
Write your follow-up emails before you fly out, with the personal detail left blank. The 48 to 72 hour window falls in the week you are unpacking freight and catching up. That is exactly why the exhibitors who most needed the follow-up are the ones who miss it.
How AI Will Transform CES Prep and Retail Launches
CES 2027 will be one of the first years where AI tools are mainstream in trade show and retail planning. Startups can now use AI to:
- Create more targeted buyer pitches
- Analyze competitor booths in real time
- Predict which retailers are the best fit for their category
- Automate lead capture and follow-up
- Personalize product demos and messaging
- Plan retail pricing and promotions based on past data
AI won’t replace your hustle. But it will make your CES plan smarter, faster, and more effective than ever.
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Frequently asked questions
It depends on the hall, the space size, whether you exhibit through a startup program or pavilion, and how much of the build you buy rather than rent. Space is also the smaller half of the total once you add build, drayage, venue services, freight and a week of Las Vegas accommodation. Get the current figures from CES’s own exhibitor materials, not from any secondhand number.
For a product startup, it is worth it if you arrive with meetings booked and a follow-up system written. It is not worth it as a place to be discovered. The floor is too large and too loud for that. The test is whether you can name the buyers and press you want to meet before you book the space.
As a place to announce to the world, less than it was. As a place where retail buyers, distributors, press and partners are all reachable in the same week, very much so. Judge it by the meetings you can secure, not by the coverage the show generates for other people.
Business casual is the working answer. Put the emphasis on shoes you can stand and walk in all day, because the halls are very far apart. If you are exhibiting, dress the same across your team so visitors can tell at once who works on the stand.
Attending and exhibiting are completely different budgets. Attendance cost depends on your registration type and whether you qualify for an industry rate. The larger variable for most people is accommodation during a week when the city is full. Check CES’s registration pages for the current rates rather than figures quoted elsewhere.
CES publishes its own attendance and audit figures, and they change year to year. Use the show’s official numbers rather than a secondhand figure. For an exhibitor, the more useful question is not how many people attend but how many of them buy for your category. That is what CES’s attendee breakdown and matchmaking tools are for.
