Color Labels On Demand: CES 2018

Thursday, January 11, 2018

CES 2018

This week, I attended the 2018 Consumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas. CES is the world's gathering place for all those who thrive on the business of consumer technologies. With approximately 170,000 attendees and 3,900 exhibitors, CES is the world’s largest tradeshow.

But I did not go to see what Google, Amazon or what others were launching; rather to see print on-demand badge printing in action.

C3500 Badge Printers at CES

CompuSystems, www.compusystems.com, provided the registration solution, including identification badges, for CES. Founded in 1976, CompuSystems has enjoyed many years as a major registration service provider for the trade show industry. They offer integrated software that meets the specific needs of their clients, creating an ecosystem that fosters the buyer and seller relationship.

If you follow my blog, you may remember this earlier post covering CompuSystems’ move to print on-demand color badges:

http://colorlabelsondemand.blogspot.com/2017/06/on-demand-color-badges.html

During my short visit at the end of the 2^nd day, I found the solution that CompuSystems built for CES amazing. According to Jeremy Kubik, Director of IT for CompuSystems, “we constructed and managed 19 different registration locations in Las Vegas for CES; including not only the main registration tent and the various halls of the convention center, but also in hotels across Las Vegas. We even had three registration areas at the airport.”

CES Main Registration Tent

At the various locations, the CompuSystems team setup carts that included a computer, printer and wireless router to connect to the servers running BarTender. CompuSystems added these locations just prior to the show including the VPN networks to handle all of the data. Here was the cart running at one of the hotel locations.

Registration Badge Cart at CES

In addition to the network of registration desks, Jeremy and his team used BarTender to create the template and add the variable data to the badges. The badges included fixed images such as the CES logo and an advertisement on the back panel, but also variable data including a picture which was required for all attendees. For example, attendees could upload an image prior to the event, use the CES application on their phone, or capture a picture during registration using a small HD web camera:

Camera for Badges

And all of the images were verified instantaneously by an application to confirm the picture was a face.

Also, CompuSystems added a lot of variable data; such as name, company, city and QR code for lead retrieval. In addition, they added color-coded bars for the type of attendee or exhibitor (13 total types).

CES Print On-Demand Color Badges

For the badges, CompuSystems used a 4” x 12” matte poly tag with a crease in the middle to enable front/back printing. I thought these poly badges printed great; including the images. For example, the WHOA image, the CES mark for the 2018 show, look great.

WHOA CES 2018

Or the advertisement on the back panel:

CES Badge Advertisement

After attending CES 2018, I believe Jeremy and the team at CompuSystems deserve an “atta-a-boy” for their work and their on-demand badge solution for the CES show. I can’t imagine the pressure of having hundreds of thousands of people waiting for badges at a trade show; I’m glad the printers and badges worked great.