I've traditionally never said anything about a trip to Las Vegas, but in the spirit of shared experiences, I wanted to highlight a few things from CES 2011 that I found worth noting #CES (hangover habit from the conference).  I think out of everything that I saw and heard, the following really stuck out to me: 1) Build a platform 2) Exports are key 3) Droid Tablets 4) Multi Screen TV watching 5) Mashable throws a hell of a party 6) Facilitate Networking to add value

1.       Build a Platform - In our unified marketing agency, we talk with customers about paid, earned, and owned media all the time.  We firmly believethat a company should strive to have a robust owned media asset platform upon which to leverage and create additional earned media by adding value and asking others to contribute to their ecosystem.  In effect we want companies and brands to think about developing a platform for future development. # CES brought out many examples (App Stores by TV and Cable operators and Telco), but the one that I found very intriguing was the Ford Sync Developer Community.  The idea that a car company would be embedding within its vehicles a platform for third party developers to provide solutions inside the vehicle is just amazing.  We in America spend so much time in our cars, it is very exciting to see what tools and capabilities we will be handed over the next 24 months.  Personally, I would like the sound cancelation application for long family road trips as well as the "clean and closest bathroom app" – Note: I have two daughters. In a company and brand sense, if you can build a platform for others to add value to, then your customers, suppliers and you benefit and will enjoy a higher value than if you merely communicate with each other.  A platform mentality will encourage you to think about connecting with each other and that is what is required for the always on and always in motion society we live in today.

2.       Exports are key - the Innovations Power Panel was fantastic - I encourage you to take an hour and watch it.

The panel was fantastic and talked about many things:  education, tax policy, infrastructure, but the comments regarding Germany's economic strength and focus on Exports really caught my attention.  Applying the thoughts to business and brands; aligning ones company exclusively and daily around producing something those outside your business want and value is a very powerful idea.  I know that is what we should all think about because we are supposed to be customer centric, focused on adding value to others, etc. etc. But much of the time I hear folks talking about their challenges, it has a lot to do about internal stuff and not enough about the export we are making that others value. If we think in terms of being a country, do we want to be an import or export company?  It seems to me that focusing on being a trade surplus organization is better and creates more value for everyone over time.

3.      Droid Tablets - the year of the Tablet #CES 2011, that was probably the most tweeted phrase day one and in almost every release about the show. And it certainly was in many ways.  There must have been 1500 different tablet manufacturers and by end of 2012 everyone who wants a tablet in any country will be able to find one that fits their needs, budgets, and networks. But to me the thing that will have the biggest impact will be the Droid Tablet, the free OS and readily available app developers from the Droid phone will make the tablets richer and more robust than any first generation platform ever. Apple will still be "King of the World" and RIM's efforts should be rewarded by corporate users and Samsung has a wonderful new place in the market headed there way. But I predict the Droid Tablet will be much like the AK-47 - the world's workhorse in its category for years to come.

4.       Multi-Screen TV watching - I think that people like to lean back and watch TV and not lean forward point a device at a screen and try to navigate a computer type experience from their couch. And I think people like to have a tablet or laptop on the couch so they can do more than one thing at a time.  So to me the smartest "Smart TV" was the Viera Connect from Panasonic - It took the remote, turned into a tablet and allows you to control the smart internet enabled TV from a computer interface 6 inches form your face and then watch the results on the big screen. It allows you to view content that is in parallel with each other on both screens (it should make Bad Girls Club and Fantasy Football fans more glued than every before); It opens up a whole new world to advertisers, marketers and programmers to be able to have access to both screens in the living room and to add value in new ways not yet "Seen on TV". I'm very excited about what we can do for brands, broadcasters, content creators and consumers with this new multi-screen interaction capability.

5.      Mashable throws on hell of a party - The Mashable Awards started with a great VIP event serving 21 year old McCallan and various meats on a stick, rolled right into a 1000+ person theater with a great DJ team, well produced videos and a great overview of all things social, digital and hip; Followed by an after party in the club and then, and then and then…..Thanks guys, looking forward to Orlando.

 

6.       Facilitate Networking to add value -  every sentence for about 72 hours had a #CES when I typed and I found it interesting that on Friday I spent about 10 minutes just watching my TweetDeck column with #CES.  It barely could keep up and was moving about 3 tweets a second and in at least 5-7 different languages.  There was a good amount of PR content from manufactures, but mostly it was comments caught by participants during panels, keynotes, demo's and conversations that were being documented, shared, RT and discussed. I guess we had long format blogging a few times a day three years ago, and press releases and video before that.  The energy that a full community dialoguing continuously and in real time was amazing and empowering.  I sent a lot from @mkogon and my recommendation is that if you have a supplier show, customer event, user conference, sales rally or other major gathering, you incorporate a #hashtag, a social media DJ, large screens, readily available Wi-Fi and encourage your audience to participate via social media. It will make your networking event more valuable and your participants more connected to you and to each other.

So there you have it, I've got another post coming about "Who asked you to make my idiot box smart?" and a few others that came from the show.