????曾經的Comdex大展表面上看是在拉斯維加斯舉行的計算機行業展銷會，它一度成為全體硅谷人的年度聚會。隨后，Comdex大展隨著互聯網泡沫的破裂而煙消云散，另一項同時期的業界展會——消費電子展（CES）的重要性陡然上升。從表面上看，參加CES的都是硬件廠商，它們參展的目的是向零售商展示有可能在當年圣誕節上市的產品。

????和之前的Comdex一樣，CES基本上是電腦迷的盛會。人們在這里可以看到令計算機發燒友怦然心動的最新硬件。它們有些是實實在在的產品，有些則是如此夢幻，以至于從未在商店櫥窗里出現過。對于一些聰明的公司來說，CES還為它們提供了一個機會，來推出主打產品，引起消費科技媒體的關注。一款在CES上讓人眼前一亮的產品有可能就能決定某家廠商全年的銷售業績。

????但是后來，情況出現了變化。推出新產品的重要性不斷下降。成為焦點也變得過于困難。蘋果公司（Apple）讓其他廠商意識到，和到拉斯維加斯博眼球相比，自己搞活動的效果要好得多。不過，CES變得越發強大，所有科技相關行業的思潮引領者一定會在新年過后立即趕赴CES。任何跟科技勉強沾邊的產品都能參會，不管是空調，還是汽車。幾年前，美國消費電子協會（Consumer Electronics Association）主席加里?夏皮羅甚至在CES上兜售自己寫的書，內容是他自創的自由市場政治和對民主黨的痛斥。

????實際上，CES的總展覽面積為190萬平方英尺（約17.65萬平方米），在這里走上一遭會讓人心力交瘁、口干舌燥、徹底喪失勇氣——在CES的各個樓層有多少活動，在會場之外就會有同樣數量的活動。它甚至成了讓首席營銷官們駐足的重大展會。這些CMO們十分清楚，科技是決定他們未來的關鍵（斗膽插一句，本周我寫了一篇報道，內容是我的同事杰西?亨普爾在CES的《財富》雜志活動中主持的一次分組會議，主題是數字營銷）。

????實際上，如果某位首席營銷官不參加CES， 他就有可能和別人失去聯系。數字營銷咨詢公司Medialink負責人溫達?米勒德說：“現在，參加CES的營銷人員并不是來看技術本身，他們的真正目的是了解技術怎樣促使消費者行為發生改變。他們了解這些的原因不是因為技術很酷。他們要看的是技術變化如何改變消費者的行為。”

????用一句商業套話總結就是，CES已經達到了臨界規模，甚至超過了這個水平。沃爾瑪（Wal-Mart）電子商務業務負責人尼爾?阿什指出“CES是數字化轉型領域的火人節。”沃爾瑪為電子商務投入了130億美元，但這項業務仍處于虧損狀態（再斗膽插一句，周一夜間我在拉斯維加斯采訪了阿什，就是他親口告訴我，沃爾瑪的電商業務尚未盈利）。阿什還說：“從消費者的角度而言，CES很棒，在這兒人們可以想象一下今后幾年消費者會有什么樣的體驗。從商家的角度來看，CES的規模越來越大，這讓它成為一個越來越重要的交匯點。今年的參展商多種多樣，很有意思。一些CES常客已經離去，或者壓縮了參會規模【比如微軟（Microsoft）——編者注】。在停車場，你看到的全都是《紐約時報》（New York Times）、美國郵政（United States Postal Service）和寶馬（BMW）。CES的發展變化很奇妙。”

????值得贊賞的是，盡管沒有兌現哪怕一個大賣點，CES仍然實現了蓬勃發展。杜比實驗室（Dolby Laboratories）新任首席營銷官鮑勃?博徹斯說：“在過去5-7年里，CES既是有著最閃亮屏幕的電腦迷盛會，又是一項銷售和營銷活動。它一直在穩步發展。現在，人們既可以在這里會面和宣傳，也可以公開闡述自己的觀點。這個地方總是這么喧囂。在這里提出新點子的難度很大，但這是個很棒的會面場所。”（財富中文網）

????譯者：Charlie???

????First there was Comdex, ostensibly a computer-industry buying exposition in Las Vegas that nevertheless became an annual party for all of Silicon Valley. Then, when Comdex collapsed with the dotcom bust, the already-existing Consumer Electronics Show, ostensibly a gathering of device makers showing retailers what they could sell the following Christmas, surged in importance.

????CES, like Comdex before it, was mostly a geekfest. It was the place to see the latest gadgets -- some real, some so fantastical that they'd never see store shelves -- designed to set the hearts of gearheads aflutter. It also was an opportunity for a few clever companies to launch major products and to grab the attention of the personal-technology press. A breakout hit at CES could define an entire years of sales.

????Then something changed. Product launches diminished in importance. It became too hard to get noticed, and Apple (AAPL) taught manufacturers that it's much better to do your own event than to compete for attention in Las Vegas. Yet CES is stronger than ever, the undisputed nexus for opinion leaders in any industry touched by technology to come together right after the new year. Any topic remotely tangential to technology is fair game in CES, from air conditioners to automobiles. A few years back it even became a venue for Gary Shapiro, president of the Consumer Electronics Association, which puts on CES, to hawk a book promoting his own brand of Democrat-bashing free-market politics.

????Indeed, for all the action on the show's many floors -- walking all 1.9 million square feet of CES is a soul-sapping, dehydrating, physically grueling, thoroughly demoralizing experience -- as much action happens off the floor as on. CES even has become an important stop on the circuit of chief marketing officers, who are fully aware that technology holds the key to their future. (Shameless plug: This week, I wrote about a panel my colleague Jessi Hempel moderated at a Fortune event during CES. It focused on digital marketing.)

????In fact, a chief marketing officer who doesn't attend CES runs the risk of being out touch. "Marketers who come to CES now aren't here to see the technology per se," says Wenda Millard, who runs the digital marketing advisory firm Medialink. "They're really here to understand technology as a facilitator of changes in consumer behavior. They're not looking at technology because it's cool. They're looking at changes in consumer behavior caused by changes in technology."

????To reduce it to a business cliché, CES has achieved critical mass. And then some. "CES is the Burning Man of digital transformation," says Neil Ashe, the head of Wal-Mart's $13 billion -- but money-losing -- e-commerce effort. (Shameless plug number two: I interviewed Ashe Monday night in Las Vegas, and he's the one who pointed out that Wal-Mart (WMT) doesn't yet make money online.) Ashe adds: "On the consumer side, it is a great place to go to be immersed in what consumers are going to be experiencing over the next couple of years. On the business side, the bigger it has gotten the more important it has become as a gathering point. It was interesting to see the diversity of floor participants this year. Some of the usual participants are gone or smaller [e.g. Microsoft --Ed.], and you have the New York Times, United States Postal Service, and BMW taking over the whole parking lot. It's amazing how it has evolved."

????To its credit, CES has thrived despite not even delivering on one of its key selling points. "In the last five to seven years it has become as much a sales and marketing event as a geekfest with the brightest TVs," says Bob Borchers, the newly installed chief marketing officer of Dolby Laboratories (DLB). "It's been a steady evolution. Now it's as much a place to meet and be visible as an announcement stage. There's always been so much noise. It's a challenging place to launch new idea. But a great place to meet."???