More from the mailbag …

Here’s some inside insight into what was happening during the most recent Consumer Electronics Show, during which Las Vegas Sands tossed some exhibitors from their Venelazzo suites because they were conducting product demos off the show floor. A show attendee writes …

“Interesting. The company [X] works for was in one of the hundreds of ‘Official CES’ demo rooms that held all of the high-end audio companies. CES has put the high-end audio exhibits in an off-site hotel for as long as I can remember because they need the private rooms to quietly demo their equipment. I’m guessing that the people kicked out were using other rooms at the hotel.

“However, also for as long as I can remember, there have been vendors showing off-site. What I don’t know is if they were paying the CEA some fee for this or just doing it on their own. My guess is that they were paying the CEA but wanted to be offsite so they could have more private meetings. These shows are incredibly expensive and it would be good to find a lower cost way for smaller companies to exhibit and hold meetings. Unfortunately the CEA has a ‘one size fits all’ mentality where you pay the same per square-foot cost for the convention center and then must pay the exorbitant fees for all the on-site services.”