Several of us at TechRepublic are heading to the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this weekend. This will be my first trip to CES and I’m not exactly sure what to expect. Fortunately, my friend Jeremy Toeman, who has attended the show many times (this year with Bug Labs), has posted his list of CES Survival Tips.

Here are a few of them:

  1. “Wear comfortable shoes. It was #1 last year and is again. Even if you are the guy wearing the $6500 suit (come on!), put on your Adidas or Reeboks or whatever to go with it. Few will notice, and if anyone questions, saying “yeah, I decided it’s smarter to be comfortable than look pretty at CES” probably trumps any kind of rebuttal. It’s a BIG show and you’ll end up walking a few miles every day. Freebie bonus tip: while walking the show floor, try to walk on the booths as they tend to have better padding than the walkways between booths.
  2. Bring Purel and some chapstick. Wash before eating, because CES 2008 is also International Germfest 2008. Also, Vegas is in the middle of a desert, so having chapstick (and some moisturizer) will help. Bonus: if you have a overly dry hotel room, leave the bathtub 1/4 full of water overnight, you’ll feel better in the morning.
  3. Go counter the traffic flow. Day one will have the North and Central Halls buzzing. Head to the South Hall or Sands (do NOT miss the Sands!). If you are there through all four days, don’t even walk into the North/Central halls until Wednesday. The worst thing that can happen is you won’t get your hands on some crappy t-shirt you’ll never wear.”

Check out Jeremy’s blog for the other 10 tips. And if you happen to be in Vegas for the show, head out to the Bug Labs booth and say “Hi” to JT. They’ll be at booth #IP 256 in the Innovations Pods area located in the Sands.