I often receive questions about MacVoices’ approach to our CES coverage. If you have any, please let me know.
These are some of the most frequent. ??Here we go:
How do you decide who to interview
Pre-CES, if one signs up as media, there is a flood of press releases and requests for meetings. I review all of those to see how they fit in our wheelhouse. Some of the other factors I consider are:
– Does the product/service look interesting?
– Does it look like it offers something new, unique, or better than products I am familiar with.?
– Is it a company that I’m familiar with and has credibility?
I also look at who we have interviewed before and whether they are back. There are some companies that are must-see every time they exhibit. That’s why you see some of the same faces every year or every other year.
Finally, there is always the discovery factor. Walk by a booth or table and if it looks interesting, find out a little more and maybe ask for an interview.
Bottom line: if something catches our attention, their is a fair chance that we talk to them.
Why do you wait to release the CES interviews?
That’s easy: The show floor opens at 9:30 AM (10 AM on the first day) and closes at 6 PM (4 PM on the last day). Press events usually start around 7 PM and go until 10 PM or later. ??We spend our time at CES trying to gather up the content, and then release it in a controlled cadence, a few at a time so that a day’s released shows are roughly the equivalent of the length of a single, normal MacVoices edition.
Also: there is so much competing news that is being generated by all news outlets, tech-oriented as well as mainstream, that it is easy for information that you can really use to get lost. Releasing it a little at a time helps you give the information more measured attention.
What are you trying to accomplish at CES by doing interviews on the floor?
The objective for all my convention coverage started back in the Macworld days. Our CES (and NAB) interviews are like walking the show floor, stopping to talk briefly to the exhibitors to get more information about their product(s), and then move on. They are intended to catch your attention and let you know about something you might be interested in so you can go find out more. The information isn’t being interpreted by me; you are getting it straight from the people who are involved in creating the products. Sometimes it is senior management, sometimes it is the engineers or developers, sometimes it is the marketing people.
I try to ask the questions I think you might ask or that I want to know, but not to get into too many details. There are always others waiting at the booths or tables to talk to the exhibitor, and taking the “less is more” approach lets us talk to more exhibitors.