By Cathy Chatfield-Taylor

On Jan. 8, 2001, despite an amazing 1.5 million hits, the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) Web site server held strong. That peak traffic day, Webmaster Susan Cato knew CESweb.org would withstand the rush of enthusiasts searching for news about hot technologies introduced Jan. 6–9, 2001, in Las Vegas.

But Cato had little time to glory in her success. It was time to think about designing and building the 2002 show edition of CESweb. Beginning June 15, when the new version went live, one person would register online every two minutes. By closing day, Jan. 11, 2002, more than 2,000 exhibitors will stash their data, 200,000 visitors will overrun the site in search of it, and 110,000 attendees will descend upon the Las Vegas Convention Center for a first-person encounter with everything electronic.

To prepare, Cato and her team devised a plan for delivering rapid load times and highly targeted content. “We want people to get in and get out and get what they need,” says Cato, Staff Director of Internet Services for the Arlington, VA-based Consumer Electronics Association (CEA).

Just days after the 2001 show, the CESweb team met to brainstorm. What would it take to make next year’s site even better and more reliable? A dozen people from the operations, sales, marketing and information technology departments came up with new features and functions, then aligned their wish list with show goals. No. 1: Get people to the show. Because registration is free, as few as 55 percent of registrants actually attend CES. CESweb’s job was to process at least 85 percent of the registrations and motivate those people to attend.

“We don’t do things for the cool factor,” says CEA Vice President Karen Chupka. Every feature had to build excitement or streamline processes and procedures for participating in the event. Must-have enhancements for the 2002 site included content

for a new technologies section, a site-wide search engine, pop-up help windows, an online visa application for international attendees, an Exhibitor Information Management System, online Innovations award entries, event calendars, and improved tracking and reporting.

Cato’s job was to price the big-ticket items, pinpoint resources to get the work done, and recommend an action plan. Given a go-ahead, the CESweb team would have about six months to scope, build, test and launch the site.

Shopping for suppliers

Allotted 10 percent to 15 percent of the total CES marketing budget, Cato relied on a cadre of consultants, freelancers and interns to support CESweb, which has undergone three iterations — the October 1997 launch, a major overhaul in March 2000 and the 2002 show edition. Until July 2001, when a full-time Web developer position was approved, Cato was the sole staffer dedicated to the site. Her print production background enabled her to do graphic design and maintenance, but as much as 60 percent of her budget paid service providers for application development, programming and production.

For the latest update, Cato put together a two-page document outlining design criteria and technology requirements, then shopped vendors with whom she’d forged a relationship. “They’re in it for the long term, they know the work, and we understand their work ethic,” she says. “We look for people who are interested in doing great things in a no-nonsense way.” The vendors she used included:

• First Consulting Group (FCG) (www.fcg.com), information architecture and programming;

• Venture Technologies (www.ventechnologies.com), application development and staff augmentation;

• Registration Control Systems (www.rcsreg.com), online registration and support services; and

• TSCentral (www.tscentral.com), back-end booth inventory and floor plan management.

Could one vendor have supplied an enterprise-wide solution that met CESweb needs? Cato ruled out that possibility, at least for now. “We continuously look at what third-party vendors have to offer,” she says. “The issue is, by the time we get done with customization, we might as well do it ourselves.”

Timelines and tactics

Three deadlines dictated the timeline for completing work on CESweb: June 15 for online registration, coinciding with the first postcard mailing for the show; Aug. 15 for the conference schedule and exhibitor directory, in time for the attendee brochure drop; and Nov. 1 for comprehensive exhibitor listings, when the database would generate the print show directory. 

Once the vendors submitted estimates, Cato prioritized the work according to whether items would fulfill their goals, as well as how doable they were. “If it’s so easy we could do it in two days, we put that on the list,” she says.

Because the CESweb team started from scratch in 2000, when functionality didn’t perform as expected and peak traffic repeatedly crashed the server, FCG had already built a new, scalable infrastructure that dynamically generated Web pages. The conference section, exhibitor directory, industry calendar, special events calendar and news sections were all database-driven. Many sections that still needed to be updated were comprised of static Web pages. Cato wrote style sheets and designed templates with splashes of color rather than graphic images to minimize load times, which contributes to the site’s overall efficiency.

This mandate to minimize load time and maximize access speed drove design. Working from the CEA color palette, Cato designed the home page, giving it a look and feel that would complement marketing campaign graphics, adding images only after testing their performance on a 56 Kbps modem.

While FCG and Venture Technologies built new functionality for 2002, members of the marketing and communications departments developed content. Five team members uploaded their content through the Web site administration area, accessible through the CEA Intranet or via a password-protected site. 

The team published completed sections to a development environment that mirrors the live site, then let internal staff review and comment via e-mail. Before going live June 15, the entire CESweb team had two days to proof and test the site. “It was so quiet it was scary. Only a handful of changes were submitted,” Cato recalls. 

Attendee enticements

A “CE Technologies” section was the key feature added to lure visitors into the content-rich site and entice them to attend CES. “In the past, our biggest struggle has been writing about how cool the technology is that we see at the show,” says Cato. “The new section is a horizontal slice of technology at CES.” Written by the communications department, the section introduces everything from accessories to wireless communication devices and points to exhibitors, conference sessions and related content on the sister site, www.ce.org.

The new site-wide keyword search also serves a slice of CES life, returning results from all areas of the site, including static pages and databases. For example, a search for “wireless communications” returns conference sessions, exhibitors, news, events and new product announcements. Visitors who still can’t find what they need can click “Help” for detailed instructions.

To draw more international attendees to the 2002 International CES — a major marketing goal — CESweb now enables international visitors to apply for visas online, locate the nearest embassy and read about new technologies in seven languages. 

Perhaps the most enticing aspect of the 2002 show edition is content cut to bite-size chunks. “We needed less words,” Cato says. As the CESweb team grew accustomed to writing for the Web, content became tighter and more focused on topics in which attendees are interested. “We wanted attendees to be able to get as much information — the meat and potatoes about the show — as quickly and easily as possible,” she says.


Exhibitor tools

Improving the tools exhibitors used was a top priority for Cato because their participation makes the show. The new Exhibitor Information Management System, secured behind a password-protected login, organized all the data-entry forms for maintaining an online presence. Once they purchased space through a sales representative, they received an e-mail with a username, password and instructions. They can log in any time to enter information by company and booth, submit press releases with attachments, announce new products by category, and invite the press and attendees to special events. If their listings aren’t completed by Oct. 15, they get an e-mail reminder. For the 25 percent of exhibitors who can’t or won’t enter their own data, CES staff performs the task.

In addition, the exhibitor manual is now available entirely online, including downloadable service order forms, contact information, deadlines and other details to keep exhibitors on track for the show. In fact, the electronic version is the CES master copy; a print manual is available only on request.

The revamped section for the CES Innovations Design and Engineering Awards, built by Venture Technologies, enables exhibitors to enter products online and receive an entry-fee discount of $50 per product. Judges can view and rate the products in a private area, and consumers can view the winners in a public area on the show’s opening day. With an administrative area for CES staff to manage the contest, what was a labor-intensive process is now so streamlined it freed up a full-time staff position. 


Future features

Looking to 2003, the CESweb team has already targeted site enhancements to begin in November this year. Topping the list is a seamless registration process that ties conference sessions to registration, so users can automatically add the sessions they want to attend to their registration form. With 70 percent of the educational sessions now fee-based, the system would enable CES to promote conference packages.

Other enhancements on the wish list include a personal planner for scheduling conference sessions and mapping exhibits to visit, interactive floor plans that are integrated with the back-end booth inventory management system, and marketing capabilities that automate e-mail blasts to exhibitors and attendees. “The biggest thing will be to pull it all together as a product,” Cato says.

It’s a product that may rank among the most heavily used Web sites in the industry. On an average day, CESweb welcomes 4,700 visitors, and each one stays an average of 14 minutes. On that same day, at least one of the 12 members of the CESweb team updates content, receives e-mail from the “IdeaBox” and tweaks the site in response to feedback.

“We continually work on usability,” says Cato. “Every year we’ll revisit changes in our audience, changes in usage patterns, additional content needs and anything that needs to go away.” While other Web sites strive for the cool factor, CESweb seeks simplicity. Features and functions get thousands of visitors the information they need, fast.

Cathy Chatfield-Taylor covers technology solutions for business and industry. E-mail:cathy@cc-tunlimited.com.