The CES in Vegas
had very low attendance
this year.
(Registration was healthy.
Participants
didn’t show up
for whatever
**cough, cough – illness**
reason.)
To create the illusion
of crowds,
companies
forced attendees to wait
in a line outside
their fairly empty display areas.
These artificial lines
did two major things.
1) It drove media coverage.
Reporters wanted to know
what innovation had interested people
enough to wait in the long lines.
And
2) The existence of the lines
made important guests
feel extra special.
They were able
to go straight to the front,
walking past all the poor suckers
waiting outside the area.
Did the lines attract
more people to the booth?
It did attract SOME people.
It is human nature
to want to be
where everyone else is.
But I suspect it also
drove some people away.
I wasn’t willing to wait
in those artificially created lines,
for example.
Lines attract media attention.
Skipping those lines is viewed
as a valued perk.
Consider creating lines
for events
you suspect the media might cover.