What It's Like Spending A Week In Vegas Covering The Largest Trade Show In The World

I've been home in New York for three days and I'm still feeling the effects of my week in Vegas.

My throat is sore. My lungs are congested. My nose is drippy.

I caught that mythical CES bug after being packed in the Las Vegas Convention Center with 150,000 other journalists, tech exhibitors, and analysts for a week.

But it was worth it.

Despite what the haters say, CES still has a lot of value. This year's convention was a bit light on major product announcements, but CES is still an excuse for everyone in the industry to get together and chat and swap secrets.

Even big names like RIM and Microsoft, who didn't have official booths on the show floor, had executives in Vegas last week meeting with press and advertisers.

You probably saw a lot of coverage last week of the user-facing stuff at CES, but it's a completely different world behind the scenes. 

I attended parties for Samsung and Toshiba my first night in Vegas. Both were held on the top floor of Mandalay Bay's TheHotel. The view of the strip was pretty sweet.

At times it feels like all you do is wait in line. Here's the Starbucks line at my hotel.

And here's the cab line at my hotel. It took 50 minutes for me to grab a cab. I almost missed an important meeting at The Cosmopolitan.

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