Day and night life of an entrepreneur at CES Las Vegas

The biggest takeaway from the first day was customer target. We could see exactly where people are from by looking at their badge.
Most people from the US didn't stop. Most americans have a mobile phone with local calls rates across the US. They don't need cheap rates and savings on roaming since everything in the US is local to them.
We attracted much more people from everywhere else. At the end of the first day, we had our pitch in our 4 supported languages: English, French, Spanish and Portuguese, with a slightly different pitch for the americans: "Free phone calls, no roaming when traveling". Just saying the pitch in the language of the passer by really increased our hit rate.
We also found 3 potential partners the first day. At the end of the first day, we were exhausted but it was worth it. We felt our product was an easy sell, we were eager to find our ROI.
Day one of the CES was also our "official" launch, with an official press release and as much blogging as possible. It's hard to tell exactly what helped the most, but it worked. We had 5 times more downloads the next day.

The next day, we tried something different. We had our lab coat and stetoscope on. Looking like doctors trying to cure phone bills. The idea was good but it backfired. The problem was that we were getting over crowded by old folks. I have nothing against older people, it just that it was taking too much time to explain that there were no pills inside, that it was a smartphone solution and also to answer all their questions. We were missing too many other, probably more better potential customers. So off came the lab coat.

The following days were busy but uneventful, with slightly less people on Saturday and Sunday. Overall, it was a great show for us with many possible partnerships. Downloads per day have not only sustained but increased since. It's nice to see the "hockey curve" not only in a business plan but actually happening.

Las Vegas is amazing. It's big. Taxi drivers couldn't believe how many people were in this year for the CES. I heard several estimates saying over 150K. I tried to estimate the size of the big hotels, some looked like they had over 5,000 rooms. That's the size of a small village. The amount of food, laundry, water and the operation needed to run these hotels must be incredible. The number of big hotels, the shows, everything is big.

One of the things that impressed me the most was the food. Americans have really come a long way from the fried club sandwich I once saw. If you go t Vegas, try the buffet at Paris hotel. It's good french food at a very good price. And if you go to a show, I highly recommend Zumanity at the New-York. By far the best Cirque du Soleil show out there. Be there half an hour before actual show time, you won't regret it. Even more important, don't be late unless you want to end up on the stage.