Convene Reads: Ghost in the Wires

Considering how Ghost in the Wires: My Adventures as the World's Most Wanted Hacker, by Kevin Mitnick, revolves around technology -- and the degree to which people like the author covet it for no other reason than the challenge of seeing what they can get away with -- it's no surprise that world-famous Consumer Electronics Show makes a cameo appearance here. But it's interesting nonetheless to get a hacker's perspective on CES from 20 years ago, and also to see the role that CES played in one of his scams:

Imagine a trade-show floor filled with 2 million square feet of space, packed with 200,000 people crammed wall to wall, sounding like they're all talking at once, mostly in Japanese, Taiwanese, and Mandarin. That's what the Las Vegas Convention Center was like in 1991 during CES, the annual Consumer Electronics Show -- a candy store, drawing one of the biggest crowds in the world. 

CES and the City

I'm not going to lie: When I first heard that Convening Leaders 2011 was going to overlap with the 2011 International Consumer Electronics Show (whose Central Hall is pictured at left), I wondered if it was the best idea. CES is the definition of a city-wide event, a 125,000-attendee giganotosaurus with exhibit space at the Las Vegas Convention Center, The Venetian, the Las Vegas Hilton, and the Renaissance Las Vegas Hotel, meetings and room blocks at a slew of other properties, and receptions and parties at who knows how many venues. Add in a certain other high-profile event happening at the same time — this one at the Sands Expo & Convention Center, with upwards of 25,000 attendees — and you have a recipe for meetings gridlock. Or so it seemed to me.