When American companies want to build new technology, they go to places like San Francisco, Silicon Valley, Austin and Seattle. When they want to show it off, however, there's one place they go above all others: Las Vegas.
Case in point: CES, formerly the International Consumer Electronics Show. Produced by the Consumer Technology Association, it takes place every January at the Las Vegas Convention Center, which hosts more than 3,900 exhibiting companies and more than 170,000 attendees from 150 countries. There, drones fly, driverless cars drive, smart homes get smarter and virtual reality gets progressively real.
When it hosted CES for the first time in 1978, Las Vegas was associated more with the past than with the future. It attracted visitors not to experience the innovations of tomorrow, but rather the traditions of yesterday, be it the panache of the Rat Pack era or the lawless culture of the Old West. In their own way, events like CES helped usher in a new era in which people came to Las Vegas to look forward as much as to look back.
Decades later, technology is no longer confined to the Las Vegas Convention Center in January. More and more, it thrives year-round in venues well beyond it. In 2020, for example, the Madison Square Garden Co. and Las Vegas Sands Corp. will unveil the MSG Sphere at The Venetian Las Vegas, an 18,000-seat spherical entertainment venue that will boast the largest and highest-resolution LED screen on Earth. The venue will have a 580,000-square-foot fully programmable exterior building surface and a 170,000-square-foot spherical digital indoor display plane, not to mention a high-tech "infrasound haptic" flooring system that will carry bass through the floor, allowing guests to feel music as clearly as they hear it.
The MSG Sphere is a glimpse of what Las Vegas might look like in the 2020s and beyond. But meeting groups don't have to wait until the next decade to experience next-generation Las Vegas. They can sample it today at these high-tech hot spots that have recently opened on or near the Strip:
Esports Arena Las Vegas at Luxor Las Vegas
Video games have long occupied the cutting edge of technology. And for the last decade, esports -- organized, multiplayer video game competitions -- have occupied the cutting edge of video games. Hence, the rise of esports arenas, which are arena-style venues designed for and dedicated to esports. Las Vegas welcomed its first such arena in March 2018, when Esports Arena Las Vegas opened at Luxor Las Vegas. Owned by Allied Esports, the 30,000-square-foot venue features a "network TV-quality" production studio with 24 cameras, a competition stage, a 50-foot LED video wall, telescopic seating, PC and console gaming stations, two immersive Virtuix Omni machines for virtual reality (VR) gaming and a bar where visitors can play retro arcade games like Pac-Man for free. There's even a gamer-themed food menu courtesy of celebrity chef and avid gamer José Andrés. Groups can rent out the entire venue for a private event -- including their own gaming tournament -- or they can reserve one of six private VIP rooms for small gatherings.
Park Theater at Park MGM
The concept behind Park MGM's Park Theater is simple: Showcase big-name entertainers on a small stage. And yet, the Park Theater is anything but little. Totaling approximately 150,000 square feet, it can accommodate anywhere from 5,200 to 6,300 people, depending on its configuration. Thanks to a smart layout and design, however, the furthest seat still manages to be just 145 feet away from the 140-foot-wide stage, ensuring an intimate feel despite the arena-sized space. As for technology, the theater -- which opened in December 2016 -- has plenty of it. Framing the stage, for example, is a 240-foot-by-50-foot projection surface and nine high-definition and 4K projectors that can cover it with super-sharp images and video -- including the 3D variety, sans 3D glasses. There's also an 80-foot-by-40-foot 4K LED screen against the back wall of the stage, an audio system that was engineered specifically for the space, and an in-house broadcast control room and feed system for broadcasting live video. The entire theater is available for use by meeting and convention groups.
The Book at The LINQ Hotel & Casino
Groups with sports fans in their midst will want to check out The Book at The LINQ Hotel & Casino, a brand-new sports book experience from Caesars Entertainment. The venue, which debuted on Oct. 11, takes full advantage of the May 2018 Supreme Court ruling that overturned the federal ban on sports betting. It does so by embracing technology at every turn. Highlights, for example, include: 87 televisions, the Strip's highest-resolution LED video wall and 12 "Fan Caves" that Caesars describes as "rentable living rooms," where fans and their friends can gather to watch televised games on 98-inch televisions, play Xbox, listen to music or wear virtual reality headsets, all while enjoying private food-and-beverage service -- including service from a "Relay Robot" that's programmed to autonomously deliver non-alcoholic beverages to guests in their Fan Caves. The 11,000-square-foot, 220-seat venue also has a self-serve beer wall with 24 taps; gamified drink coasters that trigger augmented reality games like Field Goal Kicking Challenges and Hockey Shoot Outs; interactive tablets that guests can use to access menus and games; and -- coming in 2019 -- self-serve sports betting kiosks.
Electra Cocktail Club at The Palazzo
At The Palazzo's Electra Cocktail Club, groups can indulge in high-tech happy hours. Opened in September 2018, the 127-seat bar serves handcrafted cocktails, with a specialty in rums, agricoles and mezcals. Located right on the casino floor, it shines -- literally and figuratively -- thanks to its chandelier, which features more than 1,200 points of light; its brass, granite and etched-metal décor; its mirrored ceiling; and, most of all, its 40-foot video display, whose 70 million pixels span an entire wall on which the venue shows off custom digital artworks that give the space cred among creative and technophiles alike. Groups can reserve the entire space or the VIP corner banquette, which sits beneath 10 14-foot brass and rose gold "bracelets" that give the booth's occupants a glamorous embrace.
Enclave
Of course, the Strip doesn't have a monopoly on technology. Groups that want a high-tech experience away from the distractions of Las Vegas Boulevard should check out a new venue that opened last year near McCarran International Airport. Called Enclave, the $15 million corporate and social event venue totals 75,000 square feet and includes 22 rooms of various sizes and functions, including boardrooms, ballrooms and breakout rooms, not to mention a 5,000-square-foot rooftop with panoramic Vegas views. Tech highlights include a fiber-optic network that can send video signals between meeting rooms -- which allows keynote speeches and panel discussions to be viewed throughout the venue -- as well as built-in video teleconferencing capabilities using Crestron solutions. Tech companies like Facebook and Cisco, both of which have hosted events at Enclave, approve.