CES 2027 · January 6–9, 2027
A practical CES 2027 exhibitor timeline from brief to return freight
Use relative planning windows to organize design, engineering, graphics, technology, official source checks, freight, material handling, labor, installation, opening, dismantle, and return handling.
Relative planning windows
Build the schedule around confirmed official deadlines
Exact deadlines vary by assignment, service, venue, contractor, freight method, and current show materials. Use this guide to prepare the work, then replace assumptions with official dates.
Six or more months before
- Confirm objectives, audience, footprint, venue status, products, demonstrations, meetings, and stakeholders.
- Compare rental, custom, and hybrid approaches against the intended life cycle and budget range.
- Identify long-lead product, media, rigging, structural, accessibility, or custom-fabrication requirements.
Four to six months before
- Approve the operating brief, concept direction, preliminary scope, graphics responsibilities, and technology plan.
- Verify current official exhibitor materials, campus information, service portals, and assigned contractor path.
- Choose the freight strategy and identify advance-warehouse or direct-to-show decision points.
Two to four months before
- Complete design and engineering approvals, graphic specifications, media requirements, service orders, and labor planning.
- Confirm packing, labels, installation drawings, product logistics, storage, utilities, network, cleaning, and lead-capture needs.
- Review change control so late decisions have visible effects on price, schedule, freight, and field work.
Final month
- Complete production quality checks, graphic preflight, hardware tests, device and media tests, packing, labels, and documentation.
- Reconfirm carrier, target dates, labor calls, floor access, service readiness, contacts, and opening-day spares.
- Prepare the installation sequence, punch list, escalation path, staff handoff, and dismantle instructions.
Move-in and installation
- Track freight and material handling, supervise the build, verify utilities, complete media and device testing, and close the punch list.
- Document conditions, exceptions, approved changes, and the final exhibitor handoff before opening.
Show days and dismantle
- Use an identified support path for operational issues and protect products, media, storage, and visitor flow.
- Coordinate dismantle, packing, outbound labeling, carrier handoff, return or storage routing, and project closeout.
Official-source checkpoint
Verify show-owned information before committing resources
CES and its designated platforms control current registration, assignment, maps, guides, show rules, service information, and deadlines.
CES Exhibits is an independent exhibit-services provider and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by CES or the Consumer Technology Association (CTA).
Plan the next step
Turn the relative timeline into a project-specific CES schedule
Share the footprint, assigned venue when known, products, services, design direction, current assets, files, budget range, timeline, and preferred contact method.