By Robert Weber, W3i
I made the trek out to Las Vegas for the 2010 Annual CES conference with fellow Minnesota tech entrepreneurs including Aaron Weber of Open Preferences , Joel Dahlin of Dahlin Development and Scott Wright of Draft Countdown. My objective at CES was to build relationships with consumer application marketing partners for W3i, and to cover Minnesota companies for TECHdotMN. While we were all on the lookout for fellow Minnesota tech entrepreneurs, the only noticeable MN tech presence that we collectively observed was the huge splash that Best Buy made.
Best Buy exhibited for the first time ever at CES 2010 and they nailed it.
Ford CEO Alan Mulally highlighted Ford’s promotional and customer service partnership with Best Buy and Geeksquad during his keynote address (6 minutes in). Congratulations to Geek Squad founder Robert Stephens for the big plug. Best Buy’s Mike Vitelli, VP of Consumer Electronics, participated in the annual Retail Roundtable event. Best Buy also took home the Digital Entertainment Group, DEG, annual award for retailer of the year.
In years past, we never noticed much of a presence by Best Buy at CES whereas this year we witnessed countless Best Buy blue shirts walking around at various exhibits. In addition, Best Buy sponsored a huge bus which was loaded up with cell phone chargers for all attendees who needed a recharge.
Do you have a 2010 CES story or comment on some of the news coverage? Tell your story in the comments.
-
Jeff Pesek
-
Scott Wright
-
Joel Dahlin
-
Aaron Weber
-
Scott Wright
-
Rob Weber
Listen to the TECHdotMN Podcast
Upcoming Events
- Don't drink and blog
Friday, September 10, 2010
7:00 PM - 10:00 PM - MN Bloggers Conference
Saturday, September 11, 2010
8:00 AM - 4:00 PM - Coworking for startups
Saturday, September 11, 2010
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Follow TECHdotMN on Twitter
- Three Minnesota tech startups to compete at midVenturesLAUNCH: http://bit.ly/cB9ram #
- St. Paul picks up another tech company HQ: Instrumental (via @mspbjnews): http://bit.ly/9ORixe #
- Robert Stephens Talks About His New Role as CTO of Best Buy (via @graemethickins): http://bit.ly/daL3Uw #
- Dangerous ducks and other ways Best Buy’s Geek Squad does its part: http://bit.ly/dsizBy #



