The world's "most influential tech event" is officially in the works for 2021. The Consumer Technology Association announced last month it plans to go ahead with an in-person event next year in Las Vegas while addressing the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic. While event after event has been canceled this year, the CTA has outlined some of the potential steps it intends to take to keep attendees as healthy as possible at the conference, which takes place in January each year. 

Those steps include a lot more sanitation of spaces throughout the show. Attendees can also expect wider aisles in the exhibit areas and greater seat spacing at conference programs; cashless systems for purchases; thermal scans at entry points; and better on-site health services and medical aid. 

There will also be a wider selection of livestreamed CES content as well as other digital and virtual opportunities that will allow exhibitors to showcase new products, technologies and ideas both physically and digitally, the CTA said. It also plans to "highlight technologies that help provide solutions for some of the day-to-day challenges created by the pandemic."

In May, Europe's largest annual electronics show, IFA, announced it will go ahead as a physical event in Berlin this September, in spite of the coronavirus outbreak. Events will be limited to 5,000 people, with a maximum of just 1,000 attendees allowed in each section of the event per day. It will also not be open to the public as it usually is, and shortened from a week-long conference to only three days.