Power outage causes attendees to evacuate Central Hall at CES in Las Vegas on Wednesday, Jan. 10th, 2018. (Photo by Tami Nguyen / BU News Service)
By BU News Service Staff
BU News Service
A power outage darkened parts of the Las Vegas Convention Center on Wednesday as CES, a massive technology show was in full swing. The lights flipped off around 11:15 a.m. and set Twitter abuzz with reports of darkened hallways and exhibit areas. It took about two hours before power was restored.
Power outage at @CES Central Hall. Was told been down about an hour. People are losing patience. Biggest electronics show in the world loses power. pic.twitter.com/ChNSLKolgU
— Dave Hall (@hallfox5) January 10, 2018
Many exhibitors and convention attendees remained calm as they used lights attached to their cell phones to navigate their way out of the dark Central Hall and South Hall of the complex.
One convention center employee who asked not to be identified said he has worked at CES for 10 years and had never seen anything like this outage. Las Vegas police officers assigned to secure the conference seemed similarly surprised. “This is a major buzz kill,” one officer said as he strolled through the Central exhibit hall.
Public service announcements played over an intercom thanking attendees for their patience while the work to resolve the issue continued. Meanwhile, Twitter buzzed with updates from attendee, vendors, and CES officials.
We’ve been informed by Nevada Power that the outage has been addressed and they are in the process of restoring power. We will continue to restrict access until full power has been restored. Thank you for your continued patience. We encourage you to visit other open show areas
— CES (@CES) January 10, 2018
Tech giant Intel quipped that “Blackout” was the biggest thing to hit CES:
Introducing Blackout™: The biggest thing to hit #CES2018 since #5G. #CESblackout pic.twitter.com/xObxxxHvQe
— Intel (@intel) January 10, 2018
And of course, there were memes:
Alexa, stop screwing around and turn the lights back on at #CES18 #CESblackout pic.twitter.com/f39QQdJJqv
— Amy Webb (@amywebb) January 10, 2018
After the lights slowly rolled back on, hundreds of attendees filed back into the convention center.
Attendees attempt to enter Central Hall through exit doors at CES in Las Vegas on Wednesday, Jan. 10th, 2018. (Photo by Tami Nguyen / BU News Service)
At least one display remained operational during the blackout: Energizer. Batteries illuminated a wall of LED lighting products on display by the company.
