In addition to its 2.2 million square feet of exhibit space and product showcases, CES offers nearly 300 conference sessions covering the gamut of consumer technology. Its 36 different conference tracks explore industry sectors from Automotive to Wireless. These conference sessions leverage the presence of more than 48,000 senior-level executives and government officials, many of whom participate on panels or present as subject matter experts. ETC will cover the most relevant sessions from Las Vegas, January 5-9.

If the exhibit floor is the place to see the latest hardware and technology demonstrations, the conference sessions look at business, policy, product development and creative matters. They offer attendees the chance to hear directly from top individuals, often reveal important data and sometimes suggest future trends.

Media and Entertainment continue to grow in importance at CES. In January there will be no fewer than 8 conference tracks with a specific entertainment focus.

The Consumer Technology Association (CTA) partners with Variety to present Entertainment Matters, which they developed to help entertainment professionals “navigate CES… through exhibits, keynotes and panels as well as events critical to the Hollywood community,” as the program reads. “If it matters in Hollywood, it matters here.”

In addition to the overall Entertainment Matters programming throughout CES, Variety presents the Entertainment Summit on January 7 from 1:00 to 5:00 pm. The afternoon covers the state of OTT entertainment, audience engagement and monetization and the future of storytelling.

Digital Hollywood tailors its agenda to CES with Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday sessions looking at the Ultimate TV Experience, Hollywood and Media: Brands and Platforms, Virtual Reality: Hollywood Does Cutting Edge, and Content & Monetization among the panel titles and themes.

The Aria Hotel is the location for C Space Storytellers. The entire C Space area brings together brands, agencies, media and technology partners in what CTA calls “the headquarters for advertising, marketing and digital media.”

The Advanced Imaging Society hosts 3 sessions on Thursday, January 8 to discuss HDR and the business of virtual reality.

MasterCard presents The Digital Money Forum on Friday, January 9 at the Venetian. Their lineup of panels begins with a Brief History of Money and includes Blockchain 101 (Virtual Currency), predictions for the year ahead in digital money and a forum on the regulatory policy.

Regulatory policy is one of the topics to be discussed on Thursday afternoon’s CTA conference on Drones and Innovation.

Friday’s CTA session on Automotive Tech looks at The Battle for the Automotive User Interface. Both Google and Apple have significant interests here while the automobile industry also imagines an increasingly software driven future. Also on Friday, Deloitte sponsors Exploring Tomorrow’s Automotive Mobility Ecosystem.

ETC plans coverage of the Internet of Things (IoT), wearable tech and sensors. CTA programming covers these areas through a number of conference tracks including research firm Parks & Associates Connections Summit, on Wednesday and Thursday, The Digital Health Summit, The Fitness Tech Summit and The Internet of MEMS and Sensors.

IoT is among the topics of CTA’s 3-day Innovation Policy conference, bringing government officials, policymakers, lawyers and executives together on a number of potential hot-button issues.

Techstars hosts The Startup Stage, which features 3 days of programming and presentation of some of this year’s most innovative products and business models.

CES gets underway with January 4 media briefings by CTA when the organization shares their 2016 Tech Trends to Watch and Global CE Industry reports.

You can find the complete conference schedule online.