ARLINGTON, Virginia (28 May 2012) - Canada sent more attendees to the 2012 edition of International CES than any other country outside of the United States, the organizers of the world's largest trade event for consumer electronics has announced. In fact, the number grew slightly over 2011.

In a newly published attendance report, the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) said 3,805 Canadian industry members attended this year's event, which was held January 10 to 13 in Las Vegas. This was slightly higher than the 3,769 Canadian who attended in 2011.

A total of 35,734 intentional professionals attended CES this year, representing some 150 countries - a 13% over 2011. Canada accounts for 16.3% of CES's international attendance.

CES attendance figures are subject to an independent audit, performed by Veris Consulting.

CEA also said the 2012 CES featured some 3,319 exhibitors displaying product over 1.86 million net square feet of exhibit space with a total attendance of 156,153 industry professionals overall.

After the United States, the top 10 countries represented in terms of attendance were Canada, South Korea, Japan, China, Mexico, United Kingdom, France, Taiwan, Germany and Brazil.

"The 2012 International CES was the largest in show history and was bursting with innovation as the world's most important technology event," Karen Chupka, CEA senior vice president of events and conferences, said in a statement. "These record-breaking audit results confirm that CES continues to be the must-attend event that unites the global technology industry, including Fortune 500 executives, retail buyers, content producers, entertainment executives, venture capitalists, engineers, government officials and media from every corner of the world."

CEA said that according to Veris audit, 43% of CES attendees are senior-level executives. Presidents, CEOs and/or business owners made up 15% of attendees, while almost one-third are the final decision makers when it comes to new product purchases or partnerships with other companies while 97% were identified as having buying decision influence.

More than 12,000 attendees represented companies with more than US$500 million in total annual sales.

The Veris audit also confirms that more than 12,000 retail buying organizations, 5,000 manufacturers and 6,000 engineering companies came to CES.

CES also said some 5,000 media and industry analysts attended the 2012 CES, and media coverage of CES was up 35% over 2011.

Veris is certified by the Exhibition and Event Industry Audit Commission (EEIAC) to perform audits. As part of the audit, each CES attendee is counted only once, and show size is calculated using only exhibit space sold, not hallways or bartered space.

Click here to see full audit results. The 2013 International CES is scheduled for January 8 to 11, 2013, in Las Vegas.