Way to make the right call three months later, folks. pic.twitter.com/fBYs13Nnec

— Russell Holly (@russellholly) July 28, 2020

It didn’t help CES’ cause that, back in April, there was a news story suggesting that the 2020 event had helped supercharge the spread of the virus. Given that the event had 182,000 attendees from all over the world, all of whom were packed like sardines into trade show halls, it’s certainly plausible. It didn’t help that video footage emerging from Las Vegas casino floors showed a number of patrons not wearing masks, and all in close proximity to one another.

The CTA had said, for CES 2021, that it was expecting to take a number of extra precautions to enable the show to go ahead. That included wider aisles, more space in meeting and breakout areas as well as regular sanitation of booths and tables. Despite this, it’s likely that a number of companies would prefer to stay at home rather than spend a lot of money sending their employees to the event.

We’ll wait to learn more about how this digital-only event will take place, and how the CTA will encourage discovery of lesser-known startups in this new format.

CNET says Trump will deliver her speech on Wednesday, January 8th at 3PM, though neither CTA nor the White House has not yet announced this.

Trump has been involved with a few tech initiatives as part of the Trump administration. As CNET points out, she joined Google CEO Sundar Pichai at a tech jobs announcement in October and accompanied President Trump on a visit to an Apple production facility in November.

Still, the fact that she will deliver a speech at CES is a bit unexpected, to say the least. If the rumor is true, you can expect CES to be especially insane on the 8th.

Engadget has reached out to CTA for comment.