Last year, I was fortunate enough to attend CES as a member of the Engadget team. That trip was covered by AOL and if you want to know how Engadget provides arguably the best coverage, the secret is: hard work. This year, I’m paying out of my own pocket to attend and I’m looking for the best strategies because you simply can’t go to CES without a plan. Well….you can GO without a plan, but you won’t cover nearly as much ground and you’ll miss important keynotes and such.

Jeremy Toeman has six years of CES experience and just provided his 10 tips that are worth reading even if you’re not attending simply because it illustrates the sheer size and scope of this ginormous show. I especially like tip number 7: discriminate on swag. I can’t tell you how much "stuff" I collected last year between flash drives, pens, towels and the like. I almost needed another piece of luggage!

Speaking of CES; James and I are planning our calendars for the show and I’m curious: whose booths would you list as "can’t miss"? If you’re unsure of who’s who at CES, you can see all 2,700+ vendors here.