Do Regular People Actually Care About CES?

The past week at the 2014 International Consumer Electronics Show, we saw a ton of cool, crazy, and downright unbelievable technology. Inevitably, in this orgy of tech nerdliness, some of what we saw will have a huge impact, while some will be doomed to vaporware status. But for the normal, non-tech-blogger consumer, does CES really matter?

I imagine that it does, but perhaps not directly. Consumer tech news is popular enough for even the most mainstream of news outlets to cover it, and the smartphone's popularity has made nearly everyone into a tech consumer. So the biggest event of the year is bound to have an impact on the regular folks out there.

But CES still seems to be a little inscrutable for the average consumer. I get the impression it's like a political primary: insiders and enthusiasts watch it very closely, and it determines the course of events for the rest of the year, but it's not on the average person's radar.

What's your take? Does CES matter to you as an everyday consumer?