Setting up for the big show at CES (pictures)

LAS VEGAS -- All 3,200,000 square feet of the Las Vegas Convention Center is a busy place today, as thousands of workers tear open boxes, unwrap palettes and wire up the booths for the start of CES 2014.

Ladders are stacked along walkways where soon thousands of people will be hurrying by. Overhead, cranes move about, with workers drilling, sawing, and hammering away as the final hours for preparation are upon us.

Boxes are stacked and everything is wrapped in plastic.

Wires are strewn about where soon gadgets will be powered to life.

A worker wires up a booth in the South Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Inside the South Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center on Sunday prior to the opening of CES 2014.

There's plenty of action inside the LVCC, where it feels a bit dangerous to navigate narrow walkways strewn with plastic wrap and boxes as workers finish setting up.

As I walk around the preshow preparations, I'm reminded just how big the LVCC is. At more than 3 million square feet, you can walk for 10 minutes in one direction and still be in the middle of nowhere.

Remember, don't let your phone go naked.

This guy stopped for a short break on the show floor.

It seems like every inch of the convention center is being used. From floor to ceiling, it's all about standing out at CES.

The machines on the show floor are of a different kind than you will find later in the week.

People are zipping around on carts, forklifts and scooters, carrying boxes and ladders.

CES feels a bit like a pop-up city, but at the moment it's only halfway built.

Which way? That way. Hurry, hurry, hurry.

Setting up on the lower level of the South Hall.

Everywhere you turn, there's more to see.