Confessions of a lightfair virgin

Lightfair was 09 was held at the Jacob Javits Center and with Crestron showing I had and opportunity to attend and get a good overview of the lighting industry.

For the uninitiated Lightfair is a trade show where the main manufactures and suppliers of everything from ballasts to building management systems show off their fixtures, tools and systems.  

While I consider myself a veteran of over 1000 tradeshows as both presenter and (for the majority) as a behind the scenes technician, Lightfair was illuminating to me. (Sorry, I just could not resist). As I have just begun my tenure in the new position of marketing writer, specifically in support of the lighting division, the show was a good place to acquire marketing material and an education on products and technologies similar to ours.  I also reveled in the general easy tenor of the show; it was a simple task to get around, lacking the press of bodies moving you in directions unintended.  Tradeshows like Infocomm, where the attendees are literally banging at the doors to get in each morning, the pathways can be like a roiling stream of class 4 rapids.  This “benefit” was certainly a worry for the Lightfair sponsors who sent out missives to proclaim 20K registered attendees and the exhibitors could be overheard worrying that they overstaffed their booths. Day 2 on the other hand was much more to the hopes of the sponsors.

Both days I attended it was decent enough out to walk from Grand Central to the Javits, as I used to work on 45th and 11th for a number of years the walk was a bit of nostalgia.  Since I started working in New Jersey and therefore becoming a driving commuter I rarely get to the city and when I do it is to bring the kids to a museum.  I evidently no longer have the native Manhattanite walking pace of my days living on the east side –( I skated everywhere anyway back then).  The slower pace was, at first, disconcerting but I found it gave me the opportunity to walk with my head facing forward not down –(in the bull mode).  In addition to noticing the changes my old work neighborhoods had undergone my NYC-sense started to come back and I could start to identify who was Javits bound. It did not hurt that many had on what I call the tradeshow targets on, those access badges that so many people seem to want to wear outside an event.  In many of the sections of the city directly adjacent to the convention center these badges say one thing- ‘target’.  

When the Democratic National Convention came to town in the 90’s I spotted a 20 something woman at the intersection of 42 and 7th looking very confused and harried.  In addition to the large parcel she was struggling to keep hold of and the 4 inch heels she had a large convention badge with her name, home town and the word DELEGATE.  Around the time of the DNC Times Square was in transition with the seedy side still being pushed out and it was very irritated by the Disneyfication  of the area.  Angry wolves were still trolling the late dusk afternoons despite the heavy police presence. Typical New Yorker I rushed past her making it a full half block (cross town) before my brain registered what I saw and how bad it could go.  I doubled back to her let her know that the cabs with three lights lit on the top were off duty and being 3:30 it was shift transfer time-(90% of the cabs were heading back to the garage).  I hailed an available cab and got her inside, offered her my business card, and informed her that the heels and event badge was not a good combo.  Julie – her name- looked at me wide eyed as I leaned into the driver’s window addressing him by the name on the license-(back then they were mounted in the front passenger side) telling him how to take Julie to her destination.  I corresponded with Julie for a few months after and she shared some stories of her associates being bothered during the event but once they removed the badges whilst walking  the harassment was reduced.

I relate this tale to mark

1. Just how much the city has changed, most people walk around in a manner that would have made me cringe, scream and consider taking up a life of crime.

2. The New New York has reduced the potential for petty crimes and thus more people walk around broadcasting their participation and destination.  Because of this it was quite evident that Wednesday had far more people attending Lightfair.  My zigzag path allowed me to see that the mass of humanity was not just random but was migrating toward a common destination.   By 11 am the exhibitors had the mixed expression of happy relief and harried eyes at the preoccupation of talking to multiple people at once.

It is also of note just how many of the attendees and exhibitors were on twitter giving updates on attendance, products, release announcements and general observations.  Everyone noted the enormous number of LED products being shown and the declarations that the revolution had arrived.  The Department of Energy, one of the main proponents pushing LED adaptation, had a booth in the back where they held hourly seminars on everything from ‘LED basics for lighting specifiers’ –(a design guide is anticipated for release in September)- to the DoE testing and certification process.  The LED’s were shown as task lights, street lights, general luminaries, in RGB array , as light walls  and with white or yellow phosphor coating.  There was also what appears to be a ‘PR war’ brewing between the manufacture of traditional incandescent bulbs and the LED people, with tit for tat press releases comparing incandescents to garbage or LEDs as off color and immature technologies.

A good number of the discussions about LED’s centered on CRI, dimming and availability.   The CRI, specifically the level of white had many set into two camps, the first stating that the obsession with the white level was much ado about too little and the second group claiming this was task one –(followed closely by the need for dimming).

Phillips made its dominant presence well felt by not having just a booth but something more akin to a city consisting of 9 or 10 interconnected booths. The Phillips people all appeared to be dressed very corporate, the Men in dark grey suits with Phillips stripped blue ties, the women in late 80’s suits with  matching blue striped scarves-(both reminded me of stewardesses, er..flight attendants).  I call this out as it was in stark contrast to the rest (besides Lutron) of the exhibitors and as there was an accessories show on the floor below, I at first took them to be part of the latter show when I saw them in the lobby. 

The show had a sizable section in the back which appeared to be a collective of Chinese manufacturers of everything lighting. The booth was constructed, intentionally – I think, as if part of an open air or Hong Kong alley way market place.  A quick click pipe frame covered by an orange tarp  created a large rectangular booth which was divided up into smaller square ‘booth-ettes’  where exhibitors had product hung from the frame and on white peg boards in the back.  The offerings were your standard low cost products but a few were showing LED lights as well.

                                

Lutron had one of the more stylish booths, built in a similar look and style to a Frank Lloyd Wright home; I think it may have been modeled after the one which resides in the MET. True to its inspiration the booth also had low ceilings, lowest of the show, and it reminded me of a story told in a PBS documentary on FLW.  Typical of his work Frank Lloyd Wright made the scale of his homes and furniture to his height (about 5’ 8”) which topped the ceilings off at about 6’ 4”.  Mr. Wright had in his employ, so the story goes, an gentleman who was 6’ plus and whenever he would stand up FLW would shout – ‘Sit down Wes, your ruining the scale’.  I did indeed witness several taller attendees start in then back out due to the height limitation.  I give them an A for concept but a C- on providing accessibility to everyone.

On the Odd side of things there was the Down and Dirty, the booth was an 8’ high chain link fence with graffiti covered lockers which had lighting fixtures in them. I cannot say I understood what this was for or if it was associated with any particular company, but they did serve free beer and hotdogs on the second day!  The number of booths offering libation did peak my interest as several offered microbrews on tap and others a selection of California wines.  Near the end of day it started to look more like a social mixer than tradeshow, I half expected someone to start rolling out the kegs and hand out red plastic cups at the door.

 I also noticed a far greater number of women attendees than at most other technically centric tradeshows I have attended.  Is this because there are a good deal more women in the lighting field?  I could not find any data to support this but it did appear so over the two days I attended.

 

All in all the show was a great experience, not nearly as nutty as others but busy just the same. The booths were creative and had great aesthetic about them; it was almost disappointing to walk out into the sun and workaday lighting after being surrounded by all the color and ambient light. Next year I will have a much better attack plan to seek out the booths and players first, and then look for the niche and oddities. 

What’s the next show I am attending? 

INFOCOMM Orlando baby!  If you are planning to attend let me know, we can share ideas and make time to meet up.