LEDucation: Lights + People + Conversation = Success

According to the NY Post, 8.26 million people live in New York City and 1.6 million live in Manhattan, the site of last week’s LEDucation.

It seemed like all of the Manhattanites descended on the NY Hilton Midtown last Tuesday!

And I am only being a little facetious. LEDucation reported that 10,750 people registered for the conference and about 8,500 printed badges on Tuesday, the first day of the show, all trying to print their badges in a small lobby outside the Rhinelander Ballroom … where our US Lighting Trends booth was! Wall to wall people.

The people onslaught continued into the 4 floors of exhibit space where there were about 470 manufacturer booths, each with a 10×10 slot … some table tops, some a traditional 10 x 10 booth and others with “structures” as they expanded their space into 10 x 20 with a booth per brand. According to our US Lighting Trends editors who walked the show on Tuesday, the aisles, and booths, were packed.

LEDucation is no longer a local agent show. There were distributors, reps / agents, and specifiers from around the country as well as some international attendees. For a show that used to attract only regional manufacturer personnel, this is now a “must be at” for national level manufacturer personnel.

For a show that shared featured products, this is now a show where manufacturers are introducing new products.

Some may say this is because there is no LightFair this year, but LightFair ceded the spot, according to manufacturers, due to prohibitive costs and moving to every other year.

Observations from LEDucation

• From manufacturers – Lots of energy in the air. Much talk about current projects that specifiers had. Difficult to have any in-depth / insightful discussions as everyone is “quick discussion and then off to the next one” due to time constraints and trying to talk to many.
• A few manufacturers commented that they have some concern about potential price declines. These were from companies that primarily import from China. Lighting factories (contract manufacturers) are moving from China to Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, etc. to get out from US tariffs and US / China commerce concerns. The concern is that they get away from tariffs and drop prices by 25% as a way to potentially take share. Will others pass along thinking it will help them take share / drive demand (and profit deteriorates.) The reality is that it would not stimulate demand and, if others followed, non-Asian companies that have higher costs would be at a competitive disadvantage.
• More “quality” manufacturers are seeking data to manage their business.
• Resi seems to be having a slight rebound, especially at the luxury end of the market.
• Small renovation market is okay. Large construction is hurting in most parts of the country.
• Many “hope” for 2^nd half rebound. Everyone is busy with quotations.
• No one expects the switchgear backlog to change, and this continues to delay projects. Spoke to some who have customers buying lighting projects and the distributor is storing the equipment for them until the switchgear is installed.
• Many displaying controls. The challenge is that few companies are promoting the “why controls” to end-users so that it is being requested. The same with circadian lighting. I spoke to someone from the Department of Veteran Affairs who was asked me technical questions about circadian lighting and some recent pilots and studies he saw in journals. He was considering proposing for government projects. My question was, “which manufacturers are promoting the benefits to ‘John Q Developer’ to stimulate demand?” If demand is not stimulated, will specifiers be able to promote / sell? If they cannot, how will manufacturers, who specialize in promoting features, benefits, and the technical parts, get “sales at bats” to create demand? Where is the marketing?
• Saw some companies with solar lighting.
• Lots of contemporary design Whether this was due to New York focus or that modern / contemporary is the trend is unknown, but this was not a “white goods” / commodity products show
• Spoke to some lighting agents that are interested in selling their businesses.
• Reportedly the education sessions were very good … and sold out.
• Synergy + ELA, the new agency formed by the merger of Synergy Electrical Sales and Electrical Lighting Agencies, was the only New York agency that did in-show marketing as they had created floor banners, pink and orange balloons and a US Open giveaway to attract specifiers to their suppliers’ booths.

There were some technology companies that sought the ear of manufacturers and agents. Three I remembered were Parspec, Your Lighting Brand, and Nickel.

Nickel, a payments processing company focused on the construction industry, visited a number of smaller manufacturer booths, and asked about trends. They did a quick video interview of each. Takeaways included:

• Miniaturization
• Modularity
• Sustainability
• Controls
• Integrating lighting into other surfaces

Here’s a link to their post on LinkedIn. I encourage you to check out the video on the post.

Regarding Parspec, while talking to them at their booth a couple of agents, who use their software, commented that it is a “game changer” for them from a content and productivity viewpoint. The Parspec booth signage, and collateral, also highlighted a number of “name” distributors using their tools to drive their lighting business. Parspec is also helping distributors win non-lighting business too. Something that you should check out (and if you are a manufacturer, should make sure that your content is integrated into their tools.)

Another interesting company was Innerscene. This company has “human-centric virtual skylights.”

Channel Marketing Group, ElectricalTrends and US Lighting Trends exhibited and attended LEDucation

LEDucation is unique in that most manufacturers were grouped based upon their local agency relationship. LEDucation started as a show for the local specifier community so was structured around the local lighting agent. It helps facilitate discussions between specifiers, agent, and manufacturer. But the show has grown, so now there are manufacturers who sell direct to end-users as well as to / through specifiers (who may work on behalf of their client.)

Linda Longo, Managing Editor for Residential and Institutional Markets for US Lighting Trends, posted an article with observations from the first day of the show. Highlights from the article include:

• Reportedly there is a waiting list of nearly 75 companies (where will they put them? And how could people cover more booths in less than 2 days!)
• “this year’s show received unanimous rave reviews about the high quality of both products and attendees.”
• The show had commercial and residential (decorative) lines in attendance. The relative low show costs (yes, New York hotel room rates are expensive, but the show doesn’t suffer from union and convention rates, plus Designers Lighting Forum New York, the show sponsor, is a non-profit) enables the show to be viable for smaller manufacturers to have their own booth.
• Manufacturers appreciated the number of specifiers / designers that attended the show. Steve Parker of Lighting Network Group commented “We find LEDucation provides the best ROI among any of our marketing expenditures.” Small manufacturers that are on local line agent line cards were able to afford to attend the show!

For all intent and purposes, the sense was that every attendee received a good ROI on the show. While there were comments about the crowds, as long as you did not have a claustrophobic anxiety attack, the show was a winner. Part of the key is having a few people to cover the space in only a few days. It is better to “divide and conquer” than turn it into a weeklong event.

There were enough supplier entertainment events to keep key people “happy” but, after a 10-hour day staffing and walking booths, many rested up for day 2 (as the exhibit halls closed at 8:00pm!)

A productive 2 days.

If you attended, what were your thoughts? Which supplier booths (or products) stood out to you?