November 1, 2021
LightFair Feedback: "Better than Expected"
Attendees and Exhibitors Left NYC Generally Satisfied
LightFair during a pandemic was certainly different than non-pandemic times, but despite the less-packed and less-grandiose trade show floor, the consistent feedback from attendees and exhibitors was “better than expected.”
Managed Expectations
Most attendees and exhibitors seemingly managed their LightFair expectations before arriving on Manhattan’s West Side. They knew that some of their favorite lighting people and companies would not be at the show. They knew that it wouldn’t take 1 ½ days to walk the show like it has in years past. They know that a steady stream of highfalutin lighting specifiers wouldn’t be strolling through their booths.
The small portion of attendees and exhibitors who were most disappointed seemed to be unwavering in making comparisons to huge Lightfair events of year’s past. We heard one attendee call it “eerie.” Another told us “the only positive thing I can say about the show is that it was compact.“
In the end, most people we spoke with were generally satisfied. And the ones that left pleased or very pleased seemed to vastly outnumber those who were disappointed. This year’s show seemed to be more about people than product. The feeling of “homecoming weekend” seemed to be a prevailing reason why many were pleased. That may or may not satisfy the ROI-focused marketing and finance people back at the home office, but we often hear that this is a “relationship business”, don’t we?
Scaled down booths:
Before LightFair, many were aware that the usual sea of 1000+ square-foot towering booth pavilions was not going to be part of this year’s show. Some big brands and other well-known brands took small 100-200 square-foot booths, possibly to stay in good standing on the LightFair booth space draft board for future shows.
Some exhibitors simply had chairs, signage and monitors in the booth. Few products or no products. That was unusual to see at a product-focused show, but maybe they got it right. Those booths were frequently busy with people connecting and talking lighting without the requisite product pitch.
The IES, part-owner of LightFair, won a LightFair Innovation Award. Again.
Last year, the IES was awarded the Lightfair Innovation Awards 2020 Judge’s Citation for the IES eLearning Portal. This year, the IES was awarded another Innovation Award in the category of Non-Luminous – Research, Publications, Lighting Software & Specialty Hardware for converting its voluminous library of standards from an a la carte pricing setup to a subscription-based model.
The endeavor certainly involved much more effort than adding widgets to a shopping cart app – mainly due to the Reference Retriever and Illuminance Selector features, but the IES winning an award that it partially owned was still perceived as “perplexing” and “bad optics” by some. And other companies that submitted in the category (GE Current, LightStanza, LTI Optics and SnapCount) may have left disappointed that they can’t put the elegantly pointy LightFair trophy on their shelves or use the endorsement as part of a strong marketing campaign.
We didn’t hear anyone directly accuse the independent judging panel of favoritism or wrongdoing. The feedback focused primarily on eligibility and optics.
Lightfair 2022
Deep down, many people seemingly knew that the first LightFair out of the COVID gates would be a smaller and different show. As the world returns to schools, theaters, stadiums and arenas there may be more of a palate for B2B trade shows in the months ahead.
We will be in Las Vegas for LightFair 2022. Will you?
MORE COVERAGE
LightFair 2021: People and Products PART I »
LightFair 2021: People and Products PART II »
Don’t miss the next big lighting story…Click here to subscribe to the inside.lighting InfoLetter |
