November 9, 2022
Another Lighting Event Announces Biennial Cadence
Every-other-year lighting events create a more manageable trade show cadence for attendees and exhibitors
On the heels of recent news that LightFair is converting to a biennial show, another lighting trade show and conference, LightSPEC West, has also announced an every-other-year cadence.
The inaugural LightSPEC West occurred two months ago in Los Angeles and show organizers have just confirmed that the second iteration will take place in 2024 on dates to be announced at a Southern California location to be determined. Our review of this year’s LightSPEC West described it as a very positive building block for the next iteration.
Show organizers told us that 2,200 people had pre-registered for the September 2022 event and recently confirmed that “LightSPEC West attracted more than 1,300 lighting specifiers, designers and buyers of commercial, architectural and high-end decorative lighting products, controls and technologies.”
LightFair and LightSPEC West in alternate years
The result of the biennial rhythm of these events will put LightFair in New York City in odd years through 2029, and LightSPEC West in SoCal in even years. Even though LightFair is contracted for New York in 2023 and signed a letter of intent for future odd-numbered years, we speculated two weeks ago that contracts can be broken and a west coast LightFair may possibly happen before the end of the 2020’s decade.
This year’s inaugural LightSPEC West occurred three months after LightFair 2022 was held 270 miles up Interstate 15 in Las Vegas. As trade shows space out their calendars and decrease their frequency, the increased scarcity may cause attendance to rise with subsequent events.
The biggest biennial lighting event
The world’s largest lighting trade show, Frankfurt, Germany’s Light + Building, is set to return to its biennial springtime rhythm in March 2024. Light + Building usually attracts a global audience of over 200,000 lighting people, but this year’s return from COVID drew approximately 93,000 visitors. LightSPEC West will share the even years with Light + Building.
The origins of LightSPEC West date back to LightShow West, which was a biennial event that occurred during the years when LightFair was held in New York or Philadelphia. Owners of LightSPEC West, Endeavor Business Media, purchased the assets of LightShow West during a Covid-induced bankruptcy liquidation of LightShow West’s parent company in 2021.
