Lightapalooza 2024 has wrapped up, and as I look back to recap on my experience at the event, the one thing that I have at the top of my mind is: where do we go from here? In one quick year since opening to the public, the show has already doubled in size in terms of both attendees and exhibitors, and from all that I saw while at the show, it seems interest is nowhere near leveling out just yet.

The official numbers have yet to roll in, but just talking about registered attendees with Tom Doherty, the brains behind this explosive channel event, Lightapalooza 2024 had 1,283 confirmed registrants by the show’s Monday open. That’s nearly twice last year’s 685 attendees.

The show floor also expanded, raking in plenty of new exhibitors while returning exhibitors sought to expand their booth presence.

The Largest Lighting Education Show?

To really get an understanding of how popular Lightapalooza 2024 was, though, we need to look at its biggest component: education.

According to Doherty, Lightapalooza education clocked in with 6,081 registered seats accounting for 8,789 combined hours of education that were delivered over the course of the event. For context: that’s enough education to fill out a leap year and then some.

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“It’s more education than any light event in North America currently gives,” Doherty stated.

It was my intent to bounce around sessions to see how everything was shaping up, but the professional student in me found it impossible to step away once the conversation started. Whether it was discussions on power or digging deeper into the business of lighting, the sessions were enthralling, and it showed from the packed rooms.

Speaking of power: the newcomer to Lightapalooza 2024 proved to be an absolute hit among attendees. The energy alley they had going on at the show, while a bit out of the way, had a steady stream of traffic moving through it throughout the day, with the general sessions drawing in quite the crowd.

In terms of demystifying the specifics, the show did a tremendous job, and I can say both the education and the exhibitors really excelled at being able to put the breadth of products into scope for interested parties. I think, for the time being, though, many integrators may still grapple with their options, as well as how to incorporate these systems into regular sales.

That’s not meant to be an indictment of how the topic was handled; it was absolutely a comment on how new the category is. As goes the common phrase, though, the worst thing about being an innovator is that you may show up a little bit too early, and while some integrators have already cracked the energy code, there’s still plenty of work to be done.

Lightapalooza Commands a New Level of Respect in the Industry

It was genuinely surprising to see how many product launches were timed with Lightapalooza 2024, both in lead up to the show and at the show itself, which to me showcases how much respect the show has garnered within the industry to be warranting such big announcements.

WAC had Colorscaping, Coastal Source had EVO, Séura introduced a smart lighted mirror, DMF showed off its dealer-centric Artafex series, and USAI intro’d its LittleTwos LED lights—to name a few.

You also had manufacturers demoing some big developments in the space, that, while maybe not a new product launch, warranted some hype. Snap One, for instance, was showcasing its new DALI gateway for the DALI-2 protocol. Meanwhile, in a small, remote corner of the hall, Converging Systems brought out a program that was capable of color mapping profiles from a Ketra bulb to connected fixtures in real time.

The number of incredible products that were on display at the show just goes on, so you’ll have to stay tuned for the highlight reel when that comes out.

What’s more is that it still feels like Lightapalooza hasn’t finished growing.

Expanding beyond its HTSA origins, Lightapalooza has become a symbol of collaboration inside the industry, with this year featuring plenty of support from groups like Azione, ProSource and even CEDIA.

Jim Pearse, President of ProSource, said, “When you talking about building an industry that has risen up out of seemingly nothing like this has, there’s just not enough resources, there’s not enough scale to do that individually…

“When we are working together, I do believe we are able to deliver a better service to the industry, and in turn, a better service to our members.”

Daryl Friedman of CEDIA also noted the potential industry pressures that may come as a result of this growth.

“One of the challenges that we’ll have that’s a little bit more macro is future-proofing this integrator position that [integrators] have carved out and creating a truly defensible position within the consumer electronics category.

“What’s really beginning to happen, from my point of view is that we’re starting to poke the bear in some really well established industries. We’re talking designers, electricians, and these big multi-billion dollar lighting companies that are starting to go ‘Oh my gosh what is going on over here…’

“The competitiveness that is going to come with all the success we’ve have is something that I’ve been thinking about in terms of how we’re going to properly position CEDIA, HTSA, ProSource, everyone, to make sure we all have a seat at the table.”

For Doherty, the event itself is not too dissimilar from what he experienced with the formation of CEDIA Expo years ago as all the Hi-Fi professionals came together to create an entirely new industry of home technology installers.

“Getting a chance to be there every step of the way with Lightapalooza makes it feel a lot like the early days of CEDIA,” Doherty noted on Monday before the conference went into full force. “We have here a community of vendors, representatives, educators and professionals coming together in what is arguably shaping up to be its own unique industry.”

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