LightFair Returns to Las Vegas

This week’s LightFair trade show and conference had more than 320 exhibitors and offered attendees 41 educational sessions. Booth traffic was decent on the first day of the show and notably stronger than the 2021 Lightfair event in New York, which struggled to overcome required vaccine and mask mandates. Show organizers estimated that the 2022 event would draw over 10,000 visitors over three days.

There was a lot of chatter on the show floor about the smaller number of exhibitors and attendees compared to previous LightFairs and the decisions by several large companies, including Acuity Brands and Lutron, to not exhibit at the event. However, the roster of exhibitors on the show floor was a good representation of the major players in today’s lighting market and there were plenty of new products for attendees to check out on the show floor.

RAB Lighting went with a minimalist approach for its booth at Lightfair. A RAB spokesperson said the two giant melting ice cubes suspended from the convention hall's rafters were intended to represent global warming, and how the company's lighting portfolio offers solutions to enhance sustainability on the planet.The show’s manager and sponsors — AMC, the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES) and International Association of Lighting Designers (IALD) — should be commended for staging a quality event despite major staffing cuts at the associations, the challenges all trade shows are facing in the post-COVID world and sweeping consolidation in the lighting industry that has cut the number of potential exhibitors.

Several vendors that we visited with at the show were working on tunable LED lighting that can be customized to specific applications, including classrooms, factories and horticultural lighting. There’s a lot of research into how certain type of lighting can increase students’ attention spans, help productivity and safety on the factory floor and be optimized for individual plants to enhance growth.

On the first day of the show, LightFair announced the winners of its 2022 LightFair Innovation Awards (LIAs) in 14 categories, along with four overall excellence distinctions: Most Innovative Product of the Year (MIFOR 70 Lighting System by Klus), Technical Innovation (TruBlu Bluetooth Mesh Fixture Controller with Long Range Antenna by McWong International), Design Excellence (Easy-Link by Edison Price Lighting) and Judges’ Citation (CombiCable by Gripple) awards.

Next year’s LightFair will be held at New York's Javits Center, May 21-25, 2023.