Report Card: IES Street and Area Lighting Committee
There are three things that make this conference superb: quality of attendees; quality of content, and cohesiveness of the conference. If you are in the Street and Area Lighting business, there is no greater value for your money than to exhibit at this conference.
Editor’s Note: I attended this show as an exhibitor (Resilient/LUMA) as well as your humble editor and my report is from both perspectives. In addition, I serve on the SALC Full committee.
Attendees: A+
This show is centered around users of outdoor, area, and street lighting. There is probably no stronger committee in all of lighting than the SALC and the committee is involved with all aspects of the conference. This is what they do. Programs are constantly driven to attract utilities, cities and end-users, which is why it is so strong. Val Landers said the total number would approach or surpass 900—a 100 person increase over 2014.
Exhibitors: A+
There were about 64 total exhibitors—the highest number of exhibitors ever. Previously some large conglomerates were allowed more than one booth if those companies had purchased another exhibiting company over the years. Those grandfather clauses have all expired and all booths were equal size.
Content: A+
The content is what drives this conference and there were 25+ sessions. Only one session occurs at a time so the entire group is together throughout the conference. We like this policy. Especially strong sessions that we heard or heard about include:
- New Standards for a New Era. Clanton/Kauffman
- Impact of Dirt on LED Luminaires. Gibbons
- LED Lessons Learned. Ortt
Logistics A
Move in and move out was easy. No union issue. Convention center staff was extremely responsive. The conference has outgrown the single hotel venue and this event was hosted at the Convention Center. The attached Westin Hotel was not large enough to accommodate the entire group, so the SALC contracted with Marriott, which was across the river. A ferry ran every 20 minutes and everyone we talked to loved the ferry. Savannah was a great venue although there was much rain early on due to Hurricane Joaquin, which had no effect on the conference. We did hear of a few late flights and some very long drives as part of I-95 was closed in South Carolina.
Comfort: A-
Air conditioning was at a great level. There was an issue with sound in the main ballroom during the morning of the first day, but it was quickly corrected. Free lunches were served during the exhibits as well as drinks and heavy hors d oeuvres in the evening. There is nothing like free drinks to keep the group together and happy! We were presently surprised to see that the conference served glass bottled water with ice instead of those plastic bottles. We hope to see this at more events.
WiFi: A+
We logged into something called SITCC FREE it was free and we did not even have to agree to any terms. Free is good!
Overall it was a great show and we rate it at an A.