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.
Attendees: A+
Lighting Manufacturers mainly attend the show for leads. The number of attendees was very manageable and the quality of attendees was superb. If you wanted to meet with large end users, they were there: Jones Lange LaSalle, CBRE, GM, just to name a few. Large ESCO’s such as SLS and AMERESCO attended as did key ED’s such as Rexel.
Exhibitors: A
There were about 200 total exhibitors. Although this is not a lighting show, there were many lighting strong companies including: GE, Philips, Crestron, Forest, Lightronics, Lutron, and TERRALUX
Entertainment/Keynote: A+
WEEC spends money on entertainment and we think it is smart. We heard great things about the Disney World Event on Tuesday. Dr. Condeleza Rice was the keynote and probably the best keynote speaker your humble editor has ever heard (Tony Denami and I got to meet her and shake her hand after the event.) Rich Little gave a strong performance on Wednesday evening.
Rich Little and Tony Denami
Content: A
There were 23 presentations and we heard especially good things about Wednesday’s Demand Response Program as well as the ANSI/ASHRAE Efficiency Standards presentation.
Logistics A-
Move-in and Move-out was easy. No union issues. We did hear a few complaints about having to pay $15 per day for parking.
Comfort: A
Air conditioning was at a great level. People that chose to wear jackets during the exhibit were comfortable. Also, there were several phone chargers conveniently located. Free drink coupons and hor dourves go a long way in making the audience comfortable.
WiFi: D
$79.00 per day. This was terrible. We spoke to Brian Douglas, the Director of Business Development, and he explained that it was a facility policy and neither WEEC nor AEE received any of those WiFi funds. He went on to say that at one sponsored session, AEE had to pay the $79 because they needed Internet access.
Most of us used our phones for WiFi, but it would have been nice to have it at a reasonable cost. Recall that LIGHTFAIR in New York had free WiFI earlier this year.
Overall it was a great show and we rate it at an A-
Our next rating will be a the IES Street and Area Lighting Conference this week in Savannah.