The move-in and set-up is very smooth. We did hear of a slight delay in marshaling on Thursday, but it was quickly resolved and only affected a few companies for one or two hours. We walked the show Saturday evening and Sunday morning looking for union labor issues; we found none.
LIGHTFAIR 2017 looks to be more spectacular than ever. The big booths seem bigger and they are less jammed with products as they seem to have a certain elegance.
The Philips booth, like many of the tier 1’s, is as big as a city block. It actually has bridge in the center that changes color every hour. Very chic.
RAB seems to have over 1000 live plants in their booth for some sort of interactive light sculpturing event. Ross Barna explained, “Electric light is just starting to become connected to the Internet. What will the world be like in the future when IoT technology is everywhere?”
LG Innotek has an interesting booth but very little product. We saw two meetings rooms and counted 10 meeting tables.
DECO’s booth appears very original; not quite sure what I saw, so will comment once it is finished, but this could be radically different.
Orange is the new Orange. OSRAM, Acuity Brands, Sylvania and USAI all seem to use an almost identical pantone of orange, and lots of it! The first three booths are in the same neighborhood. Once the show is jammed, it may be hard to tell where one ends and the other begins.
Speaking of Acuity, they have a huge banner above their block and your humble editor counted 22 brands under their umbrella. Acuity is sponsoring a Cyber lounge.
There is no prize for getting your mega-booth fully set up, first. If there were, Current by GE, would win hands down. If the show opened Sunday afternoon, they would have been ready.
Hall F seems better than ever. LFI has done a great job in giving people reasons to visit. We saw the Zumtobel booth, which is reason enough to hit Hall F, but there are many other great companies, as well. Also, Hall F has free headshots on all three days. Tuesday, at 4 p.m., there is a new exhibitor pavilion cocktail hour and on Wednesday, Current by GE, is giving a talk on “Building an intelligent Environment.” Thursday, there is a free appreciation lunch. I’ll be spending significant time in Hall F.
The IOT Pavilion looks exciting—one could spend a whole day there. This is where Lumileds is stationed.
Phone charging stations in aisles 200 and 4100 —both sides of the main hall. We also saw a banner for an onsite medical clinic as well as a breast-feeding station.
3 options for shipping your stuff home:
- Leave it at your booth and it will magically arrive back at your facility. (Expensive)
- Take your boxes to the on-site FedEx facility. They charge a per-box premium over and above your standard FedEx rate. (Moderate)
- Take it across the street to the Marriott FedEx office. They do not charge any per-box premium. (Inexpensive)
On Sunday, LIGHTFAIR sent out an email blast encouraging hotel reservations for Chicago in 2018. We booked the Loews as it was only $8 per night more than the Courtyard. The Marriott Marquee and the Hyatt Regency are the closest—about a 7-minute walk. Prices range from $239 for the Doubletree and $328 for the Marriot Marquis. For best results, book now!
All indications are that this is going to be a great show!
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