Organized by the Designers Lighting Forum of New York (DLFNY), LEDucation 2024 opens its program on March 14 with two days of virtual conference sessions, prior to the in-person exhibition and conference at the New York Hilton Midtown on March 19 and 20.
Now in its 18th year, LEDucation’s conference program offers continuing-education accredited seminars alongside panel discussions on lighting design practice, technology solutions, and pressing issues across the lighting design and building technology integration sectors, such as sustainability, decarbonization, diversity in the lighting/design professions, social justice, and quality lighting to support human wellbeing.
In the 2023 event wrap-up report, co-chair Burt Grant said, “Attendance at our virtual education sessions have proved there is worldwide interest and these sessions have contributed to the expansion of the LEDucation name… We are exploring ways to better serve not only the local and national industry, but the international lighting market as well.”
Over the past several years, the presentation committee — administered by Shaun Fillion (NYSID and RAB Lighting), Wendy Kaplan (Feelux Lighting), and Craig Fox (ETC) — has considered the changes in event attendance and continued interest in online education access since the pandemic.
“When LEDucation went virtual during the pandemic, the virtual sessions proved to be very popular with online audiences,” Fillion told LEDs Magazine. “When we returned to an in-person conference, we felt it was important to continue providing presentations for the growing virtual audience.”
Fillion referenced the 2023 event’s success in moving ahead with two days of virtual sessions for 2024. “In 2023, we featured a full virtual seminar day prior to LEDucation’s in-person days. Attendance was strong; we served over 3,500 virtual attendees in webinars where the average attendance was 350 people,” he noted.
Doubling the number of available online sessions, and holding them several days before many attendees would travel to New York, could open up the conference content to a greater number of participants. Fillion also noted the economic accessibility of the virtual conference, priced at $50 for two days of AIA and HSW accredited webinars, and said organizers “hope to serve around 6,000 attendees over the course of the two days.”
Although the call for speakers has typically not been guided by a theme, trends in topics emerge during the abstract vetting process, Fillion observed. After reviewing 200+ submissions from sources around the world and narrowing down the final 48 presentations, he said, the committee balanced the most popular topics among the virtual and in-person programming, including lighting controls, circadian entrainment, sustainability. and code compliance.
On March 14 and 15, registrants will have the opportunity to attend 15 sessions on a range of topics. Speakers will cover technologies such as microlens arrays; applying energy and building codes, as well as sustainability strategies, to lighting projects; and multiple facets of lighting designed to support human health, wellbeing, and the diverse needs of various demographics.
This report focuses specifically on LEDucation’s virtual offerings, but of course there are extensive in-person educational, demonstration, and networking opportunities over the two-day tradeshow and conference in New York. View the schedule and register at https://leducation.org/.
Editor’s presentation picks
A dive into the virtual conference lineup reveals several interesting prospects to this particular editor.
Better Than Blue Light – Jay Neitz, PhD, University of Washington
Neitz will discuss the supporting role of red, green, and blue cones in providing input regarding light color and intensity to the intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (ipRGCs) — which typically get all the glory in circadian lighting.
Horticultural Lighting for Architectural Spaces – Yan Ren-Butcher and Mike McGrew, Rayn Growing Systems
Plant scientist Ren-Butcher and horticultural lighting sales executive McGrew will outline how horticultural lighting can be incorporated into indoor spaces to maintain live plants for either décor or harvesting — an interesting take on agricultural technology integrated alongside the human-centric indoor environment.
Designing Lighting to Enable Workplace Equity and Performance Panel: Jose Dos Santos, Signify; Meg Smith, LWLumens; and Tony Esposito, International Well Building Institute
I’ve come across several engaging discussions on LinkedIn of late regarding the lack of attention to individuals with varying visual conditions and neuro-supportive needs in lighting deployments. As an industry, we can’t change the way things are done without learning from those in the lab and the field how to evolve the built environment to address these needs. This panel seems to provide a starting point for such discussion, centering around two studies with different demographics.
Beyond the Visible: The proven effects of near-infrared light on our health and well-being – Dr. Anne Berends, Seaborough BV
Life science program director Berends will tackle the lack of near-infrared wavelengths in typical indoor lighting; their potential influence on human wellbeing; and ways in which these nonvisible wavelengths can be delivered with a balance between cost and energy efficiency.
These are only a few sessions that piqued my interest. What caught your eye? See the full virtual and in-person session lineup at https://leducation.org.
— Carrie Meadows
CARRIE MEADOWS is editor-in-chief of LEDs Magazine, with 20-plus years’ experience in business-to-business publishing across technology markets including solid-state technology manufacturing, fiberoptic communications, machine vision, lasers and photonics, and LEDs and lighting.
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Carrie Meadows | Editor-in-Chief, LEDs Magazine
Carrie Meadows has more than 20 years of experience in the publishing and media industry. She worked with the PennWell Technology Group for more than 17 years, having been part of the editorial staff at Solid State Technology, Microlithography World, Lightwave, Portable Design, CleanRooms, Laser Focus World, and Vision Systems Design before the group was acquired by current parent company Endeavor Business Media.
Meadows has received finalist recognition for LEDs Magazine in the FOLIO Eddie Awards, and has volunteered as a judge on several B2B editorial awards committees. She received a BA in English literature from Saint Anselm College, and earned thesis honors in the college's Geisel Library. Without the patience to sit down and write a book of her own, she has gladly undertaken the role of editor for the writings of friends and family.
Meadows enjoys living in the beautiful but sometimes unpredictable four seasons of the New England region, volunteering with an animal shelter, reading (of course), and walking with friends and extended "dog family" in her spare time.
