In case you were waist deep in a Thanksgiving coma when the news broke: the education schedule for Lightapalooza 2024 has been posted, and, in anticipation for my first time attending Lightapalooza since starting work at CE Pro, I sat down recently with Tom Doherty, the man behind this rapidly growing event, to talk about what attendees can expect to see while at the show in February.

For those with passing familiarity of Lightapalooza, the event is a primarily educational affair that encompasses all things lighting within the integration channel. First conceived in 2022 with the meteoric growth of the lighting channel, the event has grown year over year with surging attendance from integrators as well as some of the top lighting brands and experts within the industry.

And according to Doherty, Lightapalooza 2024 has some truly ambitious plans to help further grow the event for integrators of all skill levels and experience with its education schedule.

While the layout and formatting of the education remains somewhat consistent from last year, the event has expanded in many ways. More manufacturing training, more certification opportunities, more topics and more show floor space for the third day of the event. In fact, the show floor space has roughly doubled from last year, featuring some of the top names of the lighting industry, such as Lucifer Lighting.

The educational sessions themselves have been split up to accommodate beginner, intermediate and expert level education, akin to 100, 200 and 300 level college courses, Doherty notes. New to Lightapalooza 2024 education sessions, however, is an 8-hour certification course hosted by David Warfel of Light Can Help You.

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The course encapsulates two sessions focusing on a mix of lectures and hands-on “lab” work on the basics of lighting, ending with a final exam meant to test the lessons learned throughout the sessions. Those passing the test will be rewarded with the certification.

“One of the things that we received on feedback about Lightapalooza is that people want certifications, and so we wanted to include those opportunities more at the event,” notes Doherty.

“What we found is that rather than using them to showcase their skills to other trades, firms find value in these certifications by just knowing that they’re getting their money’s worth in education. A person can go through the class, do the education, take the test, and then at the end, come out with a guarantee that they made a worthwhile investment and that they were able to retain the knowledge.”

According to Doherty, each certification does have limited seats, however, forty-eight to be exact, and as of our conversation, the course had yet to be filled, but they were receiving sign-ups fast.

What may come as a shock to many perusing the Lightapalooza 2024 website, though, is the inclusion of power and energy management courses. Rather than engage in the traditional talks of surge protection, Doherty assures me the sessions will be covering more cutting-edge concepts in the space such as power design, solar integration, battery backup and power protection when dealing with said batteries.

“I don’t want to say the number of disciplines that integrators need to know nowadays can be a little overwhelming, but it’s a big lift,” notes Doherty. “But the integrators that made that investment into lighting in the beginning, they’ve been able to fold that into a lot of the other stuff they were working on previously.

“I felt as though [power] would be a valuable thing to have as part of the education because the way it’s being talked about among experts and the way we’re seeing play out in the industry, integrators that get into the ground floor of power are going to be able to fold it into lighting and spark conversations about power design in the home, and that’s going to be the next new thing to get in early on a project.”

According to Doherty, that assumption seems to be paying off. Even having published the finalized show schedule in the middle of Thanksgiving break for many people, those sessions discussing power management rank in the top 5 most registered show sessions so far.

Doherty also pointed out a few heavy hitting courses they have planned for attendees at Lightapalooza 2024. One of the masterclasses available focuses specifically on the lighting design approach of Light Can Help You and works to explain their rationale for integrators looking to elevate their lighting practice. Acclaimed lighting expert Glenn Merlin Johnson will also be presenting his signature Adaptive Lighting Approach while at the show.

Located at the Renaissance Phoenix Glendale Hotel and Spa in Glendale, Arizona, Lightapalooza 2024 is set to take place February 26 – 29.

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