The week as been tumultuous to say the least with the impact of the coronavirus on the LED and solid-state lighting (SSL) sectors. Coming to week's end, we will update the status of Light + Building (L+B), LEDucation, LightFair International (LFI), and the LED professional Symposium (LpS). Leading the news, L+B says it will move to Sept. 27–Oct. 2, leading LpS to cancel. The other events are on as scheduled for now.
It was shocking on Monday when we learned that the massive L+B would postpone its mammoth event. In the end, however, it was the size and scale of the event that made cancellation, or more accurately postponement, the only option. So many L+B visitors and exhibitors come from China and other parts of Asia that show logistics and travel restrictions would have been impossible to manage.
In our newsletter earlier in the week, we discussed the fact that finding a replacement date would be a formidable task. Ultimately, L+B chose the aforementioned dates right at the end of September. Those dates did not directly conflict with LpS and associated events slated for Sept. 22–24, but surely the new L+B dates were too close for comfort. We’d surmise that the L+B and LpS management teams cooperated to some extent on making the plans for L+B to move to late September.
Ironically, the situation could still get worse. There is no guarantee that the world will be ready for a global event like L+B by September, although we’d certainly hope that it would. LpS conversely said it was cancelling due to the coronavirus yet it appears L+B was the real impetus for the smaller event to act now. And LpS, being a regional event focused on Austria and Germany primarily, might not be so impacted by the horrific logistics a global event such as L+B would face. We could see L+B cancel again and LpS lose out on what would have been a viable opportunity.
Moving the discussion to the US, the LEDucation event is set for Mar. 17–18 in New York City, one week after the original L+B dates. The organization issued a press release a couple of days back indicating that it had not been impacted thus far in terms of exhibitor or attendee plans, and that the event would be held as scheduled.
LEDucation is very much a regional event with many of the visitors from the immediate New York area or somewhere relatively nearby in the US northeast. Indeed, even many of the exhibits are manned by local manufacturers’ representatives and distributors with a relatively sparse number of travelers directly from SSL manufacturers. And the attendee base is heavily the lighting design and specification community operating within New York and New England cities. There will be no huge travel burden impacting LEDucation, so it may well go on as usual. But LEDucation will tell us more about how willing attendees are to risk contacting the coronavirus. Our own Strategies in Light event would indicate that fear is rampant.
LFI sits somewhere in the vast middle ground between LEDucation and L+B. The May 3–7 event slated for Las Vegas does have quite a few international exhibitors and probably even more attendees. Even North American and European attendees come from every corner of those continents. LFI will feel an impact from the coronavirus; it's just judging the magnitude of that impact that will make for tough decisions.
LFI posted an update on its plans earlier this week, stating it expected minimum disruption to the event. But already the rumors are swirling around exhibitors that are hesitant to attend. A lot will depend on the course of the coronavirus and the success of containment efforts in the near term.
For now, our company still plans to attend LEDucation and LFI. Indeed, we typically devote a feature article to LFI each year. In our 2019 coverage, we judged quality of light to be the main trend even as connected lighting remained a heavy presence. Stay tuned for more information on the 2020 event.
