Industry News

LIGHTFAIR® International (LFI®) will produce its 2016 west-coast event in San Diego in a strategic move signaling continuing growth for the world’s largest annual architectural and commercial lighting trade show and conference, according to Jeffrey L. Portman, Sr., president and chief operating officer of LFI managing partner AMC, Inc.
 
The 2016 staging at the San Diego Convention Center marks the San Diego premiere for LFI, which is produced alternately annually in large east- and west-coast venues.  The San Diego location follows LFI’s long-running staging in Las Vegas at the Las Vegas Convention Center, its west-coast venue beginning in 1998, continuing in 2001 and then recurring in even years 2004-2012.
 
The San Diego Convention Center size and scale, together with its proximity to extensive hotel facilities and transportation resources and services, is a defining factor in the LFI 2016 location decision.  The Center is conveniently located within walking distance of more than 11,000 first-class hotel rooms and scenic San Diego Bay.  San Diego International Airport’s advantageous location within three miles of the Center offers additional convenience with 21 airlines serving 54 domestic and international destinations.  With more than 500,000 square feet of exhibit hall space, the Center is well equipped to house LFI’s rapidly growing presentation of lighting, energy and design products, systems and technologies.

“San Diego will give 2016 attendees and exhibitors the unmatched advantages that extend naturally from an environment blending spectacular facilities, a superb waterfront setting, and a desirable year-round temperate climate, all captured in the beauty and charm of a fascinating city steps away from LFI’s front door,” notes Marsha Turner, executive vice president of LFI partner International Association of Lighting Designers (IALD).  “We are thrilled at all that San Diego holds for LFI,” Turner adds.
 
LIGHTFAIR® International 2013 is set to produce the single-largest trade show and conference in its 24-year history April 21—25 in Philadelphia’s Pennsylvania Convention Center, which will house important new category additions accommodated by expansion to an additional exhibit hall.  The 2013 event is expected to continue its record-setting performance posted over the past 10 years.
 
“As we approach LFI 2013 in Philadelphia, we also look to the tremendous prospects of a 2016 event enriched and enlivened with the experience which only San Diego can deliver,” notes William Hanley, executive vice president of LFI partner Illuminating Engineering Society (IES).  “Imagine walking the waterfront from hotel to exhibit hall, with the celebrated Gaslight District close by, and the energy and excitement of the world’s largest annual lighting event at the center of it all,” Hanley adds. 
 
San Diego and the San Diego Convention Center afford LFI 2016 exhibitors and attendees a destination and venue well-suited to the unique requirements of its Conference and Trade Show, which in the 2012 Las Vegas event recorded more than 24,000 registered attendees, observes Portman.
 
“For LFI and its global business base, San Diego opens yet another new door to the future with its spectacular combination of Pacific-coast location, superb facilities, unrivaled accessibility and a beautiful, soaring city poised and proud to welcome us,” notes Portman.  “The San Diego Convention Center in particular creates a unique environment perfectly suited to the LFI design aesthetic with its distinctive architecture, downtown proximity and bayshore siting,” adds Portman.  “With these and the many other defining advantages San Diego holds, we expect great things for LFI’s continuing growth in 2016,” Portman adds.
 
LFI is named among the fastest-growing U.S. trade shows in Trade Show Executive’s Fastest 50 listing for 2011 and is recognized as one of the 25 fastest-growing shows by TSNN in its Top 25 listing for 2011.
 
The 2016 San Diego location decision is based on extended study and customer dialogue, including independent quantitative and qualitative research conducted among LFI exhibitors and attendees.  San Diego emerged as the clear preference among LFI’s global customer population, which includes top designers, specifiers, engineers, architects and other professionals.
 
The 2016 LIGHTFAIR International dates include the Pre-Conference program from April 24 – April 25, 2016 and the Trade Show and Conference from April 26 – April 28, 2016 with all events staged in the San Diego Convention Center. www.lightfair.com