Walking the Show Floor at LEDucation 2024

LEDucation built on its growing reputation as a national lighting show with estimated attendance of nearly  11,000 and  an as-yet undetermined final count of participants in virtual training sessions at the New York Hilton Hotel on March 19-20.
Well over 400 booths and 48 educational sessions attracted members of the lighting community from across the United States. For the 475 exhibitors, a major attraction of the event is that all booths are restricted in size, trimming the comparatively large investment of a booth at LightFair. According to a report at inside.lighting.com, each individual booth is limited to 224 cubic feet, with standard dimensions of 7 feet in width, 4 feet in depth and 8 feet in height. Many exhibitors used the smaller footprint to focus on a fairly limited number of new products.
Although it has evolved into a national show, LEDucation has a distinctly New York City feel. On the first day of the event, some of  the aisles in the four exhibition halls were jammed to the point of gridlock, and it almost seems like the event is a victim of its own success, with some aisles at times almost completely blocked by attendees visiting with vendors and chatting with business associates. On Day 2, the show aisles on the trade show floor were much easier to navigate.
A surprising number of lighting vendors were exhibiting tape lighting, which has become popular because broad array of colors LEDs now offer and the customization and flexibility the products offer. The trend toward fixture miniaturization was also evident, with many fixtures of less than two inches on display that provide equivalent or better lighting than PAR lighting a few years ago.
LEDucation 2025 will be back at the New York Hilton on March 18–19, 2025.