Held on the Dallas Market Center (DMC) campus September 17 & 18, ArchLIGHT Summit attracted a record number of exhibitors and attendees from the architectural, specification, and design communities. The two-day trade event and education platform featured 100+ exhibitors, welcomed attendees from coast to coast, and hosted dozens of CEU opportunities, panel discussions, and immersive experiences.
The 2024 edition of ArchLIGHT Summit experienced a 34% attendance increase over 2023 and was held concurrently with Dallas Design Week and the Total Home & Gift Market.
The active participation from leading local sales agencies contributed greatly to the growth of the show, including support from ALA, Hossley Lighting & Power Systems, NEXGEN Lighting Solutions, Preferred Lighting Group, and Texas Lighting Solutions.
The expansive number of ArchLIGHT Summit exhibitors filled a sold-out show floor and included many of the top brands in lighting. First-time exhibitors included industry leaders such as Finelite, Inter-lux, Lightheaded Lighting, OCL, QTL, and The Lighting Quotient. Returning exhibitors included special partners Casambi, Sourcery, Luminii, Zumtobel, and The Lighting Exchange.
Paul Boken of Sourcery commented, “I think it’s my favorite show because it is the perfect scale.”
Added Michael Baudo, Director/Global Key Accounts with Zumtobel, “It was a great opportunity to share the knowledge we have … and it was a great success.”
Aaron Larmer of Texas Lighting Sales, a first-time sponsor and exhibitor, commented, “This was a great way for our customers to engage with our lighting and controls lines, as well as for our team to have a chance to see some of the latest products and technology in the industry. It was great to see so many attendees at the show from all different parts of our lighting community.”
Marco Merten, owner of Orbit Lighting and new exhibitor remarked, “We’ll be coming back next year for sure. We’ve had a lot of great people [stop by].”
Ed Martin, representing new exhibitor TLS Lighting, added, “Overall I feel that the show was a success…it feels like we have the right people.”
Rob Davis of NAL Lighting Group concluded, “It was fantastic the responses we got at the show, we will absolutely be back next year!”
In addition, on September 18, participating permanent showrooms at DMC welcomed ArchLIGHT attendees to a “Showroom Spectacular” that included tours of the companies’ permanent exhibit spaces and featured hospitality and entertainment. Guided tours included topical presentations including colors and finishes; luminaire scale, placement and design; and materials. Participating showrooms included Kuzco|Alora, ELK Lighting, LEDI, Varaluz, Hubbardton Forge, CSL, WAC Lighting, Modern Forms, Oxygen, AFX, Minka Group, Eurofase, Acrosentec, Avenue Lighting, Sonneman-A Way of Light, and Gama Sonic Solar.
Michael Brown of Gama Sonic noted, “It’s been really good. We have some gaps in our commercial sales reps and we talked to some great folks here. We also have had great conversations with specifiers as well as landscape architects, which fits our line perfectly. We also talked to some students that were excited about the lighting industry, which is fantastic.”
In addition to visiting the show floor and permanent showrooms, hundreds of lighting designers, architects, interior designers, and other professionals attended ArchLIGHT Summit two stages and demonstration vignettes, which offered guests informative and interactive sessions on health and lighting, UGR ratings, human-centered design, visualization tools, safety, personal branding, photometry, lighting regulations, collaboration, systems integration, and ARCHITECT Magazine presented a panel on the state of design.
On Monday evening, a welcome party was sponsored by WILD [Women in Lighting + Design] and the Tuesday evening opening night party – which provided food, drinks, and entertainment – was sponsored by Casambi.
New experiences for attendees were specialized lighting vignettes including the Behavioral Health Vignette, sponsored by Visa Lighting, and the UGR Vignette, sponsored by Zumtobel.
In the Behavioral Health Vignette, a carefully designed presentation helped demonstrate the importance of behavioral health/high-abuse luminaires and interior design elements. When it comes to patient and staff safety, behavioral health/high-abuse facilities need lighting fixtures that are tested and proven to perform to the highest standard in these specialty environments.
In the UGR Vignette, guests experienced a real-life setting to demonstrate how the Unified Glare Rating (UGR) numbers calculated on paper actually feel. This unique installation enabled attendees to experience various glare and comfort aspects of UGR, to experience what the UGR Rating is and learn why it’s important to understand the different settings. An expert from Zumtobel was present to answer questions and guide participants on experiencing and understanding the various measurements.
Another unique feature of the show was the Immerse Yourself in Light experience, presented by The Lighting Exchange. The virtual reality (VR) experience allowed participants to dive into real projects from designers from all over the world; explore the fundamental elements of light and interact with the products that illuminate the world around us; and to experience the real impacts of light in the built environment and learn from the industry’s absolute best while completely immersed in light.
Student Day at ArchLIGHT Summit on September 18 welcomed students from nearly one dozen colleges and universities including Oregon State University, Kansas University, Indiana University-Bloomington, University of Oklahoma, and seven Texas schools including Texas Christian University, the University of North Texas, and Baylor University.
New association partners for the event included the International Association of Lighting Designers (IALD). ArchLIGHT Summit continues to support the IALD Education Trust with unique programming and fundraising opportunities during the two-day event. The IALD Education Trust supports students and educators and promotes the profession of architectural lighting design. ArchLIGHT Summit also partnered with procurement platform Sourcery, which streamlines product collaboration among specifiers, agents, and manufacturers to benefit the IALD Education Trust. Attendees scanned and saved favorite products on the Sourcery platform, and in return a contribution was made by participating exhibitors.
Other new association partners include Association of Outdoor Lighting Professionals (AOLP), International Landscape Lighting Institute (ILLI), and The National Association of Women in Construction. New media partners include Bisnow and D5 Design Magazine.
Official event sponsors include Casambi, Visa Lighting, Zumtobel, Luminii, Sourcery, and The Lighting Exchange. Official Agency Partners include ALA, Hossley Lighting and Power Solutions, NexGen, Preferred Lighting Group and Texas Lighting Solutions.
Exhibitor Registration is open for next year’s ArchLIGHT Summit, September 16-17, 2025. To reserve booth space, click here
The Call for Speakers will open later this year and Attendee Registration will open in Spring 2025. To stay current with the latest developments, follow ArchLIGHT Summit on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Threads and LinkedIn.
Other lighting events at Dallas Market Center include the twice-annual Lightovation, the largest trade event in North America for residential lighting. The next edition of Lightovation is January 8-11, 2025, with an Interior Designer Preview Day set for January 7. For more information and complimentary registration, click here
