Like the ascending films in the Fast & the Furious franchise, each new Lightapalooza raises the stakes from the previous one, and the 2025 edition is no different. The fourth iteration of the event will be taking place in a brand-new, more spacious locale — the Hilton Anatole Dallas — from January 20-23 and lean further into its education focus with an added track presented by esteemed university professors and researchers.
The Space
When asked about the new venue, Tom Doherty, director of technology initiatives for HTSA and the driving force behind Lightapalooza, can barely contain his excitement. “I have two university-level lecture halls in a raked auditorium style that seat 160,” he enthuses. “The whole place is beautiful — the hotel is really high-end.”
For this year’s event, the main auditorium where large sessions such as the keynote are held is located right next to the exhibit floor, making it easy for attendees to catch sessions and then meet with their vendors of choice. Also new for this year, located upstairs from the main floor, is a large area for networking receptions that is surrounded by a series of smaller breakout rooms that offered Doherty the opportunity to provide a new experience for exhibitors and attendees.
“I’ve got 13,000 feet of mezzanine where the receptions will be and I have breakout rooms on each side,” he explains. “Manufacturers have been wanting us to dim the lights in the exhibit hall so they can show off their lights better, but we could never get them dim enough for them to be happy. So, what if we had these breakout rooms set up for real hands-on evaluations of the performance of the products? We are calling them showcase suites, and the manufacturers can use them any way they want. All eight rooms have already been snapped up!”
The Experts
Lightapalooza quickly made a name for itself by providing a level of education that cannot be found anywhere — not in a CI event and not even in a lighting-industry event.
“I had attended several lighting events over the years, and I assumed that those are the events in North America that professionals who are interested in lighting go to — not just those in the lighting business, but also architects or interior designers,” says Doherty. “But I was surprised to find that there isn’t much education — the primary presentations are some lighting designers showing off the cool jobs that they did and talking through what they learned. I met somebody from the Illuminating Engineering Society who, when he looked at my program from last year, said, ‘Do you realize you delivered more education than any conference in America last year?’
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“I’m seeing the model of Lightapalooza remaining focused on education — for it to be a conference for the best and brightest to attend, exchange information with one another, and get the education needed to engage with the top integrators and manufacturers.”
This year’s conference program speaker lineup sees the return of industry favorites including lighting designers Peter Romaniello and David Warfel, as well as business experts Matt Bernath, Ron Callis, and Jason Sayen.
New for this year is the Academia Series, which provides deep dives on vital topics by lighting geniuses from different markets. For example, Mariana Figueiro from the Light and Health Research Center at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai is hosting a session called “What is Circadian-Effective Lighting and Why Does it Matter?”
That academia vibe flows into the keynote session, which is called “The Luminous Home: Unlocking the Full Potential of Residential Lighting” and will be presented by Kevin Houser, PhD, PE (NE), FIES, LC, LEED AP, professor, School of Civil & Construction Engineering, Oregon State University; chief engineer, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory; and co-founder and CEO, Lyralux Inc.
“This keynote is pretty nerdy,” says Doherty with a laugh. “It explores the impact of lighting on human perception, health, vision, and more. This is a professor-level discussion, but I know that everybody who comes to Lightapalooza wants to learn more about it.”
SHINE certification classes will also be available at the show, along with AIA/IDCEC accredited CEUs.
Always More to Learn
With each year, Doherty learns more and more about putting on this event, just as the attendees continue to get more sophisticated in their lighting knowledge. But there is always room to grow.
“Not everybody is at the maximum lighting-design level, but we’re delivering something way better than what has otherwise been available,” concludes Doherty. “Here’s the thing: this is not rocket science, it’s experience. It’s doing something many times and learning how to do it right.
“And we’re only going to get better at it.”
For more details on this year’s Lightapalooza — and to register to attend — visit https://lightapalooza.com.
