The fourth Lightapalooza, which took place January 20-23, 2025, in Dallas, Texas, held its usual assortment of education sessions, exhibits, and networking opportunities, but it also provided a snapshot of where the CI industry is right now in the lighting category and how far it has come. Naturally, beginners can still find information on lighting basics, but the courses now go far deeper in terms of both lighting technology and the techniques used to make sure homes function as well as they can — and look great while doing it.

To illustrate this expanding viewpoint, this year the show brought in some outside voices to present, including Jennifer Brons and Dr. Mariana Figueiro from the Light and Health Research Center at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Brons hosted a session called “How to Provide Home Lighting that Supports Your Clients’ Health and Well-being,” while Dr. Figueiro tackled “What is Circadian-Effective Lighting and Why Does it Matter?”
Craig A. Bernecker, Ph.D., FIESNA, LC, offered two different classes on Photometry, and Greg Barrett and Amer Maleh covered “The Evolution of Architectural Lighting from Rome to Now.”
For integrators who were interested — and there were many — they could go deep.
There was plenty of real-world lighting design advice from Lightapalooza favorites Peter Romaniello, IALD, and David Warfel from Light Can Help You. VITAL’s Matt Bernath held many sessions focusing on the business aspects of adding lighting to a CI business, which was complemented by Jason Sayen’s project management classes this year.
There were ample opportunities for manufacturer training in the session schedule, but this year Lightapalooza added Showcase Suites, which were small rooms dedicated to a single manufacturer that could use them however they wanted. Most put some product on display, but left room for classroom-style seating where they would hold their own classes. For example, DMF Lighting used its Showcase space to quickly bring dealers up to speed on its new PhaseX technology.
Heard at Lightapalooza
I was fortunate enough to sit in on quite a few sessions at Lightapalooza, and here are some of the highlights of what I heard.

The keynote session, “The Luminous House – Unlocking the Full Potential of Residential Lighting,” given by Kevin Houser, PhD, PE (NE), FIES, LC, LEED AP, a professor at the School of Civil & Construction Engineering at Oregon State University and the co-founder, Lyralux, Inc., provided a historical and philosophical look at residential lighting. Starting with a look at Philip Johnson’s Glass House in Connecticut, which was completed in 1949, Houser showed how the concepts used then still had meaning today, despite the great leaps in technology. (He also mentioned that Johnson used to have to walk around his house at night using candles…).
He also explained how light creates shapes, shadows, and highlights that help us understand the room around us, and how creative architecture uses a combination of ambient luminescence (reflected light), focal glow (light that commands our attention), and a layer of sparkle or play of brilliants (such as the light created by a chandelier).
Finally, he simplified lighting into four variables: Time (duration of exposure), Pattern (luminous distribution), Spectrum (warm white or cool white, tinted or highly saturated), and Intensity (dim up or down). These four variables can be manipulated to evoke the desired responses from the viewers.
A pair of lighting designers, Bruce Clark and Lynne Stambouly, teamed up to present “Best Laid Plans – Managing Lighting Projects That Survive the Project Gauntlet,” which covered the numerous things that can go wrong when working with the other trades on a project — and how to plan for and overcome them. They laid out what each stakeholder typically likes in a partner: architects like order and symmetry; interior designers love design and finishes; builders like budgets and schedules; HVAC techs like hallways and first dibs; millwork carpenters like tight grooves and joints; and the homeowner wants to feel important, be treated with respect, and they want to change their mind.
“Fixtures Unlocked: Seizing Opportunities and Overcoming Industry Challenges,” a panel moderated by HTSA’s Tom Doherty and featuring dighting designer Warfel, manufacturer rep Dave Thomas, and DMF Lighting’s Mike Libman and Ellie Doherty, covered the many reasons why a custom installation dealer should get into the light fixture business. For Thomas, first and foremost is the opportunity it provides, because he believes the fixture category by itself will soon equal the whole AV category.
Related: Read the ‘Residential Lighting Best Practices Guide 2025
And if you are afraid that you won’t be very good at it in the beginning, and worry about disappointing your clients, Warfel said that the baseline for lighting is ridiculously low, so if you do a halfway decent job, it is better than they would have without you. That certainly takes some pressure off.
The Exhibits
The show floor once again was filled with CEDIA Expo-style exhibits from some of the top companies that provide lighting fixtures, lighting control, and power options for the channel, along with business tools such as ProjX360, D-Tools, and VITAL.

Once again, DMF Lighting used Lightapalooza to launch new products, releasing the crowd-drawing PhaseX and Artafex Linear the day before the exhibit floor opened. Control4 also used the show as the opportunity to launch its new Lux keypad series, and Savant presented its Savant Smart Budget power solution.
AiSPIRE was there with a host of products, including its Colorscaping line and its Astro Retrofit 6-inch dim-to-warm downlight. PureEdge had its unique Corda rope light on display. ProLuxe brought back its cool moon display from CEDIA Expo and I was glad to be able to experience it again.
There were also numerous networking events, including cocktail parties the first two nights — one to celebrate the opening of the show and the other to fete the new Showcase Suites area. Both were well-attended, but still easy to find and have conversations with those you wanted to.
Get to a ’Palooza
It seems to be clear that lighting is not a fad or a fading buzzword and will be a part of the industry going forward. Lightapalooza continues to evolve with the market, making it a valuable learning resource not only for integrators but for anyone working in lighting.
If your company is involved in lighting — or even thinking about getting involved in lighting — a trip to Lightapalooza should be added to your schedule.