Get A Grip On Lighting Podcast
Get A Grip On Lighting
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Recognizing a need in the lighting industry to forum together and discuss subjects & issues in our industry, the Get A Grip On Lighting Podcast was born. Get A Grip brings on industry experts to talk about real issues and focused on that subject matter. If there’s something to be said on the subject, Get A Grip will go there.
Get A Grip On Lighting Podcasts are hosted by Michael Colligan and Greg Ehrich, who have over 30 years of combined experience in the lighting industry. Michael Colligan is an entrepreneur and inventor. He’s a subject matter expert in commercial and industrial lighting supply, lighting retrofits, and finding recycling streams for hard-to-recycle waste. Greg Ehrich, LC is the former President of the National Association of Innovative Lighting Distributors (NAILD) and owner of a progressive lighting distributorship.
Available episodes
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1 day ago
Episode 208: #184 - Beyond the Horizon of Rational Business
From red tape to blue LED’s to Red China. We talk about entrepreneurship in the time of cheap China and Google Ventures. Chuck also touches on environmental problems and how to get the customer to care.
Apr 12, 2021
Episode 207: #183 - LEDucation: Where Art Meets Science
Is LEDucation going forward? It sure is! Craig and Wendy tell us how in this time of Covid. The March virtual show was a success. Now they’re going live in New York in August. Is it 100% a go? As Craig says, “100% unsure!” But you know Craig and Wendy and the rest of the committee will pull it off. How? Listen up!
Apr 8, 2021
Episode 206: Starving for Darkness #3 - Into the Sublime
Harun Mehmedinovic is an astrophotographer, speaker, documentary filmmaker and dark sky advocate. He finds his deepest connections to nature while looking up at night and is doing his best to spread the word and save it for everyone.
In our conversation we discussed his status as a ‘hack’ compared with night-time photographers from the scientific community, the pale imitation of daytime we’re creating in our cities, the value of travel, how his work does seem to unify everything, his ideas about working with police and security experts, and plus fun fact about fireflies.
Find more from Harun at his website, https://skyglowproject.com
Apr 5, 2021
Episode 205: #182 - Multiple Inflection Points
Edward Bartholomew - lighting designer, educator, advocate - is the owner of Bartholomew Lighting in Massachusetts. In this episode we talk about improving student scores, better worker productivity, reducing crime, fixing public utilities and of course, improving profitability - all through better lighting. We might have just solved everything in this episode!
Mar 28, 2021
Episode 204: #181 - Gourmet Spam and Other Topics
What do GU24s and email marketing have in common?
Not much, but this week we have the inventor of the GU24, David Shiller on the line to discuss his current career in marketing and product development.
Beyond online engagement, we also delve into policy problems, socketed vs fixed fixtures, DC wiring and where standards need to change.
Mar 24, 2021
Episode 203: Dark Sky Special March: Redefining Waste
Our dark sky series has spun off into Starving for Darkness, but that doesn't mean we won’t be checking in with Michael and Jane periodically to discuss what is going on with light pollution concerns.
The movement for darker nights has been going on for a long time, but it still feels new in terms of awareness, consumer uptake and habits. We all sell light all day; it's harder to convince anyone that they need less of it, and we need regulators in the DLC and various levels of government to help us change the definition of waste to make it clear unnecessary light is part of the problem.
Mar 22, 2021
Episode 202: #180 - Bringing Practicality and Access to Light
Greg Galluccio is a 30 year veteran of the industry, with work experience at UL, Leviton, and MaxLite, and now he’s working as a consultant in product development and marketing at his own company, Lotevo.
Lighting is now a commodity good and that means lighting needs to be practical and sellable for everyone in the industry.
Over the course of this conversation we discuss issues with vendors, feature creep, patent traps and trolls, regional problems, and why nobody wants to harmonize.
Greg and Michael also went through his Youtube channel ( https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIYFIyKU2SpL9ToLOr9dwGw ) to discuss the reasons you can’t sell controls, what it means to create a gamechanging product, and the Internet of Breaker Panels.
This one is a classic lighting dork discussion, please enjoy.
Mar 17, 2021
Episode 201: #179 - The Intimacy of LEDucation
Burt Grant is the owner of Metro Area Sales, lighting representatives in the New York Metro area, and a co-founder of LEDucation. Caroline Rinker is a Principal at O’Blaney Rinker Associates. Despite being competitors in the same market, Burt and Caroline have come together as co-chairs of LEDucation. It kinda feels like we are talking to a couple of NAILD members. Burt and Caroline describe how LEDucation has grown over the past 14 years into a leading education and marketing conference. They think it's the best lighting event in the world while we think it has a good shot at being second to NAILD Innovation. They touch on what kind of professionals attend, how they’ve fared during Covid and what their plans are for returning to an in-person conference in the coming year.
Mar 10, 2021
Episode 200: Starving for Darkness #2 - Quality Light is Responsible Light
Ruskin Hartley, Executive Director of the International Dark Sky Association joins us to discuss his work and experiences in the association.
Right now the IDA is working to grow beyond their roots in amateur astronomers in several directors. The group is forging partnerships with other bodies with an interest in lighting to further their goals, looking at the input of ecologists and medical experts, broadening the ethnic and gender diversity within the organization, working with designers to understand how to light outside with quality and responsibility in mind, and reaching out to regulators to keep the sky dark and the parts of the ground lit appropriately.
Beyond the organization he talks about how we have the tools at hand to improve light at night through controls, teaching everyone about what they're missing in a post-LED boom world and his own personal encounters with the value of a night sky.
Mar 8, 2021
Episode 199: #178 - The Ultimate Tax Credit No One Has Mentioned
Thomas Sauvageau of Sauvageau CFO, LLC is more than a bean counter, more than an income tax accountant, he’s here to help businesses be their best. Right now that means letting everyone know about the benefits you may qualify for. There are new small business credits specifically related to the pandemic. The Employee Retention Tax Credit is a potential goldmine for distribution businesses right now. Any business that has been shut down under a government mandate and kept employees on qualify for a refundable income tax credit.
Thomas explains to Michael and Greg how to qualify and file for this credit, how to navigate IRS issues, and what your accountants should be doing for you the other ten months of the year.
Learn more at https://ertcfiling.com/ or his facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sauvageaucfo/
Mar 1, 2021
Episode 198: #177 - Doing Jobs Right
Wattsaver’s Steve Robinson returns to the show after two years to discuss some of the predictions he made at the time as well as how his business has been going lately.
Back in episode 90 (https://getagriponlighting.com/episode-90-steve-robinson-lighting-badass) made a guess that 30 percent of fixtures in his service area were LED, now it’s closer to 50, but oddly more outdoor than indoor projects seem to have been done. On the topic of projects, he walks us through his methods and management, how he deals with catastrophic product failure, replacing old-gen LEDs and Induction lighting systems as well as his metric fixture woes.
Another prediction from his first appearance was that he only had three years of rebate programs left - one year from that deadline he still thinks a future for incentives.
We also discussed how he’s kept working through the pandemic and his single UV-C for disinfection sale.
Feb 23, 2021
Episode 197: #176 - Get a Grip on Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion
In Episode 169 (https://getagriponlighting.com/episode-169-it-might-it-might-not-al-uszynski) we discussed a number of predictions for the industry this year, Michael’s thoughts on Edward Bartholomew’s prediction drew a reaction from a few of our colleagues and we thought the best way to unpack that would be with Edward himself.
While his thoughts on growing inclusion in the lighting industry were more aspirational than anything else; we do need to consider where last year’s statements in solidarity of protests in the US and this month’s statements for black history month. They’re nice and reassuring, but without follow-up action they are worse than meaningless.
Feb 16, 2021
Episode 196: #175 - Membership has its Benefits
Jennifer Jaques of lighting application sciences and new IES membership director joins us to discuss her career. Starting off with her work in software tools the discussion goes through her and Michael’s views on education in this field as well as Greg’s take on the nature of passion before talking about the benefits of membership with IES these days.
They went through the new Lighting Library, building better perks, the end of print handbooks and what events in our industry will look like going into the future.
Feb 12, 2021
Episode 195: Starving for Darkness #1 - What it Means to Starve
After a successful run of special releases on Get a Grip on Lighting (https://getagriponlighting.com/) Jane Slade and Michael Colligan have launched a new podcast series about dark sky.
Jane has been writing and speaking about the need for darkness in design for almost exactly five years and Michael has been trying to break into the movement from the distribution side for the past two.
This conversation between the two gets into their histories with the movement, what they believe and how this will inform the new series.
Adding more and bluer light to nights around the world has had numerous unforeseen side effects in wildlife, human health, aesthetics, and other deeper dimensions.
We need to confront this problem we’ve been neglecting, this series will be our part.
Feb 8, 2021
Episode 194: #174 - The Vibe of the Lighting Industry
David Nathaniel, CEO of Ascot Capital is here to talk about operating Stanpro, Lumentruss, Aimlite, Beghelli’s Canadian branch, and Gabriel Scott brands.
He discusses what it means to keep up a diverse portfolio, his reputations for being hands-on and that has changed lately. He’s learned how to lead instead of just running his companies. We delve into what makes good business sense right now and his acquisition style with regard to transitioning with owner-operators - it is a bit different from Greg and Michael’s simple four point plan to running business - but it does make more sense from the outside.
The industry has gone from hunkering down to slashing and burning in terms of pricing and downsizing; and the larger economic situation of fragmentation and new protectionist measures combined with a new focus on residential lighting is really interesting to watch right now.
Feb 5, 2021
Episode 193: #173 - Loss of Serendipity
Spencer Miles, President of Pacific Lamp and Supply in Seattle and immediate Past President of the National Association of Innovative Lighting Distributors checks into the studio to see where things are at. We talked about distribution, a lot about UV, circadian, health effects and how distributors can survive and even thrive during the pandemic. Spencer grudgingly admits that he misses the manufacturer representatives and all of us feel the loss of in person human interaction.
Feb 1, 2021
Episode 192: #172 - Going Both Ways
Ellis Yan and Lesley Matt are here again to talk about business in 2021.
Shipping costs are rising as shipping speeds are slowing for everyone, there’s really nothing to be done about it. Beyond the macro scale problems, we're noticing small-scale disruptions all around us. The conversation moves past shipping and into currency exchange rates, busting myths about Chinese New Year, and setting your margins right.
On the upside from this year Ellis is excited to share the new things his company are cooking up, the uptick in residential product sales, figuring out consumer preferences, and what it means to go both ways on a product line.
Jan 28, 2021
Episode 191: Dark Sky Special Part Seven: Inspiration in Darkness
Optician and author, Doctor Jacob Liberman joins Jane and Michael to discuss his thoughts on darkness in his work.
He shares how he keeps darkness in his regular routine, his thoughts on dreams and where he thinks they fit into inspiration and understanding.
This conversation gets wild with thoughts on mysticality, metaphysics, pretending to be himself, light as homeopathy and living without the benefit of safety nets.
Jan 25, 2021
Episode 190: #171 - A Pint With Ray Molony
The last time Lux Review’s editor, Ray Molony appeared we promised we’d have a beer with him when we met again. LuxLive might be cancelled, but we still did pour a round before starting to talk about business travel problems, the person-to-person value in conferences and what it takes to run a virtual award show.
Beyond plague-related woes, Ray gazes into the future of the IoT finding sales features that match consumer pain points, offices that look more like hotel lobbies, dark sky moving from a trend to an institution, and new EU rules for end of life and modularity for light fixtures.
Jan 17, 2021
Episode 189: #170 - Mark Rea Incorporates UV Into the Psyche
Professor Mark Rea is getting ready to move from the Lighting Research Center to the Light and Health Research Center at Mt Sinai, but before that he joins us to discuss his latest report on UV disinfection products (read that here: https://www.lrc.rpi.edu/programs/nlpip/publicationDetails.asp?id=949&type=2 ).
He goes into detail about wavelengths, devices, safety tolerances, application issues, concerns about breeding superbugs, the value of not saying the word radiation too loud, and other engineering and measurement questions.
We as an industry will be talking more and more about health and wellness, and that comes with preventing illness as much as does with improving circadian rhythms.
Jan 11, 2021
Episode 188: #169 - It Might...It Might Not
Al Uszynski returns to the podcast to discuss the 11.5 Predictions for 2021 article that ran on his site, Inside.Lighting. Spinning off from those predictions we discussed:
● Dark skies
● Dynamic lighting in the workplace
● The speed of economic recovery
● Adoption rates for human-centric lighting
● How our industries adapt to social changes
● Collaboration at a distance
● The future of trade shows
● Where the DLC goes from here
● How the channels of business are shifting
Plus, a little fun at the expense of social media’s past, and Greg and Michael’s misadventures in China.
Jan 7, 2021
Episode 187: Dark Sky Special Part Six: Finding Balance
Ron Gibbons is the director for the Center for Infrastructure-based Safety Systems and an associate professor at the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute and here is to discuss his work and experience in the dark.
As a Canadian, he grew up with outsized access to dark spaces, sharing stories about being so far from any light source he hit a tree in front of his face. Now, as a researcher he is very happy to be spread across any number of field studies, ranging from his two miles of test road on campus to comparing roadside-grown soybeans to other soybeans. What he has learned, when it comes to light at night, we all need to put health first, health is more than absence of illness it is about promoting wellbeing for all affected. When we put up a light we all need to balance the needs of everyone and everything under that light.
The episode also discusses the idea of lighting crosswalks the same we light a stage, the lack of maximum limits in lighting regulations, building awareness…
Jan 4, 2021
Episode 186: #168 - The Lighting Herd
2020 was a hard one for all of us, but to help us to look at the future is The Edison Report’s Randy Reid is here to help us look into 2021.
Beginning with his Director’s Notepad piece, we go discussed:
● Changes in business travel, the lack of networking online,
● The power of virtual education options,
● Randy’s Man(crush) of the Year,
● The blast of price increases coming at us in the next quarter,
● Pushing back on China not just as policy but as a social movement,
● The future of UV and hygiene theatre
● Mergers, acquisitions, support measures and corporate zombification,
● Randy’s new video news project,
Thank you all for listening to us, we hope you’ll join us in for the rest of what 2021 brings.
Dec 28, 2020
Episode 185: #167 - Controls, Evangelized
We welcome our first ever electrician on to the show, George Filtsos was there at the beginning of Daintree and has been working to push controls into more projects through all of the booms and busts in that field.
We discussed how dimming is an unknown factor in improving the lifespan of LEDs, his refusal to take the quick turn and burn retrofit contracts, the nuts and bolts of wireless controls, sales technique and the layers of complexity involved in his work.
Dec 21, 2020
Episode 184: #166 - The Technical Prophet
Gabe Arnold joins us from the Pacific Northwest National Labs after his recent work in DC lighting and PoE systems. But before we can that get to that we had to bring up his past at the DesignLights Consortium in the early days of the qualified products list, he explains why utilities needed the DLC’s help, where lighting dorks missed out on their rationale and some hindsight about the rush for high lumens for few watts.
But when it comes to DC power, it’s not going to replace the grid, but as we add more solar panels and energy storage it will become more common to see some systems on run on Direct Current just to avoid adding more inverters than we need. We suspect this will really take off once LiFi gets added to the ix as well, but even Gabe, tech prophet that is, won’t guarantee that one.
Dec 17, 2020
Episode 183: Dark Sky Special Part Five: Dark Designs
It’s time to bring the question of design into this series. Nick Dunn has been trying to balance the question of people’s need for light and natural darkness as an ecological concern since he spent one sleepless night walking around Manchester.
Discussing his work with the Institute for Social Futures and the IDA with Michael and Jane he explains how he builds awareness for dark skies in society that vilifies the very idea of darkness, the need for night-time urbanism, and experiments with alternate exterior light sources.
We all need to confront a number of different mentalities to make darker skies happen, we need a sort of general absolution for the glare guilt of sales teams, a new way to inform end users about the harms bad systems might take (think cigarette labels), and reconsidering enforcement and incentives for brightness violations.
Dec 13, 2020
Episode 182: #165 - Planting Seeds and Climbing Ladders
How do you keep a company running for 150 years?
CN Robinson has been in distribution since before electric light bulbs existed, first in seeds and then ladders and other equipment. Executive VP and Director of Sales Peter Gray is here to explain how he keeps looking forward and finding new ways to keep his business vital.
He’s not planning on going back into horticulture, but he is adding more project business, bringing back some electrical supply and adding new people to his team.
Peter is a former President of NAILD and a former board member for NCQLP, and he shares his experiences in professional development and networking, and how that time helps him keep his staff more and more engaged and educated in their field.
Dec 10, 2020
Episode 181: Dark Sky Special Part Four: Night Matters
Sibylle Schroer is an ecologist from IGB, and joined us to discuss the role the increasing amounts of light at night plays in the experience of human and non-human wildlife.
We discussed citizen science and the need for multidisciplinary approaches in the field as well as the barriers in perceived security and legislation. What emerges in the conversation is a need for night studies, not just late economics, but a genuine understanding of the purpose for each light turned on outside at night. We can create something that helps shift workers, respects wildlife, and is useful for safety needs.
Change happens faster than you think, we can come to better understanding of exterior lighting and create systems that make more sense.
Dec 6, 2020
Episode 180: #164 - Building Better Buildings
This episode features the return of the UL's Adam Lilien and the introduction of the GSA’s Bryan Steverson as they discuss creating better workspaces with light.
The GSA has partnered with the Lighting Research Center and the UL over the past five years on different human-centric lighting projects. Our conversation ranges from reconsidering the importance of horizontal luminance, what we know for sure about improving people’s experience indoors, adapting existing fluorescent systems and issues related to UV-C disinfection tech.
Dec 3, 2020
Episode 179: Dark Sky Special Part Three: Inducing Non-Visibility
The International Dark Sky Association’s Technical Director joined us to discuss the mechanics of dark sky-friendly projects. Start from tasks; most outdoor lighting is based on pathfinding, not offering reading lamps to the general public; while color temperature has become a focus point, the direction is still the real issue when discussing skyglow issues; and he’s not with the Dark Ground Society, you can create beautiful and useful lighting systems everywhere and still respect your neighbours.
We discussed the process of designing a lighting system, where distributors can fit into that conscientiously, the entanglements surrounding ordinance enforcement, awareness-building as spreading a curse, and fighting back against daytime design habits.
Nov 30, 2020
Episode 178: #163 - Make it Foolproof and Failsafe
Aleddra’s VP of Sales and Marketing, Dr. Matthew Maa is here to talk about being different in the Disinfection technology business right now. He tells us what separates PECO tech from UV-based options. Aleddra uses PECO and UV-A and UV-C in different cases because not all applications are the same.
We discuss the current market for disinfection, different types of applications and what we really need from these technologies. We also brought up the idea of selling some quick hygiene theater versus actually creating proper long-term solutions. One seems like a smart play for quick learners in the industry, but it looks like Johnny-Come-Lately and his snake oil consultant will be going after both. We do discuss safety surrounding UV lighting, and what happens to all these lamps and fixtures in five years when airborne viruses aren’t at top-of-mind.
Nov 26, 2020
Episode 177: Dark Sky Special Part Two: A Dose of Awe
In the second part of our special dark sky series we are joined by Paul Bogard, author of The End of Night and What if Night. Our discussion opened with our sense of safety - it’s easy to think that more light makes us safer, but glare makes it harder to see and without other meaningful changes related to security increasing light levels is more about having done something than done something effective.
Darkness can be a place for contemplation if you let it in. Jane and Paul discuss their evening rituals, moon watching habits and how taking a moment with the outside can be much more beneficial than we really think.
We also discuss light on its own as a communications medium, hate on Vegas, the hubris of controlling nature, and the broadening implications of good sleep and good health.
Paul explains that he doesn’t want us all back in the stone age, but does want to see buildings that are genuinely beautiful, part of that is building awareness through appearing on podcasts but b…
Nov 23, 2020
Episode 176: #162 - The Sauce and The Sizzle
Christina Calaway of Spark Media is a real old school lighting dork, which means our conversation begins with pulsed-start metal halides and other semi-forgotten lamp and fixture features. Before this turns into another scrub session, we transition to her current job in the industry: freelance marketing specifically catering to the lighting industry.
The marketing departments of lighting vendors and manufacturing have always had a power over language that comes from having to convince people that lights had value beyond being on or off. As LED adoption is evening out that gift for wording needs to be paired with controls and other features if you want to see success. We share our misadventures in copywriting, tips on working on social media, and the meaning behind web metrics.
We close out on the power of a good spec sheet and why you should sit on your own complaint line from time to time.
Nov 19, 2020
Dark Sky Special Part One: Lost in Brightness
The IDA and NAILD have not only signed a memorandum of joint understanding, but will be working together for the next five years on joint efforts for darker, better nights. LS Evolve will have a module on the technical aspects and best practices of dark sky-friendly outlighting, but for now Michael Colligan and Jane Slade will be hosting a series of special releases on the moral, psychological, and physiological reasons to pursue dark sky lighting projects.
In this first part, we discuss how brightness is bad for the human lifestyle, how to appreciate darkness indoors, how light at night changes wildlife, as well as the heritage and connections we have to the night sky.
Light pollution is the easiest thing to solve, and everyone can benefit from it. Tune in for the next few weeks as we explore the power of darkness.
Nov 16, 2020
#161 - Seeing Red
Alp Durmus is a Lighting scientist and assistant professor of architectural engineering at Penn State. He came on the show to discuss his research in optimization of lamp color; reducing light use by aiming for the most reflectivity of the object you’re lighting.
We care more about seeing things than we care about energy use, the idea of saving power and making things look better is an appealing one, but are his methods too complicated to apply in the field?
Aside from our own struggles to make the most of IES TM-30, we discuss provoking reactions with light alone, the role of marketing, why quality means something different to each of the different professions in lighting, and the ethics of manipulating people with lighting systems.
Nov 9, 2020
#160 - Everything is Dependent on Light
Dr Jacob Liberman is here to explain the nature of light and consciousness to Michael and Greg. He starts with the idea that seeing is more than just vision before explaining his background overcoming his astigmatism, his work as an optometrist, and growth in spiritual self-reflection.
The conversation stray fairly far from the nuts and bolts of lighting and more into the relationship between humans, light and darkness and how that can motivate us to design and build better lighting systems.
You can find more of Jacob’s work, including his books at https://www.jacobliberman.org/
Nov 2, 2020
#159 - Non-Compliance is the Only Way
Nigel Harvey is the Chief Executive at Recolight, a lamp recycler in the UK. We wanted to know how effective extended producer responsibility programs really are and whether or not they’ve hit a limit on the number of compliant operators. We weigh the pros and cons of enforcement and persuasion when it comes to recycling, and the strategies that come into play on both sides.
Aside from the business of recycling Nigel likes to take moral stands. Online marketplaces are letting some groups sell lamps without buying into the UK’s scheme for ensuring bulbs get disposed of properly; at this point we need to call on laws that force responsibility onto platform holders. Similarly, Nigel has been arrested twice at Extinction Rebellion protests in London, as much as we try to mitigate carbon and build things better, demand is for carbon is only going up - he’s sick of it and felt he needed to make a stand, his morals are trumping his obedience to the law. We also talk politics and the na…
Oct 25, 2020
#158 - Everything is Mitigation
Adrià Huguet-Ferran is CTO of Kumux, a software company that allows you to optimize almost any LED lightsource for color-tuning. The goal is for more human-centric or circadian-friendly systems, but Michael and Greg think his company’s process needs to be reduced to a one-button solution. That may not be so simple as we bring cultural and geographical biases and individual preferences to lighting systems all the time, forcing color and intensity to follow the clock is an uphill battle for some end-users.
Beyond that, Adrià teaches an online course on energy efficiency and he describes his teaching process. Also, we advocate for more buttons, and offer the two goals that must be hit to save our current existence.
Oct 18, 2020
#157 - Building Comfort and Confidence with UV-C
Tom Boyle, of GE Current, a Daintree Company joins Michael and Greg for this week’s episode.
After clarifying what a Chief Technical Officer is responsible for, he shares his perspective on twenty years of change in the lighting industry, and Daintree’s renewed focus on LED and controls he gets into his company’s entry into UV-C Disinfection.
We discussed the various options that are emerging for UV-C and how it should be deployed as a layer in a range of cleaning solutions. Tom brought up the idea of building up people’s comfort levels as we spend more time indoors and how he goes about clearing up confusion for end-consumers. Michael offers the idea of a certification or a rating for UV products, while Greg considers the value of hygiene theatre and signaling cleanliness. Adding disinfection feels like an economic necessity but the market is expanding faster than testing can keep up with it and having a GE logo on a spec sheet makes selling this a whole lot easier in a numb…
Oct 11, 2020
#156 - Re-Enchanting the Night
Human-centric light is a selfish idea. Jane Slade is an expert in how anthropogenic light at night is harming all wildlife to some degree. In this rebroadcast of our live stream from last year’s IES Annual Conference she shares her work with Michael and Greg.
We keep learning new things about the damage ALAN does, whether that’s sending dung beetles walking in circles or slowing down the motion of free radicals in the air, but the solution is always the same: turn off the lights, then tell other people to do the same, pretending otherwise will just make it all worse.
She also explains why some of the security value of light is an illusion, the role controls and smart systems can play, pushing conservation past the photogenic animals, and the trouble with scientific conclusions are getting less obvious to the average person.
Oct 5, 2020
#155 - When your Ship Comes in it Will Dock at the Order Desk
Bryan Colligan founded Atlas Lighting in his basement in 1977, it didn’t leave that basement until 1999 when host Michael joined the company.
Greg takes the lead asking questions about forty years worth of changes to the lighting industry, founding his own company, working by hand, being a frequent flyer on Air Chicken, and training salespeople.
Beyond his career Bryan shares his insights into business relationships, succession in a family business, and the power of working the order desk.
Sep 28, 2020
#154 - A Mascot for Lighting
This week we have a crossover episode with Sam Koerbel of Lytei.
Before he was an architectural engineer he was a mascot for his college football team, and that sense of building character and expressing enthusiasm is what drives his podcasts and video series. Embodying excitement to encourage others is fun in it’s own right, but it can also be very valuable.
Michael and Greg spoke with him about spreading lighting design to the masses - everyone knows a poorly lit room when they see it, but know the why and how to fix it. Between talking about podcasting procedures and the power of video, they argued about whether we need educational credits in lighting and what tattoos really mean.
Find more of Sam at https://www.lytei.com/
Sep 20, 2020
#153 - Every Light Bulb has a Story
Tom Ciurczak, industry veteran and president of BLC America has dropped an album. He’s been a singer and songwriter his whole life, and his daughter nudged him to actually releasing an album. Call me Ishmael is a mix of work from his whole life showcasing a number of styles and moods.
Michael and Greg have heard the album, liked it, and asked him on the show to discuss songwriting, the pros and cons of different creative approaches.
Beyond the stalkers, smugglers and outlaws to liars, losers and thieves that inhabit his music there are the characters that work in the lighting industry. Tom shares his past leaving computer sales, finding himself working for Osram in their first year in America, and his experiences in the speciality lighting market.
He also gets into his thoughts on working in the distribution and sales business; the power of relationships, how you can break ties and beat online prices on them and how those relationships have led to being able to use OEM contracts t…
Sep 14, 2020
#152 - 3.5 Billion CFLs, Ellis Yan Part 3
Ellis Yan is back to finish telling the story of his career, starting back in 1979 as the Chinese government begins to emphasize quality of life for its citizens Ellis was in school to become an accountant and working in a computer lab (this was in the punch-card era of computing, just in case you thought Ellis was ever behind the cutting edge). He tells the story of how he met his wife, made friends with a man called Big Buddha and how he and his brother started a company in 1986, making MR16s when they were still 4 dollars per unit. He explains how he managed to make the right moves in the right places and the right times - selling unpatented, manually-blown spiral CFLs from a factory that took up every piece of land he could buy in Shanghai to Home Depot in the months after California suffered historic blackouts.
Once we caught up to the present we talked about the future of lighting - purpose-built luminaires, becoming more than just a source of light, and more.
He also shares hi…
Sep 7, 2020
#151 - The Quarantine Special
Last week Michael tested positive for COVID-19, Spencer Miles has had employees come up positive, and Greg’s been lucky so far. We’ve spoken about doing business during the lockdown, but now we can speak to more immediate damage control experiences.
Spencer and Michael share how they resumed business, worked around downed employees, and their experiences running the order desk again.
Procedures and policy are extremely varied region-to-region, hopefully you don’t have to deal with anything like this, or are at least lucky to have a public health authority as professional as Michael has dealt with.
Please, listen to the episode, then find some time to reflect on everything afterward.
Aug 31, 2020
#150 - Scrub Q&A Session
This week, we reversed roles and let our guest ask us questions.
New lighting and energy consultant, Ryan Krueger, has a list of questions for us. Listen in to find out:
● What makes distribution unique
● How we learned all this before starting the podcast
● What catalogues and courses looked like in the pre-LED era
● Approaches to fieldwork when we started out
● Greg’s easy choice to get his LC certification
● How to deal with bad audits
● What those plastic seals do
● How tapped is the market, really?
● Strangest requests, odyssey emails, and how Michael became an accessory to marijuana distribution
● Our largest orders
● Longest contact-to-close times
● And a round of ‘how to retrofit this hypothetical’ building.
We also discuss the four phases of a career in the industry, and a few our personal favourite aspects and events in our careers.
Aug 24, 2020
#149 - Lighting Controls for the Post-Pandemic Era
“The current pandemic has created a tipping point for networked controls in lighting.”
That’s what Peter Brown sent us in an email earlier this month, rather than reply we got him on the line to talk this out for the show. Our assumptions about lighting have been inverted; the cost rule of 3 dollars for utilities, 30 for rent, and 300 for personnel is out the window and we need to spend more on new utilities just to get that 300 back into the building. Beyond that we get into recovery planning, UV disinfection, and hygiene theater.
There is a question none of us can answer that emerges from the end of our chat: will there be code requirements for any IoT for public health applications? We’ll see where things go from here.
Aug 17, 2020
#148 - Ellis Yan Part 2: I Have to Pay to Go to Jail?!
Ellis Yan returns to continue his life story for us. Picking back up on the farm in the mountains, he shares how the experience built up his resilience and made him more open to new experiences, but the plot takes a small turn when his family living in the US try to arrange for a visa for him - something that wouldn’t pay off until he was attending University in Shanghai and his application got reviewed under new rules for students. After a few misadventures with the local bureaucracy he had to cut his story short for another appointment as he landed in the strange world of Cleveland.
Stay subscribed for part 3.
Aug 10, 2020
#147 - Our Own Phases for UVC Deployment
Bernie Erickson of Facilities Solutions Group is in the middle of expanding his company's offerings in UV disinfection options, so we had to ask him on the show to share what he’s been working on.
He breaks down the differences between surface and air disinfection as he sells it, as well pointing out secondary gains from adding air purification. What he has noticed is that his customers seem to have their own phases for adoption of UV purification moving from portable units to more permanent installations. He also offers some advice on how to sort junk products from good ones in this sudden boom in the market.
Beyond that we offer a diversion on controls, ‘hygiene theater’, and tips for introducing the technology to new clients.
Aug 3, 2020
#146 - Business Dynamics: Acquisitions, Agents & DLC
Al Uszynski returns as a podcast guest to speak about his perspective on and his personal history in the lighting industry.
Launching Inside.Lighting to keep track of rep agencies, but ended up writing news to keep the site relevant. Once agents are up for discussion we have to dig into the friction points between distributors and rep agents, and how our modes and models of business are changing in response to changes in the manufacturing business.
Now that the classic big three have left the lamp business, we’re not sure who's really leading the industry or how to help the smaller guys build reputation with our clients. Beyond those questions we have to work past the DLC and and utility programs and build an industry that does more than save energy.
Jul 27, 2020
#145 - The LRC Has Created a Monster
The LRC has put together a very cool web-based tool for designing a space for healthier living (https://www.lrc.rpi.edu/healthyliving/), after playing around with it ourselves, we asked the minds behind it for an interview.
Allison Thayer and Dr. Mariana Figueiro joined us to share how they created this site and how they plan to expand it.
We discussed how hard it is to improve productivity in humans and that we should just stick to lighting occupants can work in enjoyably. Some that means balancing individual needs against bigger trends, some of that means understanding how light relates to different age groups.
We’re not a nocturnal species, and maybe we need to back away from Edison’s triumph over unproductive evenings.
Jul 20, 2020
#144 - Ellis Yan Part 1: Half-Cooked Rice
We’ve always known that Ellis Yan has a story to tell. We take a break from lighting technology and delve into history, as Ellis explains his life under The Cultural Revolution under Mao. It starts with the day he was sent to school without lessons, moves through years of bullying teachers, and attacks on capitalists and intellectuals before being shipped out to the mountains.
He lived with nine other teenagers in a two-room building in a remote farming village where he had to learn to farm, cook, slaughter pigs and roll his own cigarettes. As he was getting the hang of life planting rice, his mother sent a stack of textbooks so he could study for university qualifications.
Stay tuned for more in part 2, coming soon.
Jul 13, 2020
#143 - Work-Light Balance
Henrik Clausen has thirty years of experience as an electrical engineer, educator, and a consultant. And when he wrote for LED Professional calling for brighter, more personalized light at work (read it here: https://www.led-professional.com/resources-1/articles/personal-lighting-profiles-might-be-the-key-to-creating-a-natural-work-light-balance), we knew we had to ask him about it. While it’s true that an aging workforce will need more light, we ended up debating how to implement these ideas.
What we didn’t expect was for the discussion to go as broad as it did once we got through that debate. We discussed our relationship to light, from the anthropological and evolutionary implications of firelight, to how human-centric lighting research is rooted in the location the test was done, how culture changes how you light your home and how that will emigrate with you, to the nature of God.
We did circle around to more grounded topics, like finding more funding for research, the need f…
Jul 6, 2020
#142 - Sell Our Way Out
Al Uszynski has trained salespeople at the university level and he joined us to share his insights on selling right now.
He shares some adaptations to current restrictions as well as creative ideas for selling online that will be even more useful when we can get face-to-face. But the real question that comes out of this conversation is: Should we be asking sales staff to be marketers? Can we really learn new tricks? And what are we losing as we pass through the quarantine?
We also call for a new mode of etiquette and offer some advice on how to work in other people’s comfort zones.
Let’s sell our way out of this problem.
Jun 30, 2020
#141 - A New Kind of Lighting Cue
The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory is moving past energy efficiency research and into researching better life indoors. One of their projects was looking into ‘realistic’ lighting in an Neonatal ICU. Andrea Wilkerson, senior lighting researcher, shared her findings for sun-like colour and brightness automation. Beyond what happened during the test we explore some of the broader implications of circadian entrainment and it’s ability to signal behaviour and mood in subtle ways.
We also settle the question of whether or not we can meaningfully or honestly label something as ‘Circadian-Friendly’ and continue to probe into why we see so many women in lighting research.
Jun 25, 2020
Kevin Poyck, Signify Americas | Get A Grip Outbreak Update, June 25
Kevin Poyck just had his legs under him as CEO and President of Signify’s Americas Market Group when the outbreak threw his business into chaos. He shares his thoughts on virtual offices, managing at a distance, and the shape of post-pandemic normalcy. What really brought him to our show today was a recent study at Boston University that confirmed how effective a new Signify UVC lamp really is, which leads to a vintage Philips UV disinfection manual and the modern rush for germicidal lamps.
It’s time for us all to turn a page as we proceed out of our current crisis.
Jun 22, 2020
#140 - 8 Plus 1 Equals Crisis
Ray Molony edits Lux Review, and in one month into lockdown he wrote what he considered to be the eight effects the lighting sector will see coming out of the current health crisis. Read that here:
https://www.luxreview.com/2020/04/14/8-effects-of-the-crisis-on-the-lighting-sector/.
After seeing it we had to invite him to push back and expand on his ideas, we shared our thoughts on established brands losing footing, payment terms changing, calls for quality over savings, local production, what the basics of lighting even means to both our clients and vendors, and how we can adapt to the near future. We did also add a ninth effect, but you’ll have to listen to the episode to find out.
Beyond the article itself, we haven’t had a chance to really grill an expert from Europe, so we took a chance to talk about their market and trade shows.
As an industry and a people we don’t have a path to recover from current circumstances, but we know what to watch for for now.
Jun 15, 2020
#139 - Connected for a Mirrorworld
Signify’s Robert Lee returns to the show to elaborate on an article he wrote for LEDs Magazine on what SSL lighting will look like in 2030 - you can read it here:
https://www.ledsmagazine.com/smart-lighting-iot/article/14168528/picture-the-future-of-ssl-within-the-mirror-world-magazine
We get into the technologies that will converge to make the next decade of lighting a mirrorworld of augmented reality.
We also go over topics like consumer apathy in the face of new features, cost increases, the burdens of maintaining the IoT, what to do with all that data, privacy, security and the question of conflicting circadian prescriptions.
Jun 8, 2020
#138 - Distributing UVC
Jim Colantoni starts our conversation with him explaining the background of his company and how they’re working to create lighting tools for health and wellness. We get into the background and particulars of UVC technologies. Michael and Greg delve into discussions of safety concerns, future building codes, the lack of efficiency of LED in this case, confrontations with buzzwords, and the growing importance of listening to the customer.
Jun 1, 2020
#137 - Democratization of Lighting
The King of Lighting, Ellis Yan, returns to the main series and he brought Lesley Matt, Senior VP of Sales at TCP Along with him. They share their current virtual lunch and learn series, and the company’s own rebate and incentive program before diving into the real lighting dork content with us.
We discussed offering more colors, building drivers, modularity and replaceable parts in outdoor lighting, the meaning of ‘Full Spectrum’, creating something will match the usefulness of MR16s, and creating a new story for lighting as we move out of the efficiency era.
May 25, 2020
#136 - Starfish
We’re taking a short break from our usual lighting dork topics this week to chat with Tyler Gildin about his documentary The Starfish, which profiles his grandfather’s journey from Nazi Germany to Sweden, across the USSR, and over the pacific ocean to reunite with his parents.
Chatting about Herb Gildin’s life in America and building Satco leads to discussions of overcoming adversity, building a business and personal brand, treating employees like family and the drives and motivations that created a successful company.
We also chatted about making the documentary, family anecdotes, and legacy.
The Starfish is available as a rental on a number of video on demand platforms, find out more here: https://gildinmedia.com/thestarfish/
May 18, 2020
#135 - Familiar Discussions Made Portable
Tom Beckett and some colleagues in his side of lighting spent three years setting up an ANSI certification for flashlights, and once they were done they turned that team into the Portable Lights American Trade Organization to maintain standards across seven metrics as the industry moved into LED.
We talked over testing procedures, the issue of enforcement versus advising members, and learning to work with color-rendering as a relevant metrics in the world of portable and battery powered lighting as well as other trends he’s seen in the field like the rise of high-end handhelds, the complexity of the retail space, and the disposability of some products.
All of it ends up sounding familiar to us dorks putting light in ceilings.
May 11, 2020
#134 - Dark Sky: Trade-offs from the Bottom-Up
In April, the Illuminating Engineering Society and the International Dark Sky Association released a joint statement on the five practices to best confront light pollution. We’re here to speak with IDA’s Ruskin Hartley and the IES’ Brian Liebel about that, and the broader implications of electric light at night.
Light pollution is real pollution, it’s something we create that harms people and animals, and as much as we can raise awareness among consumers we may need to call on regulators to make lighting better. We also discuss the power of solutions to breed problems, confronting biases, how to sell the more costly option, overcoming techie questions around spectral value at the order desk, and the evolutionary psychology surrounding warm light.
May 4, 2020
#133 - Harvesting the Golden Tail
4-time guest Mark Lien returns to act as the lighting industry’s very own futurist. We discussed the ease of charting the direction of change as opposed to predicting its pace, the marking of epochs, where our particular businesses stand at the moment, lighting controls leaving lighting’s hands, and other long term trends for our field.
Also on the discussion slate: contemporary geopolitics, macroeconomics, and the plague.
Apr 27, 2020
#132 - Disrupt or Die
Westlite’s Brenda Puckett knows that there’s no constant in our industry but change, and that if you can’t be an agent for change your company won’t thrive.
We joined her at her office earlier this year to chat about doing more than selling bulbs to people, conservation in the era of throwaway tech, trying to keep things simple as SKUs pile up and we replace whole fixtures, as well as the question of state’s rights.
Apr 20, 2020
#131 - UV Disinfection: What You Need to Know Right Now
We’ve noticed a spike in requests for UV lamps and fixtures recently and aside from reading the side of the box over the phone, we don’t have a clue what to tell anyone. Fortunately, Karl Platzer and Fred van Lierop of UV Lamp Consulting were kind enough to share their considerable expertise on the subject with us all.
The two of them talk through the nuts and bolts of the UV spectrum, it’s applications, and how technology gets tested and certified. Bringing it back to lighting dorks; there’s a lot of pressure right now for quick fixes - but for our current needs; there’s nothing we can be totally certain of, and the claims from certain marketers are about the technology overall instead of their particular product. Let’s not sell anything irresponsibly, and let the experts handle these technologies.
Apr 13, 2020
#130 - Close Some Deals...Safely
Keeping this one short and sweet this week. Michael and Greg share stories about selling while under quarantine orders. It’s a surprisingly good time to upgrade systems or relamp a facility. Get on the phone and let people know you’re essential and that you can keep the lights on, nevermind any presumptions.
Apr 10, 2020
Tim Taylor, Light Efficient Design | Get A Grip Outbreak Update, April 10
Light Efficient Design's CEO Tim Taylor is our guest today. He talks about starting his company, his current supply chain issues, and his ideas about lobbying the US Congress for lighting infrastructure projects as a form of economic stimulus.
Apr 7, 2020
When in Crisis: Do Everything - Rebecca Costa | Get a Grip Outbreak Update, April 7
Sociobioligist, futurist, and author of The Watchman's Rattle and On The Verge, Rebecca Costa is here to help us take a big step back to view the pandemic's effects on not just our jobs, but society.
She and Michael delve into questions of leadership, confidence and shared morals as we get through this crisis and prepare for the next.
Apr 6, 2020
#129 - The Daily Learning Curve
38 years ago, Steve Byrne started working in the warehouse of American Light. After a name change and a few promotions he’s the COO of Facility Solutions Group. He invited us to his offices to share his experiences and insights into the industry.
He’s seen a number of disruptions and new learning curves emerge but believes we may be seeing a reconstruction of the distribution channel that puts partnerships ahead of brand name recognition. We also talked about the gaps between experts and consumers on the subject of integrative lighting and the IoT. The near future is unpredictable, but Steve does see some bright spots as the first round of adopters to LED are beginning to get used to the idea of relamping and switching entire fixtures out to maintain light.
Apr 3, 2020
Jon Sayah, Saylite | Get A Grip Outbreak Update, April 3
Jon Sayah came prepared for this one. We spoke about the reduction in the scope of short-term planning, the new shift schedules at Saylite's production facilities, and boxing metaphors.
Apr 2, 2020
Mark Verheyen, Panasonic Lighting Americas | Get a Grip Outbreak Update, April 2
Mark Verheyen; President of Panasonic Lighting Americas, President and CEO of Universal Lighting Technologies, as well as President and CEO of Douglas Lighting Controls is our guest for this installment of our leadership under Covid-19 pandemic to discuss his particular circumstance of manufacturing in Mexico with a mix of international components and working to keep staff safe.
Apr 1, 2020
Jonathan Palmersten, Gripple | Get a Grip Outbreak Update, April 1
Jonathan Palmersten, CEO of Gripple shares his experiences in local manufacturing, revenue loss in an employee-owned company, and hanging plexiglass barriers for food service and grocery staff.
Mar 31, 2020
Peter Brown | Get a Grip Outbreak Update, March 31
Peter Brown joins in on a roundtable discussion of best, worst and likely short-term scenarios as governmental response to this pandemic escalate.
Mar 29, 2020
#128 - You Have to Live with the Fixture
Frank Guastella, Director of Operations at Revco Lighting invited us into his showroom to talk about working with residential clients. He gets an interesting mix of homeowners and contractors walking through his showroom every day. And what we learned is that while his target market is different from our commercial clients, he’s still dealing with the same questions of rebates, purpose-built fixtures, and keeping staff trained and aware of legacy light sources.
Mar 27, 2020
Special - Margaret Wong, McWong International
Margaret Wong, Founder and CEO of McWong International has more experience working with Chinese manufacturers than anyone else, this series wouldn’t be complete without her take on this situation. She shares her insights into the current state of the supply chain and how this might change the IoT.
Mar 26, 2020
Special - Ira Greenberg, Keystone Tech
Ira Greenberg, CEO of Keystone Technologies joins our series of industry leaders as they respond to the corona virus outbreak and its effects on manufacturing and distribution. Beyond his work with Keystone's Virus Task Force he shares his thoughts on corporate bailouts and the strengths of family-owned businesses.
Brought to you by The National Association of Innovative Lighting Distributors: visit https://NAILD.org
Mar 25, 2020
Special - Ellis Yan, TCP Inc
This series of special releases is about profiling the leadership that is emerging in the face of this pandemic. In this episode the King of lighting and CEO of TCP, Ellis Yan rejoins us to share his experiences and thoughts from when it began to affect his business at the end of January through to today.
Brought to you by The National Association of Innovative Lighting Distributors: visit NAILD.org
Mar 24, 2020
Special - Antony Corrie, Fulham Co
A Special Release from Get a Grip on Lighting, we'll be sharing our thoughts on how COVID-19 is affecting our industry as the situation develops.
Today, we grabbed Fulham's Antony Corrie for his perspective on working in the current situation.
Brought to you by The National Association of Innovative Lighting Distributors: visit NAILD.org
Mar 23, 2020
Special - What's Essential and what isn't?
A Special Release from Get a Grip on Lighting, we'll be sharing our thoughts on how COVID-19 is affecting our industry as the situation develops.
Today, we're talking about where lighting distributors fit into the 'essential services' label.
Mar 23, 2020
#127 - The Right Fit
Sunset Lighting has been in the business for thirty years. And it’s current VP of operations and this week’s guest, Kyle Landig has been working there since he was in high school.
Our friendly banter passes through working specifically in retail spaces - building a business to be a right fit for the client, staffing at all hours, working with people who care more about color quality than anything else, the retailer’s version of the IoT, and on-site challenges.
Beyond that Michael and Kyle riff about the opportunities and perceptions surrounding second generation entrepreneurship, family business troubles, and the cultural dynamics of mergers and acquisitions.
Mar 16, 2020
#126 - Living in the Plenum...Potentially
When is a clock not a clock?
When it’s acting as an analog display for network time. Mark Higgason of Encompass AV is on the show to discuss how changes in Power over Ethernet regulation is opening up more applications in this section of the Internet of Things. We speak with him about scalability, how businesses are adopting PoE applications, the granularity of control available for these systems, as well as how the industry’s excitement for new technologies always exceeds our knowledge.
We do leave the conversation somewhat skeptical, but there may be some spaces that benefits from light powered by Cat7.
Mar 9, 2020
#125 - The Industry Doesn't Even Know They Need It
A rare four person episode this week as we are joined by Sanjeev Thakkar and Steve Holman of Xeleum, an Eiko Company. We discuss their XiFi protocol, the functions it offers, and how interoperable their products are with other systems. After that we step back into talking about the previous booms in controls, moving beyond controls as a venue energy savings, and the heart of the Internet of Things.
We also talk about whether or not it might be time for a standards body for cybersecurity and getting IoT projects in front of general contractors.
Mar 2, 2020
#124 - Following the Sun
Our excursion into augmented reality and biophilic design with Cree Lighting’s Kory Liszt. He’s an inventor and the designer of the Cadient luminaire, because we can’t get this piece of hardware out of our heads. Our conversation with Kory starts with bringing bits of the outdoors in to make people feel better, using light as a dynamic element in how you experience a room. We do get into the specifics of the Cadient, including positioning, follow the sun mode versus the other customizations you can run with the device or how you might not want to offer that choice in an office environment.
We’re growing in our understanding of light and how we relate to it, there’s still a long way to go for some spaces and times of day, but the future looks bright.
Feb 24, 2020
#123 - Augmented Reality
This week we’re taking circadian research from the conference hall to the order desk with Cree Lighting’s Shirley Coyle. We chat about WELL building standards, better ways to light interiors, preferences getting in the way of doing people good, and moving past efficiency concerns.
The real impetus for this conversation was CREE’s Cadient fixture, it’s a dynamic skylight alternative that replicates a day cycle - setting aise how we might be tricking people with it, we discuss building up consensus on integrated lighting starting with day-active indoor workers and moving further out to help everyone.
We’re already having an impact on people with electric lighting, let’s find a way to have a better one.
Feb 17, 2020
#122 - Kicking it Old School
This week we sit down with Brian Brandes, Senior VP of Product Development at Satco and this episode really is about the nuts and bolts of his job. We talk about end-to-end projects, market research, the creation of Nuvo, fashion in luminaires, the long-term future of legacy and poetry.
In an industry where LED continues to find new ways to be a disruptor, the only real solution is to do the right thing.
Feb 10, 2020
#121 - Monetizing Complexity
CBC Lighting’s Abraham Schnitzler visited Michael in-studio to talk about some good old fashioned lighting distribution. We get into the legacy marketplace, driver availability, California standards, trade wars, and municipal retrofits. Abraham, Greg, and Michael swap stories about condo applications, the detective work that goes into quoting, customer service, and the value of business associations and old friends.
Feb 2, 2020
#120 - Entering a New Era
Wishing a warm welcome back and a heartfelt congratulations to Spencer and John; the first for returning to the show as guests, the second for gaining ownership of Pacific Lamp and Supply. In this chat we dig into how job title changes aren’t really changing their responsibilities or relationship with each other.
After that we get into changing times, growing into online sales interactions and keeping up the human-to-human facets of business-to-business operations. Our chat get into rising acquisition costs and the end of MROs, the future of group re-fixturing and whether that means anything for the environment, and warranty frictions between customers, manufacturers, rep agencies and the distributor.
The conversation closes out on a discussion on the value of NAILD.
Jan 30, 2020
Special - Randy Reid on the NAILD Convention, Tesla Awards, and the NLB's Trusted Warranty Program
This time around we have a quick bonus episode with Randy Reid, editor of The Edison Report and executive director of The National Lighting Bureau to discuss the upcoming NAILD Convention’s recently announced itinerary, the first ever Tesla Awards, and the NLB’s Trusted Warranty program.
Jan 27, 2020
#119 - Stay in your Lane
J Marshall Hunt is a man with a plan plan to reach contractors by being better than the ‘big guys.’ But in order to prove that fact, he has to be on their radar. J explains a few of his secrets in segmented marketing and narrowly targeted web campaigns, plus his youtube series Watt’s New with J.
The conversation also spends a lot of time on the corporate culture he’s built on the power of gratitude, delegation with elevation, watching out for floaters and what it means to stay in your LANE.
Jan 20, 2020
#118 - Holding Down The Base
After a tour of Satco’s warehouse we have concluded that they have everything.
No really, everything a lighting dork could ask for is one of their many shelves. Beyond offering a tour, Bill Gildin did join us for a recording session to talk about the history of the company, how their share of the legacy support market has grown even as demand has fallen and how that support has become a value add for their buyers.
The conversation also gets into some other aspects of the industry; shifting tariffs, working with foreign manufacturing, inventory management as well as tracking sales numbers over money earned and the potential end of socketed fixtures.
We’re in the midst of a few paradigm shifts but maybe the key to surviving and thriving afterwards is to stick to the basics.
Jan 12, 2020
#117 - Lighting the Anthropocene
Christopher Preston is an environmental philosopher and author, we found him when an excerpt from his book The Synthetic Age about how animals are evolving to use the growing levels of electric light present at night, we had to get him on the show.
We get into human scale versus geological scale problem, the case of interference in natural selection, the varying weights of obligation to do better to the planet across humanity, and failure of awareness-building.
We also talk about getting involved in dark sky and efficiency regulation, banning the wallpack, and the question of who and how to judge what’s best in lighting for all of us.
Jan 6, 2020
#116 - Looking for the Sun
Margaret Wong got started in the business 36 years ago with a single extension cord. She got that Chinese-made cord listed by UL, a first in the field, and the rest is history.
This episode features discussions of Hong Kong then and now, doing missionary work for capitalism, worker culture in China, and a potential paradigm shift global economics. We also delve into McWong’s future, advocating for Bluetooth mesh, lighting’s ubiquity as the driver for the IoT, and selling people on smart spaces.
In between all that Margaret shares stories about the early days of ballasts, how “WongMc” could not see the light of day, and other barriers to understanding she’s encountered.
Dec 30, 2019
#115 - Horticultural Rebates
From the floor of Horticann in Denver, we met up with Rebate Guru, Juan Carlos Blacker to talk about lighting in horticulture space. The space is very different from the rest of the field because light isn’t a tool for sight it’s a means of production; which makes it simple to tackle - sell bulbs that generate the most crop.
We also get into how indoor growing facilities are created, their particular service issues, boom and bust cycles particular to lighting grow-ops and where the future of indoor agriculture practices.
Dec 23, 2019
#114 - Lighting is an Appliance
The showroom at City Lights in San Francisco has changed a fair bit over the last decade - the shelf space for replacement bulbs has steadily shrunk, while the number of fixtures on display has grown by leaps and bounds. There’s a lot of tradeoffs between purpose-built LED luminaires and something more modular. Michael, Greg, and our guests this episode get into the tradeoffs between treating lighting like an appliance going into the future.
They also learn about the ever shrinking number of non-prohibited bulbs in the California Republic, the withdrawal symptoms associated with a rebate addiction, the power of value engineering in the face of e-commerce, how high high-end residential really goes, and color preference genuinely being a matter of preference.
Dec 16, 2019
#113 - 2019 Year in Review
2019 was a great year for us. We have learned so much and met so many interesting people from all corners of our industry. We’re just going to take a few minutes to reflect on all that. Thank you for watching, listening, leaving comments, writing emails, and telling other people about all this. There’s still a pair of short episodes ready for 2019, but we’ve got big things coming in 2020 (name pending), so look forward to it.
Dec 8, 2019
#112 - In the Age of Digital; Relationships Matter More
California is leading the way, not only as an economic powerhouse, but for energy regulations as well. In our Discussion with MJ Paul at Omega Pacific we got into the end of rebates, how to get out of electrical supply by focusing on lighting distribution, and keeping the start-up mentality 30 years into a company’s life cycle.
As we continued our chat we got into the particulars of working the bay area, the regional nature of the business, and building strong customer relationships in the digital era.
Dec 2, 2019
#111 - The Lighting Wizard
The fact of the matter is that controls aren’t guaranteed to generate savings. There’s a number of reasons for this; the space is always occupied, the control mechanisms themselves draw too much energy, or people who might flip a switch end up letting the sensor do the work and lamps run for 5 minutes longer than they have to. But that’s okay (mostly), because Lighting Wizard, Stan Walerczyk is back to talk about the non-energy benefits to a set of controls. He along with Greg and Michael go through alternate benefits like color-tuning for alertness, zone controls for safety, and biophilia by mimicking nature.
We’re still not clear what side Stan is on in this discussion, or how to measure human productivity, or why lighting seems to be the default application of smart controls. But at least we had an interesting chat.
Nov 25, 2019
#110 - White Light Opportunity
Brian Stern and Webb Lawrence of the LED Supply Co in Denver came to lighting after working in IT and radio respectively. They jumped in by dealing in to the local cannabis market, before abandoning that space outright for the opportunities of ‘regular’ retrofit business, and also not having to compete with HPS’s stranglehold on indoor horticulture.
In this episode, they chat about creating value adds as a distributor, partnering with interior designers and the surprisingly varied applications that emerging from UV-based disinfection lamps.
Nov 17, 2019
#109 - Tinkering with the End of Days
Eric Myklebust believes each building can be its own power grid. When asked why that might be necessary he will not cop to believing in the end of days that is the climate crisis. Talking about the facts of the matter, as opposed to projections; we can say for sure that less pollution is a good thing, solar panels can be very useful to that end. But the hurdle to green energy isn’t storage, it’s inverting the power to make it work with an AC grid. Which brings us back to the first thing Eric wants us all to do - the developed world is on the cusp of a major paradigm shift as we electrify our transport and pivot to renewables, so why not overturn the results of the current war and convert our homes to DC power supplies without relying central generation?
Nov 11, 2019
#108 - The Dope Scientist
Neil Mattson, PhD, is a professor at Cornell’s School of Integrative Plant Science, a greenhouse extension specialist, and this episode’s guest. Joining Michael and Greg from the floor of HortiCann in Denver, we start our chat with the cyclical attempts LEDs have made at breaking into this field, and how maybe this is the time they dethrone high-pressure sodium lamps, even it means rebuilding a bunch of heating systems to do it.
As a researcher we ask him what the real metrics are for horticultural light - lumens per watt is great for warehouse, but when that warehouse needs to produce rather than store food, it becomes a question of biomass efficacy and micromoles per joule. The conversation drifts away from the particulars of the GLASE project and more into how our understanding of light is creating new specialties in engineering, design and agricultural sciences; these may not turn into full fields of study, but will turn into professions fairly soon. The LEDifiction of the buil…
Nov 4, 2019
#107 - That's Called Merchandising
This week’s guest thinks what we do is too simple, nevermind the two years and a hundred podcast episodes, Mark Marmer does his work in design and build contracts for electric vehicle charging stations for condominiums.
Our chat with him talks about the paradigm shift that electric cars represent, especially as driving becomes automated, but also working a contract start to finish over bidding to a specification, Toronto real-estate and the value add a charging station represents, as well as how fast the switch to electric is really coming. Mark breaks out his crystal ball to share his vision of transportation for the next twenty years.
The show does close on a lighting topic as he asks about how Greg and Michael work with sensors and controls and how there’s a difference between simplifying this and merchandising complexity.
Oct 27, 2019
#106 - Intersection of Reality and Perception
Jessica Collier of the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory is fresh off her award-winning thesis and right onto the Get a Grip on Lighting Podcast to share her work in color preference under electric light. She’s building up a library of descriptive tags based on the IES’ TM30 specification, so that vendors and consumers won’t be left in the dark when it comes to all the metrics on the side of a box. We’ve done enough to encourage LED adoption with savings, now it’s time to make lamps that feel good to sit in.
Oct 21, 2019
#105 - It's a Two Stop Requirement
On the floor of Nalmco’s Convention in Minneapolis we met up with two of its directors, Bill Sgro and Scott Mendelsohn, to talk about the generational aspect of our industry and the value of networking at conventions like these. We also get into the incentive bubble, the future of what we’ll be making and selling as IoT adoption reaches a tipping point, current challenges and foreseeable problems. The episode closes out with some commiserations on the lack of leadership and standardization in lighting and where that leaves us all vulnerable to exploitation.
Oct 14, 2019
#104 - Killing the Post-Lunch Dip
Stan Walerczyk has done everything in the lighting business, but today he’s here to talk about the color blue. Specifically, he wants to talk about the 480 nanometer wavelength and how it figures into spectrally-enhanced, blue-enriched lighting for human performance. As a member of the Human-Centric Lighting Society he spends most of him trying to research how high kelvin temperatures can be used to help people that operate at night. Mike and Greg prod him about how inconclusive the research seems to be, it’s more about feedback on correlations than strict double-blind data comparisons. Stan shares that frustration, so much of the work in this field gets done by people pushing products, rather than pure researchers; he’d like to be able to offer a daily schedule of ideal color and brightness shifts for your bulbs, but we’re all just stuck adjusting to what feels best.
They do touch on a few other issues, like the work going on in non-circadian applications that are more direct…
Oct 7, 2019
#103 - The Succession of the Louisville Sluggers
The Nefouses of A-M Electric represent 45 years and 3 generations in the business. Michael and Greg met up with The Louisville Light Man and the Godfather of NAILD in their shop to talk about the pace of the LED Invasion, the value of distribution, peaceful transitions of power, and the need to reinvent your business regularly.
As they get into the story of A-M Electric, they bring up project pitches as a storytelling, tricky dealings with vendors, the nature of the Kentucky marketplace.
The pair also share their perspective on working with what you do have before leaving on their love for the business.
Sep 30, 2019
#102 - Old Souls Through New Seams
Satco has been moving in a number of directions lately, pressing beyond lamps into bulbs and electronics. Another move is sending VP of Sales, Alan Karen, to Toronto to join Michael in-studio for this episode all about the necessary moves the best lighting manufacturers are taking.
We also chat about busting through the perceived tiers within the industry, finding seams, the changes in the manufacturer to distributor relationship, what goes on a cut-sheet these days, and feeling old school for keeping up face-to-face connections.
Sep 23, 2019
#101 - Dismantling the Great Wall of China
Our guest on this episode, Brilled Lighting’s Joseph Cullumber, got into manufacturing backwards. He ran an automation company and got frustrated with finding existing fixtures that met his needs, so he bought a factory to make what he wanted.
In this conversation, he, Michael and Greg talk about overseas ownership and management, what you would call a dealer versus a distributor, standing out in the current field and transparency issues that plague the industry.
Sep 16, 2019
#100 - Scrub Roundtable: Should Old Acquaintance be Forgot?
We have reached 100 regular episodes of this little series. Thanks to everyone that helped along the way; especially to you for listening, watching, commenting, and sharing all this time.
This episode we’re throwing ourselves a little party in the form of a roundtable discussion with some like-minded scrubs from across the lighting industry. Our chat gets into the future of our field, the real and perceived scope of led-ification in the built environment, our mixed feelings on rebates (and their looming end), certifications and regulations, before looping back to what’s really next for us all to make and sell.
What do you say? One hundred more?
Sep 9, 2019
#99 - Room For Another Switch?
Orro is not an occupancy sensor, it’s a presence sensor. Colin Billings left his previous work in the new media industry in favor of founding Orro after a series of frustrations with connected lighting at home. An Orro switch uses algorithmic learning to adjust lighting at home, slowly accumulating data and adjusting rules the way a human might commission passive controls without having to be connected to the internet. There is a boom and bust cycle in selling controls, but maybe this cycle ends with some sort of beachhead for smart tech. Light is life and it needs to adapt to our lifestyle.
Sep 3, 2019
#98 - Meshy Bluetooth
Simon Slupik, co-founder and CTO of Silvair, wants us all to live in the future with the power of low-energy Bluetooth. However, 90 percent of lighting controls are still analogue - switches and dials - this episode starts with a discussion as to why that is still the case. What follows is an informative nuts and bolts discussion of Bluetooth mesh technology, fixture firmware, planning, commissioning, platforms, and how Silvair’s way might be the best way forward.
Aug 26, 2019
#97 - LED-Candescent
Have we filled our workplaces with photonic deathray diodes?
Have we turned our homes into caves? Maybe a little.
Scott Zimmerman is an engineer who partners with health researchers and other scientists to model the effects near-infrared light not just on the eye, but skin, blood vessels and the brain and he’s concerned about how the observed good effects NIR are being set aside as we convert the built environment to LED lighting with IR films over the windows. We may be trading efficiency for our well-being. His solution: a hybrid LED-incandescent lamp that comes with a few other surprise benefits on the design side.
Aug 19, 2019
#96 - IES Recap
Exciting times at this year’s IES Annual Conference in Louisville. Michael and Greg met a lot of people, learned the power of the IES’ volunteer team, learned a lot, and did a lot of live streaming, and the material was too good to not make sure it was all available in one place for you.
Aug 12, 2019
#95 - The Gentleman Scholar Speaks of Emergency Lighting
Doctor John Davenport returns to the podcast, and while his work on eliminating flicker has succeeded beyond our current capacity to measure, there are other facets of human health he’s trying to improve upon, namely safety lighting. Retrofits on tubes often leave the original battery-powered bug-eye lamps in place, and while those do have LED equivalents, John had a better idea that works in more places - a tube with it's own sensors and it's own built-in batteries.
Michael and Greg take this as a great chance to sell some new hardware and crash into another stream of the lighting industry.
Aug 5, 2019
#94 - Just Because It's Feasible Does Not Mean It's Desirable
The lighting industry is going through drastic changes, but they are predictable changes. In today's episode we talked with Peter Brown about where the lighting industry is at and what’s most likely coming in the future. Time to go back to the future.
Jul 29, 2019
#93 - Entrepreneurial Spirit
Founder of The Startup Within, Steve Epner helps companies ignite their entrepreneurial spirit. In addition to working with distributors from a variety of industries (including lighting) he also teaches Corporate Entrepreneurship at Saint Louis University. Whether you consider yourself an entrepreneur or not we all have the spirit within us.
Jul 22, 2019
#92 - NAILD Meets NALMCO
Randy Breske is a “retired” lighting industry veteran and is now spending his time as an ambassador for NALMCO (the interNational Association of Lighting Management). We had the pleasure of talking with Randy at the NAILD convention and discussed the lighting industry from the contractor’s point of view. It can be argued that the contractor’s role is the most important one in the LED lighting upgrade craze so pay attention and take notes.
Jul 15, 2019
#91 - Supplements vs. Medication
With all of the discussion and focus on the health effects on lighting, Ute Besenecker, Technical Manager of the DLC, finally summed up the proper way to define them. The current health benefits of lighting are more like supplements than medication. Their effects cannot be prescribed, but lighting can effect people's health.
Jul 8, 2019
#90 - Steve Robinson, Lighting Badass
There is nothing better than talking to someone who does what you do on a daily basis and sharing ideas. Steve Robinson of Wattsaver Lighting Products has been a constant presence in the lighting distribution channel for over 30 years. Someone both hosts of the show have looked up to, listened to and learned from over the last decade at NAILD conventions, Steve is a true lighting badass.
Jul 1, 2019
#89 - Selling Energy
We use the word “save” way too much in the lighting industry and should consider the word waste instead. Mark Jewell is on another level when it comes to proposing an energy saving project. As an author, trainer and practitioner Mark has a way of getting to the point that matters and there is no better way to sell.
Jun 26, 2019
#88 - The Infinite Journey of Homo Destructus
Futurist, author, and lecturer David Passig met up with Michael and Greg at the second Global LiFi Congress, June 2019, to follow up on his talk; The Prospect of the Future on LiFi Technology. Artificial intelligence will exceed a person in 2040, and will exceed the humanity as a collective by 2060 and the future depends on us being able to integrate information into the human experience and understanding. They also discuss transhumanism, paradigm shifts, the nature of consciousness, the singularity, and building the future like science fiction authors.
Jun 23, 2019
#87 - The Lighting Authority
Anytime you have someone from the IES on the show you can be assured that you will learn something valuable about the industry from the top. As The Lighting Authority, the IES is committed to bettering the lighting industry by ensuring that quality lighting is implemented in the field. Alex Baker, Manager of Government Affairs and Public Policy for the IES, met with us at the DLC convention to talk about what’s new at the IES.
Jun 21, 2019
#86 - Separating the Signal from the Noise
Dr. Maïté Brandt-Pearce of the University of Virginia met with Michael and Greg at the second Global LiFi Congress, June 2019, to really get into the nuts and bolts of LiFi. What followed was a rapid Q and A session about fixtures, latency, dimming, how she sees the near-future niche market rapidly reaching mass adoption, and the visceral satisfaction of actually seeing a data connection - LiFi lamps add more to a room than dial-up noise did.
Jun 19, 2019
#84 - Harald Haas, The Father of LiFi
Harald Haas coined the phrase “LiFi” in 2011, and now he’s telling us it’s ready to enter version 2.0. He joins the Get a Grip on Lighting Podcast from the floor of the second Global LiFi Congress, June 2019, to catch us up on the history and development of light-based data transmission, its current applications in the fields of autonomous automobiles, privacy and security, as well as defense. LiFi represents a paradigm shift for the lighting industry comparable to the one photography underwent with the introduction of digital cameras - lamps are going the way of film stock and the industry needs to begin to consider itself a platform creator for the Internet of Things through the power of LiFi. If the tech sector is going to keep adding brains to everything, then LiFi should become both the nervous system and communication tool for all of these smart devices.
Jun 17, 2019
#85 - Hubbell Training at LFI
Hubbell runs an education facility bigger than Greg’s warehouse, for one reason: training is more important than ever in the lighting industry. Clayton Smith their director of business development sat down with Michael and Greg at LightFair International 2019 to share his thoughts on training and education in the lighting industry today.
By building a dedicated facility they can exploit the value of an in-person learning experience, webinars inevitably get shuffled to another tab while ‘real work’ goes on. Hubbell does offer video materials but the key is to keep short, easily digestible, and encourage further reading as needed rather dumping piles of details on the viewer.
They also delve into the challenges facing any new entrant to the industry, how to learn legacy products at arms reach, the value of touring production facilities whenever possible and how controls experts are becoming a must-have for any staff in the industry.
Jun 9, 2019
#83 - From Retrofit to Futurefit
Brian Vaughn and Tim Miller of Current by GE joined us from the floor at Lightfair to convince Michael and Greg that the phrase “futureproof” might be a useful term when discussing connected lighting. Though, even they admit that “upgradeable” might be the better word for what they’re working on; equipment that works with multiple types of connectivity as well as new fixtures that have modular components that will become the form factors for the next generation of smart home technology. Additionally, that notion of upgradeability becomes an undercurrent for the whole conversation, Current by GE is upgrading by adding more software development, lighting sales teams and designers are upgrading by adding connectivity partners, and customers are starting off with color-tuning and voice operation on their lights are part of a plan to expand to more controls throughout their homes.
Jun 3, 2019
#82 - Randy Reid and the National Lighting Bureau
When we know Randy is in the same location as us we always plan to have a discussion with him and sometimes record it. After hearing an excellent presentation from Randy at the NAILD convention we sat down to discuss more about what the National Lighting Bureau is and what it will be under his leadership. Exciting times for NLB!
May 29, 2019
#81 - Non-Energy Saving Benefits of Lighting Controls
Michael Davidson and Jamie Britnell are both Directors at Synapse Wireless and they joined Michael and Greg from the floor of LightFair International 2019 to share their thoughts and knowledge on connected lighting; the unofficial theme of LightFair and (perhaps) the future of the industry.
The switch has been the only real control for lighting and we’re in a scenario more options are becoming viable on the consumer level. As much as connected lighting can make an argument for savings, there are other, better value that smarter lights can add. Michael and Jamie are more interested in systems that can inform users when lamps fail, or offer real time energy use data, and tools that store usage statistics to validate warranty claims, and all manner of personalized problem solving the IoT can offer.
May 28, 2019
#77 - The Free Wheelin' Jim Benya
If the field of lighting were to have one person as the professor of the industry, Jim Benya would be it. Scholarly, articulate and uninhibited; when you talk to Jim about lighting you are in for a true learning experience. He is on too many committees, boards and panels to name, but where there is decision making in lighting Jim Benya is often at the center of it.
May 24, 2019
#80 - Solar Powered Lighting
David Gershaw is the Chief Innovation Officer at Light Efficient Design, and he joined Greg and Mike from his booth at Lightfair International.
While LED’s story of Solar-powered exterior lighting is told from the show Philadelphia it starts in Africa six years ago where they were partnered to light miles of roads in Tanzania with off-grid solar-powered lamps. What started with three components, one being a buried car battery, is now an all-in-one fixture that can be placed virtually anywhere. David’s enthusiasm for the tech that’s inside his company's solar powered option is infectious. As part of the conversation Michael leads the group in digging into some atypical energy efficiency math for fixtures that hybridize solar and grid-sourced power, this leads to some speculation on a whole new kind of rebate program that could arise from these calculations. As the episode closes, the discussion shifts toward Dave’s role as an innovator and the strange and exciting technology th…
May 23, 2019
#79 - The Sun is Blue
Aurelien David is the chief scientist for technology and R&D in LEDs and semiconductor optoelectronics at Soraa — a company founded by the inventor of the LED — and he was kind enough to appear on the Get a Grip on Lighting Podcast from the NAILD booth at Lightfair International.
The episode starts by addressing a recent report by ANSES about the hazards of blue light, particularly LEDs at night. Aurelien and Michael agree that the sky may be falling once again, given that so much of the light we experience, whether it be classic Edison incandescent bulbs or the sun itself project a great deal of blue light. Aurelien takes the time to explain the so-called Blue Peak; how it affects circadian lighting, how manufacturers are working to avoid it now, as well as the future of violet and cyan light as a dodge to the problems associated with blue. The episode closes out on the topic of lighting as the highest achievers in energy efficiency and waste savings, and its capacity to adapt to…
May 22, 2019
#78 - The Passion of Yan
Ellis Yan, founder and CEO of TCP International Holdings, Inc. returns to the Get a Grip on Lighting podcast with more of his expertise to share.
In this quick interview from the scene of Lightfair International in Philadelphia hits on international tariffs on fixtures...and maybe lamps as well soon. Ellis shares his thoughts on the health effects of lighting, the health of effects of saying there are health effects of lighting. Afterwards, Michael shifts gears to the change in lifespans in fixtures versus lamps and the ethics of operating in this new paradigm wherein purpose-built fixtures only last seven years. Ellis finishes off with his predictions about the future of LED continuing as drivers and fixtures start to stagnate.
May 20, 2019
#76 - Lumen Power
No one likes to get punched in the eye, but according to Dr. Nisa Khan that’s what certain LED lights are doing to us right now. According to her “lighting dropped science a long time ago.” LED lighting is unlike any other light source we have dealt with and is not something we should take lightly. Is it time to bring science back to lighting?
May 13, 2019
#75 - Circadian Effective Lighting
In true form to the lighting industry, the UL is adapting and is now leading the charge to publishing a recommended best practice for circadian lighting. Typically known for their stamp of approval, they might not seem like the organization primed to do this but they have a plan in place and are aggressively following through. Adam Lilien, the Lighting Business Development Manager of UL, joined us today to discuss this groundbreaking attempt at defining the best practice for circadian lighting with actual facts.
May 6, 2019
#74 - The Queen of Flicker
Flicker in lighting continues to be a hot topic and it’s not often you can sit down and record a conversation with royalty so take the time to listen to this one. We met with Naomi Miller Lighting Designer/Senior Scientist at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory more importantly known as the Queen of Flicker at the 2019 DLC Convention. She discussed her super powers and why we need to fix flicker in lighting for good.
Apr 29, 2019
#73 - The ABCs of LED Tubes
In this episode we discussed the ABC’s of LED tubes- diving into Type A, Type B, Type C and combo. Gino Marella from Current, Powered by GE gave us the run down on where are we at today and what the future looks like for the most popular commercial lamp type there is. It’s refreshing to hear from a company with over 80 years of lighting background on a new technology that many have jumped into with no lighting background.
Apr 22, 2019
#72 - Lead Generation
It’s inevitable that every business will be upgrading their lighting to LED at some point in the future if they haven’t already. Now is the time to get in the door and make your pitch. If you don’t someone else will. There are many ways to get in the door, but it takes dedication, persistence and follow through. Most people can’t dedicate 100% of their time doing that, but there are companies who do just that- 100% of the time. Listen to this episode to find out what it takes to be successful at lead generation.
Apr 15, 2019
#71 - Wading in with Tina Halfpenny
As one of the most influential organizations in the lighting industry, the Design Lights Consortium (DLC) is leading the charge in ensuring the right lighting is being implemented in the field. Now they are wading in to the next phase of the LED lighting revolution. In this episode we talked to the Executive Director of the DLC, Tina Halfpenny at the 2019 DLC convention about their plans for the future.
Apr 8, 2019
#70 - Lighting is a Superpower
We always love it when the guest makes a statement that is a no-brainer for the title of the show, and Melissa Stickford did just that a few minutes in. Lighting is a superpower and is not something to take lightly (no pun intended). Lighting affects everything we do so if you are going to do something with your lights make sure you take the time to do it right.
Apr 1, 2019
#69 - Embrace the Miniature
When upgrading a facility to LED lighting, how often do you run into miniature incandescent and halogen lamps that you ignore? Miniature lamps are found all over the place and it’s time to stop ignoring them. Embrace them and better yet seek them out on your next lighting upgrade as there are quality LED miniatures available.
Mar 25, 2019
#68 - Lighting Saves Lives
The episode number (68) not only tells you how many episodes we have done, but it also indicates how long Bill Warren has been in lighting! When a guest on the show has been in lighting two times longer than the host and co-host combined you turn the show over to him. Lighting’s purpose is to provide the ability to see the task at hand. With the push for energy-savings and rebates driving the lighting industry, we often lose sight of providing the appropriate light needed for the task being performed. Quality lighting matters to the point that it can save lives. Take a listen and learn from 3 people with over 100 years experience in lighting.
Mar 18, 2019
#67 - Everything Can Be LED
By everything we mean all lighting can be LED. Whether it all should be is a discussion for another time. In this episode we talk with Dan Jenkins from Current, Powered by GE about the differences between LED lamps, Retrofit Kits and Fixtures. Almost all existing lighting applications have LED lamp or LED fixture upgrade options and most have lamp, retrofit kit and fixture options so make sure you have a solid grip on the differences.
Mar 11, 2019
#66 - Recessed Can Deep Dive
Anytime there’s a hole in the ceiling with a light fixture in place and you want to mess with it, make sure you understand what you are getting into. In addition to learning that Canadians call recessed can lights “pot lights”, in this deep dive you will learn everything you need to know when you are upgrading recessed cans to LED.
Mar 4, 2019
#65 - Highbay Deep Dive
Highbays, Lowbays who cares what you call them just make them LED! We invited Jason Hendren of ILP to dive into the deep end of highbay lighting with us. We discuss everything you need to consider when you are looking at highbay lighting to come out of the water with the best solution for your application.
Feb 25, 2019
#64 - Exterior Deep Dive
It’s time to take another deep dive! In this episode we discussed everything you need to take into consideration when you are looking to upgrade an exterior light fixture. There are many different types of exterior fixtures, but you can use the guidelines set out in this episode for all of them. Take notes and enjoy.
Feb 18, 2019
#63 - Connecting Lighting to End Users
Connected lighting is a term used loosely in the lighting industry. It can mean a variety of things, but what should it mean? In today’s podcast, we talked with Robert Lee and Sree Venkit of Signify about the future of connected lighting. Where is it heading, what are the benefits and is it a niche market? These questions and more were answered during the show, but the common theme throughout is that connected lighting should be about connecting lighting to the people using the lighting. Enjoy!
Feb 11, 2019
#62 - Where Connected Lighting Makes Sense
There is one lighting application found all over the world that has a legitimate case for “connected” LED lighting - Sports Fields. On today’s show we talk to Shahil Amin of Hylite LED about the ins and outs of lighting sports fields, a majority of which are still lit by HID light sources. With the advancement of connected LED lighting there is a huge opportunity to gain business in this market.
Feb 5, 2019
#61 - Show Some Love
We talk all the time about lamps, ballasts, drivers, bulbs, fixtures, sockets, but we often neglect one of the most important components of a quality light fixture – the lens or diffuser. Diffusers come in all shapes and sizes and have a dramatic effect on the illumination of a light fixture. It’s time to give the lens a little love.
Jan 28, 2019
#60 - Troffer Deep Dive
In today’s episode of the Get A Grip On Lighting Podcast, Mike and Greg share tips and the complete checklist you should follow when you’re deciding whether to replace or retrofit your troffers to LED. LED lighting offers greater lighting performance and higher energy efficiency which is what most commercial spaces need.
Jan 21, 2019
#59 - Biases in the Lighting Industry
In this episode of Get A Grip On Lighting Podcast, Greg and Michael acknowledge and call out ALL the biases that happen in the lighting industry. This is an excellent reminder for leaders, business owners, and influencers in the field, especially now that we just entered a new year.
Discover the different types of biases that we encounter: group bias, conviction bias, confirmation bias, and superiority bias. Whenever possible, we should try to overcome them. It’s high time to take a quick check so that we stay in business and, more importantly, stay valuable to our customers.
At the end of the episode, Michael also gives book recommendations for all of you so make sure to tune in!
Jan 14, 2019
#58 - LiFi - Game Changer or Niche Product?
What’s coming next for the lighting industry?
Our guest, Randy Reid from Edison Report, is confident that it’s going to be LiFi. With just light, which can be found almost everywhere, people are able to connect with wireless data. It’s quick, convenient, and hassle-free.
So, in today’s episode of the Get A Grip On Lighting Podcast, Michael and Greg pay a visit to Randy’s office in Tennessee to get the most updated information and news you need to know about LiFi.
Discover also the similarities and difference between LiFi and WiFi. Can these two technologies co-exist? How does LiFi’s security features compare with WiFi’s? What kind of users does the LiFi tech really cater on?
This episode offers a good introduction for companies who want to jump in this latest tech. Lighting companies might be having doubts whether LiFi can be suitable for retrofitting. Randy presents good points on how LiFi can be valuable not just to the lighting industry but the other sectors as wel…
Jan 7, 2019
#57 - Ellis Yan is Back, The Return of the King!
Lighting geeks and lighting nerds, are you ready to hear from the expert?
In this episode of Get A Grip On Lighting Podcast, Greg and Michael talk to Ellis Yan, the founder and CEO of TCP International Holdings Ltd. to speak about the current developments and challenges in the lighting industry.
TCP is one of the big companies that manufacture light bulbs. Ellis has always been welcoming with emerging techs and innovations. Learn from Ellis himself how TCP managed to stay strong during the transitioning period of CFLs to LEDs and still remain persistent in educating and providing the people with the best quality lighting available out there. He also shares how they manage to be competitive in the lighting market and be one of the top providers of LED.
Michael, Greg, and Ellis also talk about the pressing issues right now – from the US-China trade war to consolidations to automation. Ellis has some interesting forecasts and insights about the future of the lighting industry so make…
Dec 17, 2018
#56 - How Would You Retrofit That? Pt. 2
There’s still so much to know on how to retrofit your lighting so let’s not waste time and start watching the second part of the How Would Your Retrofit That? Special of Get A Grip On Lighting Podcast. And, if you’ve missed the first part (Episode #54), make sure to check it out on www.getagriponlighting.com or our YouTube Channel.
For today, Michael and Greg continue to provide solutions for your retrofitting problems. If you’re in doubt of what to do, their tips will definitely help so you could come up with the best option for your lighting. Upping your retrofitting game is the way to go besides, saving time, energy, and money is all we want. A lot of types of lighting fixtures were covered in this episode – from strip fixtures to troffers to wall sconces and many more – so start listening in.
Dec 10, 2018
#55 - Lighting Update with Mr. Edison Report Randy Reid
It isn’t solely about illumination now. The lighting industry is gradually integrating new techs and going beyond its initial standard functions. So, how are the companies keeping up?
Today on the Get A Grip On Lighting Podcast, Michael and Greg talk to Randy Reid, the Editor for Edison Report, about the pressing issue of how lighting companies are handling disruptive innovations like AI controls, LiFi, etc. They emphasize that there’s a noted increase of consolidation activity of companies in the past years.
Michael, Greg, and Randy also talk about the issues that are still being faced despite the astonishing developments. As they foresee, the future for the lighting industry is quite promising for those who continue to learn and provide value to their customers. Learn also great tips on what you should be looking for when contacting your lighting providers. Lighting is not one-size-fits-all. Remember that you can customize it based on your needs and liking.
Dec 3, 2018
#54 - How Would You Retrofit That?
When you’re about to do upgrades or retrofits, knowing the specifications of a lighting fixture is just the start. So, what are other things to consider when retrofitting?
In this episode of Get A Grip On Lighting Podcast, Michael and Greg share their insights on the retrofit strategies you should do depending on a lighting fixture's technical specifications. Everything is covered since a lot of different lighting fixtures are highlighted today. They emphasize that there are times when doing upgrades or retrofits are not suggested, and instead, replacement is the best step to go.
Discover the other external factors that should be considered aside from a lighting fixture's type. Is it still cost-efficient to avail the same kind of bulb? Does it already cause flicker or glare? Is it placed indoors or outdoors? For outdoor lighting fixtures, Michael & Greg suggest getting new fixtures instead of retrofitting.
Nov 26, 2018
#53 - The LED Tinkerer
In this episode of the show, Michael sits down with Wes, a self-proclaimed LED Tinkerer. Wes wandered into Michael's store in Toronto, Canada, and asked to speak to the owner. Michael, seizing the opportunity to create content, threw Wes into the studio and asked him to explain his tinkering.
Wes has taken the driver out of an LED fixture and connected it directly to DC current, and then tested the connection to show the LED chip's power consumption is only 1/4 of a Watt. Michael asks questions for details of what makes it work before giving Wes another project to tackle in the form of illuminating an LED tube.
Will Wes return with the project tackled? Hopefully we will see in a future episode.
Nov 19, 2018
#52 - Remember Halogen?
Today on the Get A Grip On Lighting Podcast, Michael and Greg walk down the memory lane of the lighting, design, and tech industry!
Discover what changed and what stayed throughout the years. We focus on the evolving applications, technicalities, & demographics in modern lighting. Michael and Greg share their experiences in how lighting designers, distributors, and consumers have changed their choices because of the growing options in lighting.
Learn what has improved in terms of aesthetics and performance for lighting fixtures. They also talk about the problematic shift in how people perceive ‘good’ lighting. Should consumers prioritize on high energy savings or on the good light output quality it offers? Michael believes that energy efficiency and lighting rebates, which came with the boom of LEDs, are just too questionable in how companies are offering them. Make sure to tune in to know more!
Nov 12, 2018
#51 - Rebate Programs, The Good, The Bad & The Ugly
Energy Efficiency is the answer to sustainability in the future. And if you’re about to make the shift, make sure you know what’s the best utility incentive programs for you.
In this episode of Get A Grip On Lighting Podcast, Michael and Greg chat with Dan Mellinger, Senior Consultant at Energy Futures Group, about energy efficiency and everything about rebate programs. EFG has been providing energy-related expertise to clients across North America – governments, utilities, and environmental organizations for years now.
Discover today what’s working and what’s not with the available rebate programs for residential, commercial or industrial customers. Dan also discusses how EFG ensures energy efficiency & cost-effectiveness and how they package a good rebate program design for their customer. Challenges in energy monitoring and the implementation of rebate programs happen, so to make sure you make the best choice, Dan delves deeper into these topics. Aside from these, know a…
Nov 5, 2018
#50 - The Scrub Roundtable
It’s the 50th episode of the Get A Grip on Lighting Podcast and so far, it has been amazing! Let’s celebrate today by making it fun and laid back. Michael and Greg chat with some of their buddies from NAILD over a couple of beers talking about anything under the sun related to the lighting industry. It doesn’t really matter if you’re a lighting distributor, manufacturer, salesperson, or a customer, you sure are gonna learn as they share their own opinions and perceptions.
Our guests today are as follows:
• Spencer Miles, Vice President of Pacific Lamp and Supply Company
• Cory Schneider, LC, CEO at Lighting Unlimited
• Brian Huff, President of Adventure Lighting
• Josh Brown, Vice President for National Distributor Sales of the Keystone Technologies, LLC
They’ve talked about a lot of the pressing issues in lighting like the rebate programs in different states, the concept of ‘future-proofing’, the threat of online marketplaces, the unwritten rules of staffing in…
Oct 29, 2018
#49 - Build your Network in the Lighting Industry
Don’t just settle on flipping those lighting textbooks. Be more impactful in the lighting industry by learning and collaborating more with lighting professionals, mentors, influencers, and peers.
This episode of the Get A Grip On Lighting Podcast might give you that push you need to start building your network straight from the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES) Executive Director himself, Timothy Licitra. The IES, which was established in 1906, is the recognized technical and educational lighting authority and has over 8000 members worldwide.
So, is IES the right fit for you?
Find out from Tim himself how IES is stepping up their game to bring more value to it's members and to the lighting industry in general. They’re looking into improving their systems, adding more membership benefits, and increasing strategic partnerships. One of the key highlights also from the discussion is how eager IES is on making educational lighting tools and other resources easily accessible onlin…
Oct 22, 2018
#48 - The Historical Developments of the LED Tube
It was just 5 years ago when LED tubes were introduced and since then many commercial spaces have switched to LED tubes due to it's energy efficiency and environmental impact. However, in this short amount of time a lot of changes in LED tubes occurred.
In today’s episode of the Get a Grip on Lighting Podcast, Greg and Michael talk to Dr. Matthew Maa, the Vice President for Sales & Marketing at Aleddra LED Lighting. The focus of the show is some solid “lighting dork” stuff: the history of LED Tubes, recent developments, and the place it holds in the future of the lighting industry.
Discover what similarities and differences the various generations of LED tubes have. Dr. Maa also gives an overview of the issues that need to be addressed with the current generation of LED tubes. And, if you’re also curious about the features of the 5th generation of LED tubes, and the future of LED tubes in general, then make sure to listen to this episode.
Oct 15, 2018
#47 - Integrative Lighting - The Fish Become Aware of the Water
Today, we draw a fine line between the facts and myths of lighting’s effect on our behavior and health. It’s time to tell the consumers what’s true and what’s not.
Joining Michael and Greg in this episode of the Get A Grip On Lighting Podcast is Dr. Jennifer Veitch, the Principal Research Officer at National Research Council of Canada. Dr. Veitch has long been doing research studies about lighting’s impact on health – what are it's effects and how can it be improved.
One of the best takeaways from the discussion is that the best and healthy lighting for you depends on so many factors including the light’s spectrum, duration, intensity, color temperature, and your pattern of exposure. Incorporating each in your decision-making could get you the most sustainable lighting design for your place.
Discover also how important it is for lighting companies to choose the right technologies and why they should always communicate the technical side of lighting to customers. There…
Oct 8, 2018
#46 - Who to Trust in Lighting
With the threat of tariffs on importing Chinese goods, it looks like the lighting industry will be really shaken up. But is this kind of disturbance good or bad? What does it bring to U.S. lighting companies? How does it affect the consumer?
Today, we dive deep on this and more in this episode of the Get A Grip On Lighting Podcast with Michael, Greg, and our guest David Gordon, the President of Channel Marketing Group. His company has long been helping manufacturers and distributors in the lighting industry with strategic planning, marketing, and market research.
Listen to Michael, Greg, and David lay out the pros and cons of tariffs. Discover also the best options for your company, the future of fully-automated manufacturing, some great tips on how to train your staff, and the latest trends in the lighting industry as observed by David Gordon.
Oct 1, 2018
#45 - Women in Lighting
In this episode of the Get A Grip On Lighting Podcast, Michael and Greg talk to Brenda Puckett, the President of West-Lite Supply Co., Inc., to highlight women’s value in the lighting industry. As statistics show, executive and team roles are still filled mostly with men. How has it been for the women in lighting? Is there really a gender bias happening in the industry?
Aside from shedding a light on the issues of gender diversity, listen in on Brenda’s experience in the lighting industry. Brenda has known the ins and outs of lighting since she was 19. She chats with Michael and Greg about the birth of NAILD, how the lighting industry changed since the ‘80s, the regionalization of lighting business and the importance of communication between distributors and manufacturers.
Sep 24, 2018
#44 - Navigating THE Amazon
Amazon is affecting every business to some degree and is a threat to the lighting industry. Anytime you are dealing with a threat you need to come up with a plan to act on it. In this episode we talked with Mike Connors the CEO of bulbs.com regarding Amazon’s impact on the lighting industry and how you can navigate your way through the Amazon.
Sep 17, 2018
#43 - Efficiencies in the Lighting Retrofit Audit Process
One of the most time-consuming tasks of any company doing lighting retrofits is the audit and analysis process of the existing lighting. Everyone has their own system for doing this and often times the reason they do it a certain way is because that’s how it’s always been. If you stop and look at any process you have there is almost always a way to make it more efficient. On this episode we talked with Jeff Seifert of Snapcount to discuss how their software can make your lighting audit process more efficient.
Sep 10, 2018
#42 - Hop on the Rebate Bus
In this episode we hopped on the Rebate Bus with Joe Pater and discussed the importance of utility rebates to the lighting industry. We took a wild ride discussing everything rebate related. Like the movie Speed, we must keep the rebate bus going at a certain speed or a bomb in the industry will explode.
Sep 3, 2018
#41 - EV Charging Stations – 5,4,3,2 lift off?
Remember 2013? Thinking hmm, should I start selling my customers LED lighting? Remember all those charts and predictions that no one thought possible? 80% adoption by 2020 and so on? Well get out of your time machine and look at the predictions and projections surrounding electric vehicles and the gear required to make this donkey ride. All the arrows go straight up. Might be the lighting industries turn to take a bite out of someone else’s pie for once.
Aug 27, 2018
#40 - Visible Light Disinfection
We hear a lot about healthy lighting and the potential effects it can have on people, but until we talked to Clifford J. Yahnke, Ph.D, Director, Clinical Affairs at Indigo-Clean we weren’t convinced. After this discussion we feel there is finally a true “healthy” lighting option. Visible Light Disinfection is legit and very effective at disinfecting clean room environments. While not for all applications this is a sign of where lighting is heading.
Aug 20, 2018
#39 - The Lighting Industry's Biggest Competitor
No it’s not Bill Hurd, although he would be tough to beat in any competition. A 30+ year lighting industry veteran, Bill has done it all. He has worked for a manufacturer, owned a lighting distributorship and is now working with National Accounts for Border States. We had a very NAILD-esque conversation discussing all of the hot lighting topics that affect us today and will in the future.
Aug 14, 2018
#38 - War For Talent
The lighting industry is a candidate’s market so there are a lot of lighting companies battling for talent. We had a great discussion with Paul Pompeo who is the President of the Pompeo Group an executive recruiting firm focused on the lighting industry. We talked about best practices for interviewing and hiring as well as mergers and acquisitions. All topics that are of interest to anyone in business not limited to lighting. In fact this might be the least lighting focused podcast we have done to date.
Aug 6, 2018
#37 - Is Your Lighting WELL?
The International WELL Building Institute (IWBI) is leading the global movement to transform our buildings and communities in ways that help people thrive. As Concept Lead for Light at International WELL Building Institute, Gayathri Unnikrishnan focuses on the importance of natural and electric lighting on the well-being of occupants in the built environment. People are the most important asset for any business, so protect that and make your lighting WELL.
Jul 30, 2018
Paul Hafner - RIP
Rest up Paul. You will be missed.
Jul 23, 2018
#36 - Inclusiveness
Carol McGlogan is the President & CEO of Electro-Federation Canada and has had an impressive career in lighting. As we all know the lighting industry has changed dramatically and continues to, but not just on the technological side. Historically dominated by men, today many of the most powerful people in lighting are women. Carol commented on this and then, as usual, we got into the lighting geek stuff.
Jul 9, 2018
#34 - The Practicality of Lighting Controls
What does Sci Fi and Lighting have in common - Craig Dilouie. Actually, the way lighting is going it sometimes feels like it’s more science fiction then science. In addition to writing novels, Craig Dilouie is a renowned educator, journalist, and marketing consultant to the lighting industry. He is the editor of the LightNOWblog and Lightsearch newsletter as well as the education director for the Lighting Controls Association. We always hear that lighting controls are the way of the future so who better to have a conversation with on this topic.
Jul 2, 2018
#33 - The Greatest Invention Ever for Productivity
There are 1.2 billion people in the world without lighting. Dr Venkat Venkataramanan and his team from the Impact Centre at the University of Toronto are working towards solving this problem and utilizing science to better the quality of life for society as a whole. We are not just talking about selling light bulbs anymore.
Jun 21, 2018
#31 - Get A Grip and Listen to this Recap
30 podcasts on Light Bulbs?! Much like the picture above, the last 30 episodes are a blur. This last year went by so quickly that we figured it was time to briefly recap what we learned from episodes 1-30 of the Get A Grip on Lighting Podcast with the Host Michael Colligan and Co-Host Greg Ehrich.
Jun 12, 2018
#30 - Lux As A Service
Pier LaFarge is the Co-Founder & CEO of Sparkfund. Their goal is to “netflixize” the energy technology industry. If this happens, the lighting industry will be in for a bigger change then the LED transformation. Get A Grip!
Jun 5, 2018
#29 - The Lighting Renaissance Man
53 years in the game and Bill Attardi is as feisty as ever. As a Renaissance man his career is as full as it is diverse; salesman, manager, executive, owner, consultant and teacher. You bet we grappled with him.
May 29, 2018
#28 - Fill the Gaps with Lasers
Dr. Paul Rudy is the co-founder of SLD Laser along with Dr. Shuji Nakamura. They are commercializing a new generation of laser light sources for display, automotive and specialty applications; filling in the gaps left by the limitations of LED. What? LED has limitations? You bet, time to press play!
May 21, 2018
#27 - Training Lighting Professionals Systematically using LS1
Cory Schneider is the current President of NAILD and the CEO of Lighting Unlimited in Arizona. He has developed a unique way to deploy LS1 that a lot of other NAILD members are copying. If you have some lighting people to train we suggest giving this episode a listen.
May 14, 2018
#26 - Compliance Fatigue and the Poetics of the Zhaga Consortium
Dr. Dee Denteneer is the Secretary General of the Zhaga Consortium. Zhaga is an open, global, lighting-industry consortium that is standardizing LED light engines and associated components, including modules and drivers. The end goal of the Consortium is to turn global chaos in order. Fat chance or worth a shot?
May 7, 2018
#25 - Piloting Transition with David Nathaniel
David Nathaniel is the CEO of Standard; started out selling electrical tape with his dad from their home in Montreal. 37 years later he has the largest privately owned lighting manufacturing company in Canada. His business has drastically changed in the last five years and the hosts of this show were glad he took the time to tell us about the transition.
Apr 29, 2018
#24 - Got a Grip Thanks to Paul Hafner
Paul Hafner is the creator of NAILD’s education programs: LS1 and LS2. He was instrumental in the transformation of the association from a club to an educational organization. A legend in NAILD circles, many of the members have Paul to thank for their success but especially the hosts of this show.
Apr 23, 2018
#23 - Value Added Selling with Randall Johnson
Randy Johnson is the President of US Lamp in Green Bay Wisconsin. Randy is an LC (Lighting Certified) and a State Licensed Designer of Engineering Systems. Sounds complicated so just think of him as the ultimate lighting guru and you should be good to go for this one.
Apr 12, 2018
#22 - Entering the Matrix with Dan Ryan
Dan Ryan is not really a lighting guy. He has worked in the industry but he rolls more with the Silicon Valley crowd. He founded ByteLight in 2011 and flipped it to Acuity Brands where he stayed on as a VP of Product Development. On this episode we talked about IoT, Smart Lighting, LiFi, Indoor Positioning and, well, the Matrix. Dan is currently the Co-Founder & CEO of VergeSense
Apr 3, 2018
#21 - Promises Promises, Name Changes & Beers in Frankfurt with Randy Reid
Get a Grip on Lighting rolled into Frankfurt looking for answers and the editor of the Edison Report was happy to oblige. We set up our gear at his booth, cracked a few beers and pushed record. Manufacturer's warranties, Lumens as a Service, the future of lighting and more. Push play Hombre.
Mar 27, 2018
#20 - Selling Projects Using Tax Deductions?
Daniel Audette is a tax engineer. Do we need to say more than that? The hosts of the show thought all you needed was an accountant until they ran into Dan. Check out this episode to find out more about the deductions and incentives available to help Lighting Distributors and Contractors sell their projects.
Mar 19, 2018
#19 - Horticultural Lighting Ripe for LED?
Andrew Myers, CEO of ProGrowTech, is confident that LED technology is ready to revolutionize the Horticultural Lighting landscape. He laid out his argument on the Get A Grip on Lighting Podcast. Andrew is convinced that all lighting professionals should find a way into the market that is set to “grow” exponentially.
Mar 11, 2018
#18 - Prospering in Uncertain Times with Keystone Technologies
Ira Greenberg, CEO of Keystone Technologies, and his VP of the Distributor Channel Josh Brown joined the Get a Grip on Lighting Podcast to discuss the evolving and capricious nature of the lighting industry. While many manufacturers seem ready to pack it in, Keystone is growing and flourishing and the Hosts needed to know why.
Feb 28, 2018
#17 - IES Relevance with Tom Butters
Tom Butters, LC MIES, is the Director of Education for the IES. He is responsible for developing and delivering lighting education to the IES membership and the public at large in a multitude of modern modalities. Prior to his appointment at the IES, Tom was the Director of Canlyte/Philips Lighting Concept Centre in Toronto from 1999 to 2016. He is the immediate Past President of the IES Toronto Section and an awarding winning presenter and lighting educator.
Feb 20, 2018
#16 - Lighting Health Effects with Mariana Figueiro
Mariana G. Figueiro, Ph.D., is the Director of the Lighting Research Center (LRC) and Professor of Architecture at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. She has also served as Light and Health Program Director at the LRC since 1999. Dr. Figueiro is well known for her research on the effects of light on human health, circadian photobiology, and lighting for older adults. Her research is regularly featured in national media including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Scientific American. Dr. Figueiro has also brought attention to the significance of light and health as a topic of public interest through her recent TEDMED talk.
Feb 5, 2018
#15 - Lighting Health Effects with Greg Yeutter
Greg Yeutter is an "up and comer" in the lighting business. On this episode he shared his thoughts on the health effects of artificial lighting.
Jan 30, 2018
#14 - Horticultural LED Lighting with Dave Inman
Dave Inman's expertise is in the horticultural lighting sector. On our show he talked about LED luminaires designed for growing cannabis and why this market is set to explode. He also hosts his own podcast "State of Cannabis".
Jan 22, 2018
#13 - POE Lighting with Wendell Strong
Wendell Strong is a three decade veteran of the Commercial Lighting Industry and serves as the PoE (Power over Ethernet) Manager at GENISYS Lighting. He has served on the executive board of the National Association of Innovative Lighting Distributors.
Jan 2, 2018
#12 - Inventory Management 2 with Jason Bader
Jason Bader is back on Episode 12 of the Get A Grip On Lighting Podcast. He is the President of the Distribution Team and a subject matter expert in the field of inventory management.
Dec 5, 2017
#11 - Lighting Controls with Jim Benya
Jim Benya is flat out one the world’s top authorities on lighting design and applied illuminating engineering. He is especially known for his work in the field of design with a hardcore emphasis on daylighting, lighting efficiency and sustainable design. We caught up with him at the DLC’s gig back this summer in Portland.
Nov 9, 2017
#10 - The Godfather of Lighting William M. Brown
The Godfather of the Lighting business, William M. Brown, is the guest on Episode 10 of the show. His story transcends lighting into the realm of classic American success story. His adventure starts in the 1950's and works its way through several industry transformations. Nevermind LED or CFL - Mr. Brown went through the original linear fluorescent lighting disruption! It was a real honor for us to speak to him and we hope you enjoy our time with a legit American business legend.
Oct 3, 2017
#9 - LED Flicker with Dr. Arnold Wilkins
Dr. Arnold J. Wilkins is Professor Emeritus at the University of Essex in the United Kingdom. he has spent an academic career studying the environmental causes of visual eye strain, proving through research that the temporal modulation (a fancy tech term for flickering) of magnetically ballasted fluorescent lamps was causational, not correlated to certain negative human health outcomes including headaches and seizures. He shared some thoughts on solid state LED lighting systems with the Get A Grip on Lighting podcast. Don't forget your fidget spinners!
Oct 3, 2017
#7 - DLC Executive Director Christina Halfpenny
The Get A Grip on Lighting Podcast is joined by special guest Christina Halfpenny, Executive Director of the DesignLights Consortium (DLC). Tina has been leading the team at the DLC since 2015. We discuss the evolution and power of the DLC, LED lighting, lighting controls, DLC 5.0, the influence of lighting distributors, and more!
Oct 3, 2017
#6 - Edison Report Editor Randy Reid
The Get A Grip On Lighting Podcast is joined by Randy Reid, Editor of the Edison Report. We discuss Randy's extensive experience as Former President of the IES, VP of Resilient Lighting, Board Member of Lightfair, and of course the mystery man behind the Edison Report. We go into some great topics including why attend Lightfair, the current state of the IES, role of the DLC and UL, the importance of lighting distributors, lighting controls and IOT, subscription-based lighting and more. A fun-filled hour of amazing lighting discussion that will leave you craving for more!
Oct 3, 2017
#5 - NAILD President Robin Watt
Recorded at Lightfair in the NAILD booth, the Get A Grip on Lighting Podcast is joined by Robin Watt, President of NAILD and Brady Nemeth of the DesignLights Consortium. We speak about DLC 4.0, the future of lighting, color temperature, new tech at Lightfair, horticulture lighting, and much more. Listen to our first podcast recorded straight from the Lightfair floor and our first one with two special guests.
Oct 3, 2017
#8 - The Future of Lighting with Mark Lien
Lighting Heavyweight and IES Industry Relations Manager Mark Lien visits with the hosts of the Get A Grip on Lighting Podcast. The discussion worked its way from Quality vs. Efficiency, lighting as a service LaaS, DesignLights Consortium, US Green Buildings Council, the outlook for the IES, the future of the lighting business and more. Enjoy!
Oct 2, 2017
#4 - Spencer Miles of NAILD
Spencer Miles, VP of Pacific Lamp & Supply and NAILD board member, joins the Get A Grip on Lighting Podcast. Pacific Lamp has been in business for over 100 years and Spencer has seen his fair share of lighting moments. We discuss some interesting lighting topics like MRO versus project work, Illumigeddon (end of the LED revolution), subscription-based lighting concept, American manufactured lamps, and more. We even get a surprise visit by a mystery guest.
Oct 2, 2017
#3 - Get A Grip Co-Host Greg Ehrich
Greg Ehrich, Co-Host of the Get A Grip On Lighting Podcast & VP of Premier Lighting, tells his lighting story on the Get A Grip on Lighting Podcast. He goes through his experience as a lighting distributor, talking about the lighting industry, NAILD, rebate programs, evolution of LEDs, and more. There's even a sneak peak on the next episode's guest.
Oct 2, 2017
#2 - DLC Program Specialist Brady Nemeth
Brady Nemeth of the DesignLights Consortium (DLC) joins the Get A Grip on Lighting Podcast. Brady is a program specialist with the DLC and we discuss many topics pertaining to lighting and the DLC, like the incentive program, NAILD, DLC 4.0 initiatives, control systems, Chinese lighting manufacturers, and funding sources of the DLC.
Oct 2, 2017
#1 - Inventory Management with Jason Bader
Jason Bader of the Distribution Team joins the Get A Grip on Lighting Podcast. Jason is the President of the Distribution Team and he's a subject matter expert. We discuss many topics pertaining to the lighting industry, like lighting associations and inventory management for lighting distributors.