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 ...
Nov 19, 2018•19 min
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 org...
Nov 12, 2018•55 min
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...
Nov 05, 2018•1 hr 8 min
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 li...
Oct 29, 2018•44 min
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 LE...
Oct 22, 2018•53 min
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 fr...
Oct 15, 2018•1 hr 5 min
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 light...
Oct 08, 2018•58 min
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. Brend...
Oct 01, 2018•50 min
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 24, 2018•52 min
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 m...
Sep 17, 2018•49 min
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 10, 2018•54 min
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.
Sep 03, 2018•41 min
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 27, 2018•48 min
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 20, 2018•55 min
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 ...
Aug 14, 2018•52 min
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.
Aug 06, 2018•40 min
Rest up Paul. You will be missed.
Jul 30, 2018•44 min
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 23, 2018•51 min
How many lighting companies have someone on staff with the title Chief Scientist? John Davenport is the Chief Scientist at Energy Focus and is a recognized global expert in light source physics and product technology. He has been at it for years starting with GE where he developed the “blue” Xenon headlamp currently used in cars and now Energy Focus with a range of LED lighting products including IntelliTube®, Energy Focus’ unique tubular LED retrofit Technology. In addition, he is author to ove...
Jul 16, 2018•49 min
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 wh...
Jul 09, 2018•51 min
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.
Jul 02, 2018•51 min
Lighting industry veteran Chris Brown coined the term Illumigeddon several years ago and met up with Get A Grip to discuss where we are headed. Ilumigeddon has turned into Illumitunity as long as you can work your way through The Matrix. Enough with the analogies, just give this a listen.
Jun 27, 2018•37 min
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 21, 2018•42 min
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 12, 2018•46 min
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.
Jun 06, 2018•44 min
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 29, 2018•50 min
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 21, 2018•38 min
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 14, 2018•47 min
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.
May 07, 2018•1 hr 12 min
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 30, 2018•47 min
