What's happening
LDI Show 2026 will be held Dec 2-8 at the Las Vegas Convention Center West Hall, with the expo floor open Dec 6-8 and 350+ exhibitors covering lighting, audio, rigging, projection, lasers and video. Sessions include 'When Architectural Lighting Meets Entertainment' and AI-native creative studio concepts. Expo Hall passes are free with early registration, making it a major North-American venue for projection and advertising-lighting buyers.
Why it matters for buyers
For a retailer, venue or signage buyer, the practical effect is simple: the unit that reads on your wall at your ambient light, with your artwork, beats the one with the bigger number on the box. Specification order — distance, image size, ambient, then brightness — decides the result.
It also changes lead-time risk. Custom gobos and certified outdoor builds need briefing before the date is fixed; the projector is rarely the long pole, the artwork and certification are.
The technical angle
Brightness you can see is a function of ambient light, not just lumens. A 'bright' unit in a lit lobby disappears; the same unit in a dimmed evening reads strongly. Specify against the actual ambient, not a catalogue number.
What to specify
Before you request a quote, lock these down:
- Gobo material: glass for longevity and colour, metal for cheap short runs
- MOQ and dispatch window before the event date
- Throw distance from bracket to surface, measured on site — not estimated
- Image size you need at that distance
