I want to first thank you for your support and for making this opportunity to serve as your president possible.

The entire ALA staff is excited that we can continue to build on the unique relationships we have developed and built with you.  We look forward to serving you and the lighting industry and appreciate the time, resources and commitment you give to the lighting industry and to the American Lighting Association.

ALA Community

The world is changing and changing fast.  The way we communicate, the way we research, the way we purchase products, the way we do most things is vastly different than what we did 10 years ago.  But, ultimately, relationships matter, and they matter a lot.  These relationships have built the ALA community and it is our job to continue to make the community stronger.

With that, ALA is launching new programs and improving others to help the ALA community connect and grow.

Industry News Tracker

In March, ALA will a launch the ALA Newsfeed, which is a fully automated service that harvests news on a daily basis from websites of ALA manufacturer members, trade magazines and ALA news across the Internet.  

The aggregated news and information is processed through a series of sophisticated filters to ensure relevance and importance, with the final content delivered to all members in a form of a continuously updated Internet-based newsfeed and bi-weekly emailed newsletters.  Every individual member will have the ability to personalize their own newsfeed by identifying companies or specific product categories of interest.  

I am excited that ALA is launching this free member service, which allows us to be more connected to our members and bring significant attention to the news that ALA is making.

Showroom Performance/Profitability Report

This spring, the ALA will be launching the Showroom Performance/Profitability Survey. This is a free member service, which will allow ALA to develop a financial bench-marking report.  

Showrooms will be mailed a confidential  survey to complete and that information will be aggregated and formulated into two distinct profitability reports: The Profit Report and the Par Report.  

The Profit Report is an overview document, which summarizes the results of the survey.  The Par Report will be a confidential report that will provide each participant with individual analysis and critique and will suggest actions to improve profitability results.

ALA Conference

Please save the date for this year's ALA Conference, October 1-3, 2015, at the Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach in California.  We have some exciting changes planned and you will not want to miss it.  

We recommend you register today and make your hotel reservations.  The full conference program is being finalized and will be available soon.

I hope 2015 is starting out well and setting the stage to be a successful year for you.  Thank you again for your membership and support. 

Sincerely, 

Eric Jacobson, CAE

President & CEO

American Lighting Association