A Sneak Peek Into The Metaverse Lighting TrendHouse
UPDATE:
On Tuesday, January 9th, 2024, the world premiere of the Metaverse Lighting TrendHouse, a Savour Partnership project, took place at Dallas Market Center’s Lightovation tradeshow. The installation is still in place and will again be the centerpiece of programming for the June 2024 Lightovation tradeshow.
The rest of this blog post was written before it went live and will give you the backstory of how it came to be.
Below is the original post:
Get a first sneak peek glimpse of the TrendHouse’s interior here, in this brand new video presented by Cindy Morris, President and CEO of Dallas Market Center!
For those of you who have been following the progress of this project with me already, I thought I would share the backstory before some of you join me in person at Lightovation for the world premiere of this historic event in January.
The Backstory
In June of 2023, I met with Allison John in person [ shown below ] who is Dallas Market Center’s [ very organized and saavy ] Director of Exhibitor Events and Marketing. I discussed with Allison various ideas re: having a VR/metaverse activation at their next tradeshow. She really liked the thought leadership aspect of being the first to do it and agreed to think about it.
On July 18th, 2023, I received an email from Allison saying that members of their executive team had discussed it and were interested in exploring if these VR [virtual reality] activations could be done in time for January Lightovation.
I was thrilled to learn this but knew we had a long way to go for final budget approval, as this is not an inexpensive undertaking and I wasn’t sure that everyone that needed to greenlight the project would understand exactly why a metaverse activation - a virtual 3D immersive experience - could be so important to their business objectives.
During the month of July, I proceeded to answer many more questions about the project from the senior executive leadership team and then I put together a formal proposal for the Lightovation board to approve.
Originally, I thought I would be presenting my proposal to the Lightovation board myself, but Cole Daugherty, Senior Vice President for Exhibitor Marketing for Dallas Market Center, [ shown below] took the reins.
I won’t lie, it made me a little nervous to let someone else present my proposal, but Cole put together a beautiful presentation and did an incredible job because the same day that he presented it to Lightovation’s board of directors, they gave it their approval with a resounding YES from all members.
I got the email from Cole saying the board had approved the project shortly after their board meeting on August 9th — and if you could have heard my scream of excitement when I read his email to me saying it had been approved, it would have burst your eardrums!
WHAT A MOMENT.
It’s important to me that Allison gets the credit for being the first one to champion this idea amongst the executive leadership team at Dallas Market Center and that Cole gets the credit for being the one to present my proposal in such a way that the board said “yes*, immediately.
And it’s very important to me that Cindy Morris, the President and CEO of Dallas Market Center, be recognized for greenlighting the entire project, before it went to the Lightovation board for budget approval.
Without Cindy, it would not be happening.
Cindy: thank you so much.
There have been many other members of the DMC/Lightovation team involved in helping with this project, but I want to give a special shout out to Helen Smith, Senior Director, Exhibitor Communications and Relations, who did all of the heavy lifting, with an assist from Laura Van Zeyl, in collecting all of the information we needed from the exhibitors so the Metaverse Lighting TrendHouse could be completed on time.
It takes visionary leadership to step out on the ledge with something that’s never been done before, and put it in front of the whole world, before it’s ever been built [ more on that in a minute ] and I am so appreciative of the entire DMC/Lightovation team that has been involved in every facet of this project.
It’s been an incredible collaboration.
Speaking of collaboration…
MY COLLABORATION PARTNERS
There wouldn’t be a Metaverse Lighting TrendHouse without my collaboration partner — rendering artist, NCIDQ certified interior designer and nationally accredited building designer, Annilee Waterman, who is also my Metaverse Spaces and Midjourney AI online workshop partner.
Annilee designed and built the interior and exterior architecture of the TrendHouse from scratch, out of her imagination.
She has 3D modeled and rendered the interior of the Showhouse, which includes 21 highlighted lighting fixtures with associated QR codes for an AR experience, and she has created both a 1 on 1 virtual walkthrough version of the TrendHouse and a metaverse version of the TrendHouse - a community experience - where multiple people can be in the space at the same time, as their avatars, and chat with each other.
It has been an enormous amount of work for Annilee to complete in a very short amount of time, alongside her work for her other clients, and she has done an exemplary job.
Annilee: you’re a rockstar. Thank you!
I hope you will help me congratulate Annilee. It’s HER moment to shine.
I invite you to follow Annilee on Instagram here: https://instagram.com/designerannilee.
Annilee was ably assisted in the finish and furniture selections by celebrity interior designer, Shay Geyer, owner of IBB Fine Furnishings in Dallas.
Shay is also the one who chose the 21 highlighted lighting fixtures, from all of the lighting fixtures the exhibitors [ who were able to respond in time to Helen’s emails ] presented to us for consideration, based on the 4 trends identified by global trend ambassador, Patti Carpenter in her 2024 Lighting Trends Report prepared for Lightovation.
You will be able to scan the QR codes on those highlighted lighting fixtures, embedded with AR, which will allow you to click on the link you will see on your mobile phone to see the highlighted lighting fixtures in your own homes, offices, client’s homes, customer’s homes or any other environment!
Follow Shay on Instagram here:
https://instagram.com/designershay .
Shay: thank you for your time and your talent. We appreciate your flexibility with all of the many details that had to be worked out as we went along.
There’s so much more to say and share, but I know this is already a long post, so let me leave you with some links that will be helpful for anyone considering attending, already registered or even if you see this post after the world premiere event is over.
[ Please note: only qualified designers, editors and lighting retailers can attend Dallas Market or Lightovation in person, but the Metaverse Lighting TrendHouse will live on a special landing page on the Dallas Market Center website which will go live on January 15, 2024, so anyone that wants to, from around the world, 24/7, will be able to view it, hold events around it, etc. More on that in another blog post ]
HELPFUL LINKS AND OTHER USEFUL INFORMATION
View The 2024 Lighting Trend Report
Use this link to view the 2024 Lighting Trend Report, prepared by global trend ambassador, Patti Carpenter, who will be leading a live trend tour of Lightovation on Tuesday, January 9th, beginning at 3 pm.
https://bit.ly/2024LightingTrends
Where and How To View The Metaverse Lighting TrendHouse During Lightovation/Dallas Market Total Home and Gift Show
The Metaverse Lighting TrendHouse event activation space is in the Trademart building, Floor 3. You will not be able to miss it. The space has been designed by the DMC team and Samsung, a DMC exhibitor, has provided all of the screens.
It opens at 9 am on January 9th, and will remain open throughout Lightovation, which is running concurrently with Dallas Market’s Total Home and Gift Show. All attendees of either event are welcomed.
In addition, Dallas Market Center has purchased Meta’s Oculus 3 virtual reality goggles for all who would like to wear them to see the Metaverse Lighting TrendHouse. Wearing the goggles will make you feel like you are inside of it when you are touring it. You do not have to wear the goggles, however, to experience the TrendHouse.
How To Navigate The Metaverse Lighting TrendHouse
A series of videos are being prepared now by Dallas Market Center that will teach you how to navigate it. Watch for a link to those videos in this post as soon as those videos are live. In addition, both myself and Annilee, as well as 2 others, will be present at the live activation space to help you.
Where and How To See The Metaverse Lighting TrendHouse Once Lightovation Is Over
After the live event is over, you will be able to see the Metaverse Lighting TrendHouse via a custom landing page that will go live on Dallas Market Center’s website on Monday, January 15th. I will add that link into this post when it’s live.
UPDATE: this is that link: https://www/dallasmarketcenter.com/metaverse-lighting-trendhouse.
If you have virtual reality goggles at home or in your office, you will be able to experience it just exactly as the visitors to the tradeshow have experienced it. You will be able to view it from your desktop, laptop or from your mobile phone, but we recommend desktop for the easiest navigational experience.
Where To Get More Information On Lightovation’s Exhibitors:
https://dallasmarketcenter.com/lightovation for all further information on Lightovation and all 400+ exhibitors.
Dallas Market/ Lightovation Channels To Follow/Groups To Join
https://www.instagram.com/dallasmarket
https://www.instagram.com/dallasmarketdesign
https://www.youtube.com/user/dallasmarketcenter
https://www.facebook.com/dallasmarket
https://www.linkedin.com/company/dallas-market-center/
https://www.facebook.com/Lightovation/
Lightovation also has a public Facebook Group community for all those interested in discussing various aspects of lighting.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/24383691618087
It has been my truest joy to collaborate with and manage this project alongside Dallas Market Center’s Lightovation team and I invite all of you to follow me, too, in the following places:
https://www.instagram.com/lesliemcarothers
https://www.instagram.com/savourpartnership
https://linkedin.com/in/lesliecarothers
https://www.linkedin.com/company/70532858/
https://www.facebook.com/savourpartnership
https://bit.ly/LeslieCarothersYouTubeChannel
If you’re an interior designer, working full time, and if you have an up to date professional website, I invite you to Request To Join my private Facebook community for interior designers, Design Wealth.
This community has been in existence for almost 9 years and it is a vibrant community of almost 2000 of North America’s top design talents.
Request To Join here: https://facebook.com/groups/designwealth
I look forward to hearing from you after you’ve had a chance to experience the Metaverse Lighting TrendHouse to see what you think.
If you have any questions about any of this, please email me at leslie@savourpartnership.com.
Thank you all for your support and collaboration. I never take it for granted and I can’t wait to see many of you in person at January’s Lightovation tradeshow!
Leslie Carothers, Principal
Savour Partnership
Named One Of Home Furnishing Business Magazine’s Top 40 Most Inspiring Women In Home