(New York, March 23, 2020) — As a global nonprofit, the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES) is closely monitoring the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and all available information. It is a serious development that weighs heavily upon the Society, members, volunteers, employees, and the lighting industry at-large. Here are some of the ways the IES is providing support during this difficult time.
Serving Our Members
As the Lighting Authority, we believe our role of serving our membership and the broader lighting community during this time is a critical one, and we want to make sure our members receive the same support and services they expect and need.
All services remain accessible through the IES website and we do not anticipate any disruptions. Not only do we hope that your experience is one of “business as usual” but we are proactively working to identify opportunities to provide you with new offerings.
Society Events
The following is an update regarding our upcoming in-person Society events schedule.
- 2020 IES Research Symposium – This biennial event will no longer take place as originally scheduled. We are currently working to identify when and how this content will be delivered. For those that have already registered for this event, a complete refund will be provided. More information will be communicated shortly.
- LightFair 2020 – As previously communicated, the leadership at IES, IALD, and IMC decided to postpone the 2020 trade show and conference. To view the press release again, please click here.
- IES Annual Conference – This conference remains on track to take place as planned for August 6-8, 2020 in New Orleans, LA. We have extended the early registration deadline to May 1, 2020. We will continue to monitor all available information and will provide updates if our plans change in the coming months. For complete event information and registration details, please click here.
- IES Street and Area Lighting Conference (SALC) – This conference remains on track to take place as planned for October 18-21, 2020 in Dallas, TX. We will continue to monitor all available information and will provide updates if our plans change in the coming months. For complete event information and registration details, please click here.
New IES CEU Opportunities
With all of the event cancellations occurring in our industry, the IES is working on new programs to ensure that there are still plenty of opportunities to obtain continuing education credits.
Over the next few weeks, the IES Education Department will be releasing content that is engaging and relevant in the form of new programming and special packaging of existing material. We know these will not replace the incredible benefit of meeting face-to-face to network and learn, but they are easily accessible opportunities for professional growth and credits until we can meet again. To view all existing and new CEU opportunities, please visit https://elearning.ies.org/.
IES Local Sections
We encourage all local sections to strongly consider all the information available from reliable sources when deciding how to move forward with their events and meetings. Each city, state, province, and country has had (and will continue to have) a different experience relative to COVID-19, with varying social impacts.
The World Health Organization (WHO) officially characterized COVID-19 as a pandemic on March 11th, 2020. If any sections have contractual arrangements relating to any upcoming events, we strongly recommend reviewing those contracts immediately. If considerations is being given to canceling or postponing any section events, this process should begin immediately (especially since event contracts often have contractual terms, including ‘force majeure’ terms, that require that a written cancellation notice to be provided in specified (usually very short) period of time). It is each section’s obligation to assess the situation and work on identifying a solution that works best, just as it is ours to do so for the Society.
IES Employees
The safety and wellbeing of IES employees is paramount. After considering all relevant facts, we have decided that, effective immediately (March 13, 2020):
- the IES headquarters office is closed until further notice with all employees working remotely;
- employees will be just as accessible working remotely as they would be if in the office; and
- all non-essential IES staff travel is suspended.
Our focus is to preserve the health and safety of the industry and general public. During this time of uncertainty, we encourage everyone to reach out to us with any questions or concerns.
Please be safe and be careful. We value your active participation, all you do for the IES, and thank you for your continued support.
Tim Licitra
Executive Director
Illuminating Engineering Society (IES)