ALA Conference Keynote Speaker Aims to Take the Guesswork Out of Your Business

During the ALA Conference in Lake Tahoe, Sept. 10-12, nationally recognized economist and popular keynote speaker Jeremy Bess of ITR Economics will take the guesswork out of what lighting businesses can expect in 2024 and 2025 by sharing his team’s forecasts with ALA Conference attendees.

“Good or bad, my job is to give the facts,” Bess admits, “but I see signs of optimism.” When asked where he sees the residential housing market headed, he adds, “We’re not quite where we can say we’re entering recovery and things are better — but we’re pretty darn close. And we’re beginning to get permit data that indicates what I call the ‘green shoots’ of success. I think things will be getting less negative shortly, over the next few months, and that’s something to get charged up for.” 

While there’s no tiptoeing around the R word, Bess is optimistic. “This recession that they’re talking about is not like the pandemic, and it’s not the Great Recession.  Yes, the word ‘recession’ is a tough one to swallow, but the consumer is in a very different position [now] to weather the storm. Businesses are going to have a moment of reset,” he explains, adding that the latter part of 2024 and 2025 should be “phenomenal years macroeconomically.”

ITR’s forecast for the housing market is “not catastrophic. Are we going to be below 1 million housing starts per year for awhile? Yes, that run-up we had in 2021 and 2022 wasn’t sustainable,” Bess predicts. That said, this recovery won’t be as harsh as it was after the housing crisis in 2007-2009.

Bess’ belief is that the worst is behind us. “With 2023 coming to a close by the time of Conference, we’re going to focus on the remainder of this year but also start to target the demand factors of 2024 and 2025. My goal is to provide insights into the future for your strategic planning and to give you enough evidence to feel comfortable about what’s going to happen in 2024 and 2025 by looking at leading indicators.” 

ITR Economics has its own proprietary forecasts that Bess will be sharing with ALA attendees. 

Learn more about ITR’s economic forecast as it relates to the lighting industry’s growth areas at the upcoming ALA Conference in Lake Tahoe September 10-12. Registration is open online here.