I recently had a breakfast meeting with Dr. Michael Sturm, technical fair director of marketing/communications for Messe Frankfurt Inc. We met in the Blackstone Hotel on Chicago’s Magnificent Mile over scrambled eggs, coffee and toast with jam. We discussed Messe’s upcoming Light + Building show (April 11-16, 2010) and what shows like this can do for a growing industry.

Dr. Sturm told me Light + Building is a blend of the decorative and technology. “How do we make energy-efficient lighting aesthetically pleasing? How do we integrate the two?” Dr. Sturm asked me. That’s a question to which the show’s organizers and exhibitors want to find an answer.

While we ate, we discussed the sheer size of the Light + Building Automation show, which takes place over six days in 11 Halles on the Messe Frankfurt exhibition campus in Germany. There will be more than 2,000 exhibitors (and space is almost filled) and hundreds of thousands of attendees throughout the week of events.

He asked me if many U.S. installers, architects, engineers, designers travel overseas to European shows. I had to respond in the negative.

As an editor’s aside: Why don’t we travel abroad? There are many who do, of course, but the numbers are awfully low. In terms of trends and product innovation, the global market offers a unique perspective. I expressed to him that it would be nice if we could get out of our American skin for a while and experience how the rest of the world inhabits buildings — how their buildings are used and gauged on performance. I certainly had the travelling bug when I attended ISH 2009 in March — my first time overseas, and it opened my eyes to many new things.

Aligning with manufacturers/exhibitors could be a good start to encourage travel, the doctor said. Messe fair exhibitors are all given vouchers for registration, which he hopes are handed out to customers and v.i.p. dealers. To make things easy, too, is the travel planner at the Messe Frankfurt website, which helps create a destination plan.

Highlights during the April show include DesignPLUS awards to showcase the best and brightest products (no pun intended). Also, a Light + Building market report (similar to the bathroom market study, “Blue Responsibility,” at ISH in March) will address today’s issues and get the industry experts’ insight. It's a virtual reference guide of the latest technology.

The show is lengthy — much longer than traditional American shows — but it lends itself to the education and networking; it is not one to rush through, grabbing brochures and swag. Organizers instead hope you form connections, open your mind to new concepts and technologies, and share what you’ve learned with others — from colleagues to customers.

Eventually I had to stop asking Dr. Sturm questions — his eggs were getting cold! — so it was my turn to talk. I tried to elaborate on the efficiency market here at home, and the frustrations we’ve been having with convincing customers to go green. Yes, customers understand it’s good for the environment and they want to do their part. But how much is that going to cost? Not just money, but in daily living readjustments that come with learning new ways to do things.

“Electricians’ only concern used to be ‘Does it work? Great!’,” laughed Dr. Sturm. “But now they must be concerned with can it work better and more efficient and less expensively.” It requires re-education on many levels.

The rising cost of building maintenance in terms of energy use is forcing many owners to look for those special designers and engineers who can take into account a building’s total performance.

This is coming down, too, from the government. Sturm tells me about the European Union standards as well as various other countries looking to be environmentally conscious and economically frugal. However, “They’re being very prudent,” Dr. Sturm admitted. I had to agree: cautious enthusiasm seems to reign on this side of the pond as well.

Soon our time was up, and I thanked my host for his insight. (I hoped he was able to see some of my hometown while he stayed — it was his first time in Chicago.) But to all novice world travelers, go ahead and broaden your minds at a particularly dynamic show. Check out Light + Building 2010 in Germany this April (http://​www.​light-​build­ing.com). You’ll be contributing to the green conversation.