Lumen Hosts Le Salon Lumen Customer Event

BRAMPTON, Ontario – This month, Sonepar’s Quebec region distributor, Lumen, held the 12^th edition of their Salon Lumen, the largest exhibition in Quebec’s electrical industry. The customer event was hosted over two days, starting on April 16 in Quebec City, and ending on April 18 in Montreal. The event gathered 175 vendors within a 50,000 sq. ft space to showcase their newest products and services. Lumen received over 8,000 visitors to see the industry’s latest innovations.

Contractors, apprentices, and students attending Salon Lumen were also offered over 40 conferences and guided laboratories including topics like electrification solutions, lighting, power quality solutions, health and safety, smart home 101, digitizing your business and its benefits, and environmental, social, and governance.

Prior to the Montreal Exhibition, Lumen held a social event for their main suppliers where Sonepar CEO, Philippe Delpech, Sonepar Americas President, Rob Taylor, and Sonepar Canada President, George McClean, shared company insights, economic highlights, and the future vision of Sonepar. The event was followed by a Q&A period providing suppliers with the opportunities to dive deeper into Sonepar.

Q&A with Serge Leblanc

Following is a Q&A with Serge Leblanc, President of Lumen, Sonepar’s largest distributor in Canada, to talk about the history of Le Salon Lumen and its popularity among suppliers and customers.

1. 1. You held your 12^th biennial Salon Lumen this month. It sounds like a very big production.
      Le Salon Lumen is the pride of our organization. It’s a two-day customer event in Canada that gathers 175 vendors into a 50,000 sq ft space and attracts 8,000 customers. It takes place in two cities, Quebec City and Montreal, QC, and requires a total of nine tractor trailers to move Le Salon Lumen from one city to the next, overnight.
   2. Why has it grown in popularity?
      With this being our 12^th edition of Le Salon Lumen, every year we attract more and more guests. The public is eager to witness the electrical industry’s latest product and service innovations. Over the years it’s grown in popularity due to the benefits the customers gain from attending. Not only do they get extensive exposure to different brands, but they also network with a variety of suppliers and Lumen product specialists. Ultimately, our customers gain first-hand insights into the evolution of our industry.
   3. Tell us what happens during the event?
      The event begins at 9am and as soon as registration opens, we are off to the races. The first booth that guests walk through is our Lumen booth. Attendees can speak with Lumen associates and virtually view our facility investments and advancements. Guests can then stop at any of our 175 suppliers and speak to their representatives about their products. Le Salon Lumen also offers over 40 workshops customers can participate in, from hands-on laboratories to corporate presentations. This year some of our workshops included, Electrification in Progress, Lighting: Prevent Failure, Smart Home 101, Digitizing your business and its benefits, and Environmental, Social, and Governance seminars.
   4. Lumen was founded in 1962, how did Salon Lumen get started and how do you continue to make this such a big draw?
      We started Le Salon Lumen in 2002 to commemorate Lumen’s 40^th anniversary. We wanted a platform suppliers could use to gather and present their latest products and services to customers, all in one place. We conduct the event biennially to ensure our customers are experiencing the most recent industry technology. Over the years, Le Salon Lumen continued to grow as we added more suppliers to the trade show and additional activities for guests to participate in. Le Salon Lumen would not be possible without the collaboration of the entire Lumen team. We operate as one to ensure we put forth the best customers’ event our industry has to offer.
   5. Sonepar just recently announced their purpose: Powering progress for future generations. How does Lumen live the purpose?
      Lumen lives our Purpose through the emphasis we put on student involvement. We contact trade schools in Quebec and invite their students to Le Salon Lumen. We understand that students are our future associates, vendors and customers and it’s important to the progress of our industry that we involve them as often as possible. We also have a great sustainability culture and consistently seek new ways to drive environmental initiatives within our organization. At Lumen all our branches are equipped with LED lighting and with electrically powered indoor equipment, such as electric forklifts. Lumen branches are furnished with EV charging stations to facilitate the adoption of electric vehicles. At Lumen we use cardboard boxes made of 100% recycled content, and we began partnering with a company to repurpose the glassine material from our shipping labels.  Additionally, Lumen’s Central Distribution Center (CDC) has LEED certification, and we were recently awarded Ecovadis’ Silver rating in Sustainability.
      We pride ourselves on small actions that have large effects on the environment, such as coupling our packing slips as Salon Lumen invites. We utilized our ability to service our customers across the provinces as a sustainable way to raise awareness of our 12^th edition of Le Salon Lumen.