PANEL DISCUSSION
Amanda Schaneman, ETC, Inc. | Dave Young, Traxon
Location: Nassau
Wednesday, April 14, 2027
3:00 pm – 4:30 pm ET
Credits TBA
Intermediate
Eight participants. Four live debates. One bracket. LightCenter puts some of the industry’s contested lighting questions on trial, with participants arguing sides they may never pick themselves. The audience votes live after every round, sending two finalists to a championship topic revealed only when they hit the stage. Fast, funny, and built on real unresolved debates in our field.
Learning Objectives
- Identify and articulate the strongest arguments on both sides of contested, unresolved questions in the lighting industry, including positions the participant does not personally hold.
- Evaluate competing professional viewpoints on their merits, distinguishing well-supported reasoning from appeals to habit, convenience, or personal preference.
- Recognize how framing and advocacy shape professional discourse, and apply that awareness when engaging with debates in their own practice, firm, or professional organizations.
- Formulate a coherent argument under time constraints with limited or no preparation, a skill directly transferable to client conversations, project meetings, and real-time professional advocacy.
Speakers
Amanda Schaneman
Specifier Relationship Manager
ETC, Inc.
Amanda Schaneman is a Specifier Relationship Manager at ETC, Inc., where she works with lighting designers, architects, engineers, and other industry professionals to connect people with the tools and knowledge they need to create better spaces.
With more than 15 years in the lighting industry, Amanda has worked across engineering, sales, marketing, and now specifier relations—giving her the ability to see lighting from just about every angle. Her work has focused on making complex lighting topics easier to understand and helping bring thoughtful, human-centered design into spaces where lighting has to do a lot of heavy lifting.
Amanda is an active member of the lighting community, Illumination Awards committee chair, and a frequent presenter on topics ranging from healthcare and trauma-informed design to inclusive lighting strategies. She believes good lighting should be functional, accessible, and, whenever possible, make people feel a little more at home.
When she’s not talking about lighting, Amanda can usually be found renovating something she probably should have left alone, baking, or hanging out with her dog and her nieces.
Dave Young
National Controls Sales Manager
Traxon
Dave Young is the National Controls Manager for Traxon | e:cue. He holds a BA in Theatrical Design from Alma College and an MFA in Lighting Design from the University of Oklahoma. Prior to joining Traxon in 2024, he worked as the Western Architectural Regional Manager for ETC, and as an architectural lighting designer at Visual Terrain and then Stantec in Los Angeles. An active member of the lighting community, Dave has been a presenter at the IES Annual Conference, LIGHTFAIR International, ArchLight Summit, and several other lighting industry conferences. Dave also served as the chair of the IES Annual Conference from 2019-2023.