For the relative activation of a luminaire, actuation of an actuating element, particularly of a pushbutton, is detected. During actuation of the actuating element, the following steps are performed cyclically: ascertainment of a target control point (P_1, P_2) that corresponds to one of a plurality of sampling points (61, 62) encountered sequentially during the actuation; generation of a control command (71, 72) on the basis of the target control point (P_1, P_2); and issuing of the control command (71, 72) in order to reach a sampling point (61, 62) corresponding to the target control point (P_1, P_2) at a predefined change-over time (68). During continued actuation of the actuating element, a predefined period of time (68) is allowed to pass after a control command (71) is issued before a further control command (72) is issued in order to reach another sampling point (62) that corresponds to a further target control point (P_2).