Industry event calendars have become increasingly crowded over the past decade. While almost every wholesale distribution product vertical has always had an association or other entity that hosts an annual event for hundreds or thousands of attendees to congregate at, the proliferation of software vendor user conferences and distributors’ own sales/expo/innovation events has nearly every week of the 2026 calendar occupied by at least one notable event somewhere.

Below, you’ll find a list of events that are on MDM’s radar, which includes ones hosted by MDM and the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors (NAW).

Before we get to the list, I’d be remiss if I didn’t give plugs for several in-house events that we are excited to offer the MDM audience in the first half of the year.

The first is NAW’s Executive Summit, set for Jan. 26-28 in Washington DC. As NAW’s biggest event of the year, it will bring a who’s-who of distribution market movers to the nation’s capital for 2.5 days of top-notch programming and plenty of networking and knowledge-sharing opportunities. The timing of America’s 250th anniversary and NAW’s 80th year of operation will make this an especially special event, which will also essentially mark the two-year anniversary of NAW’s acquisition of MDM.

And on May 12-14, NAW and MDM will host our fifth annual SHIFT Conference in Denver. Registration is open for our marquee in-person event, which serves as a change management event for teams of distribution leaders. This event has been infused with cohort-based roundtable discussions for focused, small-group conversations that are perfect for gathering process management input from peers outside of your own product vertical. The mix of external perspectives gained in these roundtables has proven immensely valuable.

Those are besides MDM’s ongoing webcasts throughout 2026, which always deliver informative discussions, case study examples and plenty of research data.

With that out of the way, here is our rundown of nearly 40 industry events in the first half of 2026 that are on MDM’s radar across industrial, commercial and building supply product sectors. Of course, this isn’t a complete list. There are undoubtedly more events that I just haven’t been made aware of that are worthy of adding to this list. This list doesn’t include vendor user conferences, and many distributors’ company expos/conventions. If you know of any events that should be added, let me know at [email protected], as I’d like for this blog to serve as an industry resource. I’ll look to post a second-half preview sometime in late May.

I hope to see you out there!

HOST	DATES	EVENT	LOCATION
NAED	Jan. 12-14	NAED Western Region Conference	San Diego, CA
BSA	Jan. 18-20	BSA Winter Meeting	Tampa, FL
Informa	Jan. 19-22	World of Concrete	Las Vegas, NV
NAW	Jan. 26-28	NAW Executive Summit	Washington, DC
NAW	Jan. 28-29	NAW Association Executives Council Winter Policy & Strategy Forum	Washington, DC
AHR	Feb. 2-4	AHR Expo (HVACR)	Las Vegas, NV
NAED	Feb. 2-4	NAED Eastern Region Conference	Atlanta, GA
PMMI	Feb. 17-19	PACK Expo East	Philadelphia, PA
MSC Industrial	Feb. 23-25	MSC Growth Forum	Dallas, TX
Grainger	March 15-17	Grainger Show	Orlando, FL
AEA	March 16-19	University of Innovative Distribution	Indianapolis, IN
AD	March 16-18	AD Electrical Spring Network Meeting	Tampa, FL
AD	March 22-26	AD Industrial & Safety (U.S.) and BPT Spring Meeting	Ponte Vedra, FL
PTDA	March 25	Industry Immersion Conference	Nashville, TN
Winsupply	March 29-April 3	Winsupply Bi-Annual National Meeting	Grapevine, TX
AD	March 31-April 2	AD Gypsum Supply Spring Meeting	Denver, CO
Fastenal	April 7-8	Fastenal Customer Expo	Kissimmee, FL
ASA	April 7-9	ELEVATE2026	Boston, MA
AHTD	April 8-10	ATHD Spring Meeting	Nashville, TN
MHI	April 13-16	MODEX	Atlanta
Evergreen Supply Network	April 19-22	Annual Partnership Conference	Dallas, TX
HARDI	April 20-21	HARDI Congressional Fly-in	Washington, DC
ISA	April 20-22	ISA26	Cleveland, OH
AD	April 20-22	AD PHCP Spring Network Meeting	Indianapolis, IN
AD	April 22-24	AD Mexico Spring Network Meeting	Playa del Carmen, Mexico
AIWD	April 26-28	AIWD (welding) Annual Convention	Miami, FL
IMARK	April 29-May 1	IMARK Annual Plumbing Meeting	Championsgate, FL
BSA	May 2-5	BSA Annual Convention	San Antonio, TX
WBR	May 4-6	B2B Online Chicago	Chicago, IL
AD	May 6-9	AD Gypsum Supply Spring Meeting	Houston, TX
NAW	May 12-14	SHIFT 2026	Denver, CO
NAED	May 12-14	NAED National Meeting	Orlando, FL
NAHAD	May 16-19	NAHAD Meeting & Convention	Indianapolis, IN
ASA	May 18-20	ASA Emerge2026	Arlington, TX
AD	May 25-28	AD Canada Annual Meeting – Industrial & Safety and Building Supplies	Vancouver, Canada
IWDC	June 1-3	IWDC Sales & Purchasing Convention	Louisville, KY
AD	June 1-3	AD Decorative Brands Annual Meeting	New Orleans, LA
PTDA	June 2-4	PTDA Canadian Conference	Montreal, Canada
ASA	June 11-13	ASA Northeast Summit	Annapolis, MD
NAED	June 15-17	NAED Women in Industry Forum	Houston, TX
ASA	June 18-19	ASA Central Summit	Arlington, TX
IWDC	June 22-24	IWDC Sales & Purchasing Convention	Indianapolis, IN
AD	June 24-25	AD Mexico Summit	Mexico City, Mexico