Build Your Network. Broaden Your Perspective. Take the Next Step.

Fall Conference puts you in the room with the people, ideas, and conversations shaping the business of engineering. Explore new approaches to leadership, workforce, technology, and firm strategy, connect with peers and industry leaders from across the country, and bring fresh ideas and perspective back to your firm.

Make the Case to Attend

Attending Fall Conference is an investment in your professional development—and an opportunity to bring value back to your firm.

When requesting approval to attend, focus on the return:

Gain Practical Insights
Learn how engineering firms are responding to shared business challenges and bring back strategies, resources, and ideas your team can use.

Build Skills
Choose education sessions aligned with your role and your firm’s priorities, with opportunities to earn professional development hours (PDHs).

Expand Your Perspective
Hear from leaders across firms, disciplines, and markets and gain a broader understanding of the business of engineering.

Make Valuable Connections
Build relationships with peers, firm leaders, potential mentors, partners, and industry resources from across the country.

Understand What’s Next
Gain perspective on the workforce, technology, economic, and policy trends that could affect your firm, its clients, and your career.

Start with Your Firm’s Priorities

Review the Conference schedule and identify sessions that connect directly to your work or a current priority at your firm. Being specific about what you want to learn—and what you’ll bring back—can help demonstrate the value of attending.

Justification Letter Template (Formal)

Justification Letter Template (Casual)

“For me, it was a feeling of belonging, like I had found an organization where I would like to roll up my sleeves, share my voice, learn, and grow."

— Past Fall Conference Attendee

Come Together. Stay Connected.

Some of the most valuable conversations at Fall Conference happen outside the session room.

Meet someone new over breakfast. Introduce yourself after a General Session. Join a table with attendees you haven’t met. Connect with another young professional from across the country.

Fall Conference brings together people from across the engineering industry. Take advantage of having them all in one place.

Explore the Exhibit Hall

Make the Exhibit Hall part of your agenda.

Meet companies developing products, services, technology, and solutions for engineering firms. Ask questions, explore what’s new, and look for resources that could help address a challenge at your firm.

A conversation in the Exhibit Hall could lead to a new tool, a new solution, or a valuable industry connection.

Get Your Headshot

Stop by the Headshot Booth during Fall Conference for a complimentary professional headshot.

Take advantage of having a polished, professional photo ready when you need it. Refresh your professional materials and leave Phoenix with one more valuable resource for your career.

The booth is self-service and popular, so anticipate a line and plan time in your schedule accordingly.

Join the Conversation

Follow ACEC National on social media for highlights, photos, and insights from Phoenix. Repost conference content, share a takeaway, or highlight a new connection to extend the experience to your network.

And look for Engineering Influence, ACEC’s podcast, recording live from Fall Conference. Stop by to see conversations with industry leaders take shape—and tune in afterward to keep the conversation going.

Bring the Value Home

Before you leave Phoenix, take a few minutes to capture what you’re bringing back.

Your Fall Conference ROI

The value of Fall Conference is what you take back with you. Throughout the week, keep track of the ideas that stand out, resources you want to explore, and people you want to stay connected with. Before you leave Phoenix, take a few minutes to turn those notes into a plan.

Aim to leave with:

3 actionable ideas to share or put into practice
3 resources, tools, or strategies worth exploring
5 meaningful new connections to follow up with
1 industry insight your team should know
1 next step to take when you return

Then, bring the value home. Share your biggest takeaways with your supervisor and team, pass along useful resources to colleagues, and follow up with the people you met while the conversations are still fresh. Look for opportunities to put what you learned into practice—and connect your takeaways back to the goals that helped make the case for attending.