I've spent the last handful of months working with industry leaders and professionals to build the program for Commercial UAV Expo 2026. It’s been incredibly informative and rewarding connecting with so many great folks, and somehow we’re mere days away from the kickoff of this year’s event, taking place September 1-3 back at Caesars Forum in Las Vegas. With my flight out west just a couple of days away and my anticipation ramping up, I want to take a few minutes to talk more generally about everything I’m excited about for this year’s event, including, but certainly not limited to, the conference program.

That said, we’ll start there because that's where most of my focus, of course, has gone. We built this year's sessions around what the industry actually wants based on responses from a survey conducted at the start of the year. 

Included is the return of our roundtable sessions, now in their second year and one of my favorite aspects of the event. These are open to every pass holder, and they encourage more interactivity than your typical session. Instead of a panel or a series of presentations, these sessions bring industry peers together to discuss the most important topics for their businesses and careers – insurance headaches, NDAA compliance, workforce gaps, whatever the room wants to get into. These are some of the best conversations you’ll have all week, both for the content of the discussions and the connections you’ll make with like-minded professionals.

Then there are the two keynotes, which bookend the show and, I think, say a lot about where this industry is right now. The first one, on Tuesday, is built entirely around a State of the Industry survey we ran with Pilot Institute earlier this year. I'll be up there walking through what nearly 900 operators, pilots, and fleet managers told us about where things stand, followed by a conversation with Pilot Institute co-founder Greg Reverdiau about what it all means.

The second keynote kicks off our last day of the event and brings together leaders from the FAA and EASA to discuss how the U.S. and Europe are approaching regulation at a critical time for the industry. Getting regulators from both sides of the Atlantic in the same room is, in my opinion, one of the more consequential sessions we've put together this year and will be valuable for anyone, regardless of vertical, job title, or region.

Beyond the sessions, the exhibit hall floor is always where the show really comes alive. Walking the floor and seeing what companies have built since the last show, sometimes since just a few months ago, never gets old. The pace of hardware and software development in this space means the floor looks meaningfully different every single year. This year, the Indoor Airspace Demo Area is back, with demonstrations by organizations such as Pilot Institute, SMG, NIST, and Hollywood Drone.

Aside from all of that, though, the thing I look forward to most isn't any specific session, booth, or demonstration. It's the fact that this entire industry, which spends most of the year scattered across job sites, offices, and video calls, gets to be in the same building for three days. This is a (relatively) young, fast-moving industry, and much of the real progress happens in hallway conversations, at the bar after a long day on the floor, or between sessions when someone mentions a problem you've been quietly dealing with, too. I think that in-person connection matters more for this industry than most, precisely because so much of our day-to-day work is solitary or remote.

If you have not registered yet, there is still time! I'll be around all three days, moderating a few sessions, catching up with old friends, and trying to make as many new connections as possible. Come find me on the floor. I would love to hear what you're working on.

See everyone next week!