--- title: "Insurance Conferences for Commercial Brokers 2026 | Dates & Venues" description: "Verified dates, venues, and links for the fall 2026 insurance conference circuit: ITC Vegas, ABU, CIAB ILF, WSIA, TMPAA, Applied Net, and more. CopyCat is exhibiting at ITC Vegas and ABU." url: https://www.runcopycat.com/blog/insurance-conferences-commercial-brokers-2026 source: https://www.runcopycat.com --- [Blog](https://www.runcopycat.com/blog)·Industry # Insurance conferences commercial brokers must attend in 2026: the fall circuit ![Abhi Balijepalli](https://www.runcopycat.com/authors/abhi-balijepalli.jpg) Abhi BalijepalliCo-founder, CopyCat Published July 28, 2026·10 min read The short version - Eleven events between August 28 and November 11, with dates checked against each organizer’s own site in July 2026. - ITC Vegas (Sept 29 to Oct 1, Mandalay Bay) is the technology show. CIAB, WSIA, and TMPAA are the meeting shows, where the value is a calendar booked weeks ahead. - ABU’s national convention already passed. The next ABU event is the one-day Southern California Mini-vention on August 28 in Ontario, CA. - CopyCat will have a booth at ABU and at ITC Vegas. - November is quiet for commercial P&C. Only one national event lands, and it is life and annuity. The insurance conference calendar is front-loaded into fall. Between late August and mid-November 2026, a commercial broker can hit a one-day regional trade show, the largest insurtech gathering in the world, the meeting where the biggest brokerage CEOs negotiate carrier relationships, and the two events where wholesale and program business actually gets placed. You cannot go to all of them. Below is the fall circuit with verified dates, venues, and official links, organized by month, with a note on who each one is genuinely for. Always re-check the organizer page before booking travel, because venues and dates do move. ## Fall 2026 at a glance | Event | Dates | Location | Best for | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | ABU SoCal Mini-vention | Aug 28 | Ontario, CA | Regional agents, CE, markets | | IIABAZ Annual Convention | Sep 2 to 3 | Phoenix, AZ | Southwest agencies | | American Agents Alliance | Sep 24 to 26 | Palm Desert, CA | Western P&C, appointments | | Applied Net | Sep 28 to Oct 1 | National Harbor, MD | Applied, EZLynx, Ivans users | | ITC Vegas | Sep 29 to Oct 1 | Las Vegas, NV | Technology evaluation | | Big “I” Fall Leadership | Sep 30 to Oct 3 | Baltimore, MD | Association leadership | | CIAB Insurance Leadership Forum | Oct 2 to 6 | Colorado Springs, CO | Brokerage C-suite | | WSIA Annual Marketplace | Oct 11 to 14 | San Diego, CA | Wholesale and E&S | | TMPAA Annual Summit | Oct 19 to 21 | Scottsdale, AZ | Program business | | CPCU Society In2Risk | Oct 19 to 21 | Las Vegas, NV | Technical education, CPCU | | Protectors Vegas | Nov 9 to 11 | Las Vegas, NV | Life, annuity, benefits | Dates and venues verified against organizer websites in July 2026. Confirm on the official event page before booking. ## August 2026 ### [ABU Southern California Summertime Mini-vention](https://abuunited.com/event/2026-southern-california-summertime-mini-vention/) August 28, DoubleTree by Hilton Ontario Airport, Ontario, CA. Agent Brokers United runs the best kind of regional event: one day, one room, low cost, and everyone in it actually writes business. The venue is at 222 N Vineyard Ave, and the day runs 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. | Time | What happens | | --- | --- | | 9:00 a.m. to noon | Workers’ compensation continuing education class | | Noon to 1:00 p.m. | Lunch | | 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. | Trade show floor | | 5:00 p.m. | After-party with food, drinks, and music | Admission is $50 for agents and brokers, $150 for company representatives without table space, and $850 for an exhibitor table. For a Southern California agency, that is the cheapest CE credit plus carrier-appointment conversation you will find all year. ABU’s national trade show convention is a separate, larger event held every spring at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas. The 2026 edition ran April 28 to 30, so the next one is April 28 to 30, 2027. Go if you are a California independent agency owner or producer who wants CE, market access, and a short drive. ## September 2026 ### [IIABAZ 92nd Annual Convention & Trade Show](https://www.iiabaz.com/convention/) September 2 to 3, JW Marriott Phoenix Desert Ridge Resort & Spa, Phoenix, AZ. Big “I” Arizona’s 92nd annual convention. The trade show on September 3 runs 2:00 to 6:30 p.m. with roughly 133 exhibit booths, and it is free to attend. Former Arizona Cardinal Jake Plummer keynotes the luncheon. Go if you write in the Southwest and want market face-time without a full week away. ### [American Agents Alliance Conference & Expo](https://agentsalliance.com/overview/) September 24 to 26, JW Marriott Desert Springs Resort & Spa, Palm Desert, CA. The Alliance bills itself as the largest P&C insurance event in the West. It is built around carrier appointments, continuing education, an expo floor, a golf tournament, and the networking that comes with a three-day resort format. Go if you are a Western independent agency chasing new carrier appointments and markets. ### [Applied Net 2026](https://www.appliednet.com/) September 28 to October 1, Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center, National Harbor, MD. Applied Systems and Applied Client Network bring the Applied, EZLynx, and Ivans user community together just outside Washington, DC. This is the agency-management-system event. If your operations run on Applied Epic or EZLynx, this is where the roadmap, the integrations, and the power users are. Go if you own agency operations, data, or the AMS itself. ### [ITC Vegas 2026 (InsureTech Connect)](https://vegas.insuretechconnect.com/) September 29 to October 1, Mandalay Bay Convention Center, Las Vegas, NV. 9,000+ attendees, per the organizer 500+ speakers across the tracks 3 days Sept 29 to Oct 1 The big one, and the largest gathering of insurance leaders, innovators, and investors anywhere. Tracks cover growth, operational efficiency, strategic foresight, and life, benefits and annuities. Practical logistics from the organizer: sessions start as early as 8:30 a.m., the expo floor is open 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on September 30 and 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on October 1, and they recommend arriving Monday, September 28 and leaving Friday, October 2. A word of advice for brokers specifically. ITC is a technology show, not a market show. You will not leave with new carrier appointments. You will leave with a clear picture of what is actually shipping in AI for distribution, and which vendors can survive a real document instead of a scripted demo. Bring your ugliest carrier PDF and make people run it. Go if you are evaluating technology, buying it, or trying to figure out what your competitors will be running next year. ### [Big “I” Fall Leadership Conference](https://www.independentagent.com/events/big-i-fall-leadership/) September 30 to October 3, Hilton Baltimore Inner Harbor, Baltimore, MD. The national Big “I” leadership meeting. The Education Convocation runs September 29 to October 1 and the Young Agents Leadership Institute runs October 1 to 3, both at the same hotel. Go if you are active in association leadership, state association governance, or young agents programs. ## October 2026 ### [The Council’s Insurance Leadership Forum](https://www.ciab.com/events/insurance-leadership-forum) October 2 to 6, The Broadmoor, Colorado Springs, CO. ILF is the premier marketplace meeting for top-tier broker executives in commercial property and casualty. The Council reports more than 1,200 attendees, heavily weighted toward C-suite executives, practice leaders, and decision makers. This is a relationship and negotiation meeting rather than an education conference, and the calendar is wall-to-wall private carrier meetings. Go if you sit at the top of a brokerage and own carrier relationships. Otherwise this is not your event. ### [WSIA Annual Marketplace](https://www.wsia.org/) October 11 to 14, Manchester Grand Hyatt San Diego and Marriott Marquis San Diego Marina, San Diego, CA. The Wholesale & Specialty Insurance Association’s Annual Marketplace is the premier networking and business event for the wholesale, specialty, and surplus lines industry. As with ILF, the value is in the pre-booked meeting schedule, not the sessions. Go if you place E&S business and want concentrated wholesale market time. Book meetings months ahead, because the calendar fills before you arrive. ### [TMPAA 26th Annual Summit](https://targetmkts.com/national-meeting/26th-annual-tmpaa-summit/) October 19 to 21, The Westin Kierland Resort & Spa, Scottsdale, AZ. The Target Markets Program Administrators Association Summit is where program business gets done. TMPAA expects more than 2,000 attendees across three groups: program administrators, carriers, and service providers. It grew from 150 attendees at the first Summit. Go if you run a program, want to launch one, or need carrier capacity for a niche book. ### [CPCU Society In2Risk](https://www.in2risk.org/) October 19 to 21, Las Vegas, NV. The Institutes CPCU Society’s annual meeting and CPCU conferment celebration is three days of peer-led education and designation recognition. It overlaps directly with TMPAA, so pick one. Go if you are conferring a CPCU, active in a CPCU chapter, or want technical education rather than market access. ## November 2026 November is genuinely quiet for commercial P&C. The fall circuit spends itself by late October and the industry turns to January 1 renewals. The one significant national event is on the life and benefits side. ### [Protectors Vegas](https://protectorsvegas.com/) November 9 to 11, The Venetian, Las Vegas, NV. NAIFA and Connectiv have rebuilt NAIFA’s flagship conference as Protectors Vegas, positioned as the largest gathering of the life and annuity industry. It convenes more than 1,500 advisors, carriers, distributors, technology providers, and investors across three streams: distribution, product and strategy, and technology and innovation. NAIFA has offered a complimentary all-access pass to qualified client-facing agents, advisors, and agency principals. Go if your agency has a life, annuity, or benefits practice. If you are pure commercial P&C, use November to catch up on the renewals you ignored in October. ## How to actually get value out of a conference Most brokers come home from a big show with a tote bag and no decisions. A few habits change that. 1. Book meetings before you land. At ILF, WSIA, and TMPAA the entire value is the pre-scheduled calendar, and walking the floor cold wastes a flight. 2. Bring real documents to technology shows. Carry the carrier PDF that always breaks, the agency template with the unusual tables, and the renewal that took your team a full day. Ask vendors to run them live, at the booth. 3. Ask what the price actually includes. Implementation fees, per-seat minimums, per-module add-ons, and annual lock-in contracts are where a cheap-looking demo becomes an expensive system. 4. Ask how fast support responds. Not whether they have support, but the actual response time when a live client deliverable breaks on a Friday afternoon. 5. Pick one problem per show. Go in with a single bottleneck you want solved and evaluate everything against it. ## Where CopyCat will be in 2026 CopyCat will have a booth at both ends of the spectrum this fall: the regional show for the agencies doing the work, and the national show for the whole industry. | Event | Dates | Where to find us | | --- | --- | --- | | ABU SoCal Mini-vention | August 28 | Trade show floor, 1:00 to 4:00 p.m., DoubleTree Ontario Airport | | ITC Vegas | Sept 29 to Oct 1 | Expo floor, Mandalay Bay Convention Center | Bring a carrier quote to either booth and we will build the proposal in front of you: your template, your branding, with page-level citations back to the source document. That is the whole demo. It either works on your paperwork or it does not. ### What we will tell you at the booth, so you can skip the line On pricing, it is a flat monthly fee. No hidden charges, no implementation fee, no per-module add-ons that turn the useful parts into a growing invoice, and no annual lock-in. You can leave whenever. When new capabilities ship they are included at the same price rather than sold back to you as an upgrade. On support, you reach the actual team instead of a ticket queue. Several customers have told us replies come back within five minutes. Our formal commitment is to resolve product issues within six hours, and we hold to it during renewal season, which is the only time it matters. On reliability, every extracted value is traceable to the page it came from, so a producer can defend a number in front of a client. We do not train AI models on customer documents. Both founders sat for the commercial broker exam before building this, because a proposal is a coverage document, not a marketing asset. If you want to look before the show, see how CopyCat [generates commercial insurance proposals](https://www.runcopycat.com/insurance-proposal-generation), [compares quotes with citations](https://www.runcopycat.com/risk-analysis), or [builds employee benefits workbooks](https://www.runcopycat.com/benefits). ![Abhi Balijepalli](https://www.runcopycat.com/authors/abhi-balijepalli.jpg) Abhi Balijepalli Co-founder, CopyCat Co-founder of CopyCat. Built the first version in person with brokers, watching the work move from carrier documents to the client, and sat for the commercial broker exam before shipping any of it. ### Keep reading [ Case Study·6 min How an agency saves 100+ hours a month by automating proposal generation ](https://www.runcopycat.com/blog/agency-saved-100-hours-a-month-proposal-generation)[ Buyer Guide·8 min How to find high-quality insurance software: a broker’s buyer guide ](https://www.runcopycat.com/blog/how-to-find-high-quality-insurance-software) [All posts](https://www.runcopycat.com/blog)