2026 Annual Meeting Schedule
| Monday - 11/9/26 | |||
| 7:00pm | Board Dinner (By Invitation Only) | ||
| Tuesday - 11/10/26 | |||
| 8:00am - 5:00pm | Registration | ||
| 8:00am - 12:00pm | Board of Directors Meeting (By invitation Only) | ||
| 8:00am - 12:00pm | Dietary Supplements Forum | Agenda | |
| 12:00pm - 1:00pm | Lunch | ||
| 1:00pm - 5:00pm | Environmental Sciences Forum, including California OSHA Presentation | Agenda | |
| 1:00pm - 5:00pm | Conformity Assessment Forum | Agenda | |
| 1:00pm - 5:00pm | Construction Materials, Engineering & Testing Forum | Agenda | |
| 1:00pm - 5:00pm | Food Science Section - offsite activity - Registration required | Details | |
| 2:00pm - 5:00pm | Exhibitor Set Up | ||
| 3:00pm | Break | ||
| 6:00pm - 8:00pm | Welcome Reception with Exhibitors | ||
| Wednesday, 11/11/26 | |||
| 7:30am - 4:00pm | Registration Open | ||
| 7:30am - 8:30am | Networking Breakfast with Exhibitors | ||
| 8:30am - 9:45am | Keynote Speaker | Irreplaceable People, Critical Knowledge, and Business Continuity - Scott Hanton, Lab Manager | • Single points of failure in analysts, QA, and technical leadership • Informal power and hero culture • Evaluating critical Knowledge • Cross-training as insurance, not inefficiency • Accreditation and method fragility |
| 8:30am - 12:00pm | Cannabis Science Forum | Agenda | |
| 10:00am - 11:00am | Education Session | Enterprise AI Adoption: Capturing Value and Mitigating Risks Carl Jones | • Where AI adds value today • Where AI does not work in regulated labs • QA review, scheduling, and reporting use cases • Why method automation promises fail Core point: AI is leverage, not a replacement for expertise. |
| 11:10am - 12:10pm | Education Session | Cybersecurity & Operational Risk - Ryan Robertson, Micah Shanks, Eric C. Rockwell, Reena White | Key Discussion Areas – Emerging AI-driven cyber threats affecting laboratory organizations – Deepfake fraud, social engineering, and business email compromise – Protection of laboratory data, research, testing results, and intellectual property – Cybersecurity best practices for laboratory environments |
| 12:10pm - 1:30pm | Lunch, Annual Business Meeting and State of the Union | ||
| 1:40pm - 2:45pm | Education Session | Selling the Value of Quality, Speed, and Service: Internal Strategies to Strengthen Margin Discipline - Sarah De Luca, SGS | Most lab sales reps default to price cuts when challenged on cost. This session equips sales leaders with actionable, internal coaching strategies to help reps negotiate on value rather than price. • Quantifying the Cost of Delay • Operational Discovery • Internal Margin Discipline |
| 3:00pm - 4:00pm | Education Session | When Growth Hurts Profit - Brian Hakk and Judy Morgan | • Volume growth that erodes EBITDA • Overtime creep and shifting bottlenecks • QC, rework, and compliance drag • Knowing when to say no to work Core point: Not all growth is good growth. |
| 5:00pm - 6:00pm | Past Presidents Reception | ||
| 4:00pm - 5:00pm | Happy Hour with Exhibitors | ||
| Evening on Own | |||
| Thursday, 11/12/26 | |||
| 7:30am - 2:00pm | Registration Open | ||
| 7:30am - 8:30am | Breakfast and Networking with Exhbitors | ||
| 8:30am - 9:45am | Keynote Speaker | Beyond the Mission: Harnessing Leadership to Inspire Purpose, Direction, and Action - Jeff Crapo | Through practical insights and engaging leadership lessons, attendees will be challenged to reflect on who they are as leaders, why their work matters, and how they can better influence those around them. More... |
| 10:00am | Exhibitor Breakdown | ||
| 10:00am - 11:00am | Education Session | Mastering CRM: Turning Relationships into Revenue & Proper Bid Management - Larendee Roos | This presentation breaks down how companies can use a CRM to organize their pipeline, manage initial relationships, leads, bids, and communication, and ensure no opportunities are missed from first contact through project completion. By improving follow-up, creating better systems, and utilizing the correct KPIs and data, it helps turn more bids into booked jobs and drive a more consistent flow of work. |
| 11:10am - 12:10pm | Education Session | Training that Actually Works - Hollis Cloninger | • Structured onboarding vs sink or swim • SOPs owned by the organization • Training load vs productivity reality Core point: Bad training is expensive and drives early exits. |
| 1:00pm | Networking Lunch Activity / Dinner | ||
