The Maintenance Pro's Guide to NAA Apartmentalize 2026
New Orleans Is Calling. Here's What to Put on Your Radar.
INTRODUCTION
New Orleans has a way of making everything feel more alive. And this month, it's hosting the biggest gathering in multifamily housing: NAA Apartmentalize 2026.
June 17–19, more than 11,000 rental housing professionals are expected through those doors. For maintenance leaders, technicians, and operations teams, this is one of the most valuable three days of the year. Not because of the crawfish (though, also that). Because the conversations happening on that floor are shaping what maintenance looks like going forward.
The conversation has changed. It's no longer about handling work orders faster. It's about data, AI proving its value beyond the hype, technician burnout as a real operational crisis, and building teams that stay, grow, and lead. That's the energy heading into New Orleans.
WHAT'S DIFFERENT ABOUT 2026
This year's conference features more than 110 educational sessions led by 250 industry experts. The AI conversation has matured. The question is no longer "what is it?" but "where is it actually delivering ROI, and how do you scale what's working?"
There's also a growing recognition that maintenance strategy is its own discipline. These aren't support sessions tucked inside a leasing conference. The programming reflects that maintenance is central to resident retention, asset performance, and company profitability.
Beyond the sessions, 600+ exhibitors will fill a 165,000-square-foot exposition hall, and two express education stages run 30-minute sessions directly on the expo floor. Keynote addresses from FUBU Founder Daymond John and legendary football coach Nick Saban, plus a closing concert by Flo Rida, round out the week. But for maintenance leaders and operations teams, the real value is in the programming: here's where to focus your time.
THE SESSIONS TO PRIORITIZE
The full session catalog is available through the NAA Planner at apt26.mapyourshow.com. What follows are the maintenance-specific sessions worth building your schedule around.
With 110+ sessions across three days, it's easy to end up overwhelmed or overcommitted. These six sessions represent the strongest maintenance-focused programming on the schedule: workforce development, burnout, preventive maintenance, the financial case for service quality, and peer-to-peer dialogue. They're spread across all three days and span every experience level. Use this as your starting point, then build around it using the NAA Planner.
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17: ARRIVAL AND ORIENTATION
Education sessions begin Wednesday afternoon at 1:00 p.m. Use the morning to get your bearings and connect with pre-scheduled meetings. Wednesday's education slate is your first test of how well your planner is mapped.
Don't miss: The Parlour (Invitation Only) at 7:00 p.m. (offsite), sponsored by Livly, AppWork, Dormakaba, Qira, rentbutter, DenZen, apartment snapshot, and CasaPerks. If you're invited, go. This is where real peer networking happens.
THURSDAY, JUNE 18: THE HEAVY HITTER DAY
Thursday is the densest day of the conference. The General Session runs from 10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. The NAA Exposition opens at 11:30 a.m. and runs through 5:00 p.m. Education sessions run from 8:30 a.m. through 4:30 p.m. This is where you'll need to make real choices. Have your planner built before you arrive.
The 2:15 p.m. to 3:15 p.m. block has three strong maintenance sessions running concurrently: It's Called Preventive Maintenance (Room 219), From Friction to Function: Uniting Maintenance and Operations for Success (Room 230, Panel), and Culture is Local: Why Great Teams Still Fall Apart (LaNouvelle Ballroom B). All are worth your time. Pick based on your biggest current pain point.
Maintenance Matters: Training for Tomorrow's Workforce
Time: Thursday, June 18 | 8:30 a.m. – 9:30 a.m. Location: Room 219, Level 2 Format: Case Study | Intermediate Track: Maintenance (Regional Supervisors) Speakers: Kenny Choat (Director of Maintenance, Thompson Thrift), Tiana Heath (Sr. Manager Industry Relations, NAA), Matt O'Neill (Area Maintenance Supervisor, Subtext)
Data from 240+ maintenance professionals nationwide shapes this session on what actually works in workforce development: full-day hands-on training vs. microlearning, which skill gaps need the most attention, and how to align training with what your team actually wants.
Why attend: If building a team that stays is your goal, this is the right place to start Thursday.
It's Called Preventive Maintenance... Not "Pretendative" Maintenance
Time: Thursday, June 18 | 2:15 p.m. – 3:15 p.m. Location: Room 219, Level 2 Format: Presentation | Intermediate Track: Maintenance (OPS Managers) Speakers: Paul Rhodes (Sr. Manager of Maintenance Learning, Brookfield Properties Multifamily), Mark Sharp (CEO, The Maintenance Academy / AppWork)
Most teams aren't ignoring preventive maintenance on purpose. They're stuck reacting to the next emergency. This session draws on data from a 16,000-lease study to map a practical path from reactive firefighting to a repeatable PM system that reduces stress, service requests, and resident turnover.
Why attend: If your team is in constant catch-up mode, start here.
Combating Maintenance Fatigue Through Culture, Technology and Data
Time: Thursday, June 18 | 3:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. Location: Room 245, Level 2 Format: Workshop | Intermediate Track: Maintenance (Regional Supervisors) Speakers: Kenny Choat (Director of Maintenance, Thompson Thrift), Angela Drysdale (Regional Maintenance Director, Willow Bridge Property Company), Ben Nowacky (President, HappyCo)
Burnout isn't a personality trait. It's a system problem: high volume, insufficient tools, unclear expectations, and a lack of recognition. This workshop pairs lived experience with operational data and sends attendees home with a Maintenance Mental Health Toolkit.
Why attend: One of the most important conversations at this conference.
Fixing for Profit: Move Your Bottom Line Through Maintenance
Time: Thursday, June 18 | 3:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. Location: Room 356, Level 3 Format: Fishbowl | Advanced Track: Maintenance (OPS Managers) Speakers: Mark Cukro (President, Plus One Consulting), Kara Rice (VP Education, Swift Bunny), Lori Snider (Director of People Operations, Redpeak)
Drawn from the industry's largest maintenance technician survey, this fishbowl session gets into what's working and what isn't across new lease-ups, aging communities, and technician retention. The format is built for real dialogue, not lecture. Come ready to participate.
Why attend: Leave with practical strategies that move the needle on performance and profitability.
FRIDAY, JUNE 19: NAA CELEBRATES JUNETEENTH
NAA is formally celebrating Juneteenth on Friday, June 19. Education sessions run from 9:00 a.m. through the afternoon. The NAA Exposition runs 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. The closing General Session is at 1:45 p.m.
Friday has a different energy. Some attendees are already thinking about travel. That's an opportunity. Sessions often have smaller rooms and more space for real conversation. If there's a speaker you want to actually talk to, Friday Q&A is your best window.
Strategy Exchange: Roundtable Discussions
Time: Friday, June 19 | 10:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. and 10:45 a.m. – 11:15 a.m. Location: Great Hall A/D, Level 1 Format: Facilitator-Led Roundtables Facilitators: Judith Bellack, Chris Caramanica (Director of Facilities, WinnCompanies), and others
Two back-to-back 30-minute peer roundtables, each with six topic tables running simultaneously. Maintenance-specific topics include Maintenance Technology, Hiring & Retention, Preventive Maintenance, What AI Can't Replace, and Mental Health Tools That Work.
Why attend: No presentations. Just peer dialogue and takeaways you can act on immediately.
The Maintenance Effect: How Service Quality Drives Renewals and Revenue
Time: Friday, June 19 | 12:15 p.m. – 12:45 p.m. Location: Stage A, Level 1 (Expo Floor) Format: Express Education | Advanced Track: Maintenance (OPS Managers) Speakers: Ray Hespen (CEO & Co-founder, Property Meld), Paul Rhodes (Sr. Manager of Maintenance Learning, Brookfield Properties Multifamily)
This session makes the data case for investing in maintenance quality, clearly and concisely. Drawing from a study of 110,048 first-year residents and 256,687 work orders, it shows how faster response times, better communication, and higher repair quality can boost renewals by 8%–12%. The "No-Work Order 90" framework gives you a concrete place to start.
Why attend: Bring this one back to your leadership team.
BEYOND THE SESSIONS: HOW TO MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR TIME
The sessions matter. The expo matters just as much.
Walk the floor with intention. Know which vendors you want to evaluate and what questions you're trying to answer before you arrive. If you're looking at maintenance tech, ask specifically: How does your platform drive technician adoption? What does your data look like at 90 days? What does implementation look like for a portfolio of our size?
Use the NAA Planner. The session gallery at apt26.mapyourshow.com lets you filter by track, build your schedule, and flag sessions to revisit. Build your week before you land in New Orleans.
Find the maintenance community. NAA's Maintenance Legends program, the Facilities Leadership Council, and the informal networks that form at events like this are often where the most valuable conversations happen.
WHERE APPWORK FITS IN THIS MOMENT
We built AppWork because property management systems weren't built for maintenance. The maintenance module inside your PMS was designed as an add-on. AppWork is built around how maintenance teams actually work: work order tracking, Make Ready Board, inspections, compliance, purchase orders, technician management, and AI-driven reporting.
The sessions at this conference are describing problems AppWork was built to solve. Burnout driven by inefficient workflows. Retention lost to poor recognition and unclear expectations. Preventive maintenance that gets deprioritized every time something urgent comes up. Data that lives in silos instead of surfacing insights.
If you're at Apartmentalize, come find us on the expo floor, at booth 1601. We'd rather show you what the platform does than tell you.
Apartmentalize is one of the few places where the whole industry lands in the same room at the same time. If you're there, make it count. Go to the sessions that push your thinking, have the conversations that don't happen on a regular Tuesday, and bring something concrete back to your team. The problems being discussed at this conference are real, and so are the people solving them. We'll see you in New Orleans.