Cleveland has been called plenty of things over the years. Ordinary has rarely been one of them.
This November, more than 2,300 Owners, practitioners, architects, engineers, contractors and industry partners will head to “The Land” for the 2026 Design-Build Conference & Expo, the nation’s largest annual gathering dedicated exclusively to design-build. From Nov. 4–6, attendees will fill the Huntington Convention Center for three days of education, collaboration and conversations about where project delivery is headed next.
And Cleveland is ready for its call-up to the big leagues.
The city offers a compact downtown, a revitalized lakefront, celebrated cultural institutions and the sort of character that can’t be manufactured by adding another rooftop bar to a convention district. Cleveland has spent decades turning underestimation into an identity. It knows a thing or two about assembling the right team, ignoring the preseason predictions and proving that something special can happen when everyone starts pulling in the same direction.
Sound familiar?
Bring the Whole Lineup
Cleveland also delivers something increasingly rare for major national events: room to make the travel budget work.
Affordable lodging, dining and transportation can make it easier for organizations to send several team members rather than choosing one person to bring everything home in a notebook. DBIA has secured discounted hotel blocks, as well as airfare discounts through Southwest Airlines and Delta Air Lines for eligible travel dates.
Conferences deliver more value when teams experience them together. An Owner may follow one learning track while a designer explores another. A senior leader can participate in the Practitioners’ Forum while a NextGen professional makes career connections in the Exhibit Hall.
One attendee can gather information. A well-built lineup can create momentum.
Welcome to the Big Leagues
The Design-Build Conference & Expo brings together the people shaping the future of the industry. This year’s program includes five education tracks exploring leadership, collaboration, innovation, project lessons and workforce development.
Attendees will hear candid conversations about AI, VDC, Owner readiness, Progressive Design-Build, risk, infrastructure and the decisions that separate routine project delivery from truly exceptional results. General sessions will examine human leadership in the age of AI, the qualities that make an organization an “Owner of Choice” and whether off-ramping a Progressive Design-Build project represents failure or an informed decision.
Two preconference opportunities on Nov. 3 allow attendees to begin even earlier. The returning VDC Leadership Exchange will offer separate learning paths for experienced VDC professionals and those working outside the specialty, while the Collaborative Delivery Leadership Academy Foundations Course will focus on the mindset and skills required to lead collaborative teams.
Students and NextGen professionals will also find programming designed specifically for where they are in their careers. From an interactive student session on AI and the future of design-build to a NextGen panel on leadership, innovation and career growth, the conference offers emerging professionals a chance to learn, compete, connect with mentors and build relationships across the industry.
The Exhibit Hall will feature some of the latest products, services and solutions, including innovation talks from technology companies, a dedicated booth for Underutilized Business Enterprise firms to connect with design-builders, larger industry partners and Owners, and a booth offering complimentary professional headshots, because sometimes the next big break starts with the right conversation and a LinkedIn photo taken after 2017.
Cleveland Rocks. We Checked.
After a full day of sessions, the conference will turn up the volume Wednesday evening with an Opening Party at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
Attendees will receive private access to explore exhibits chronicling the artists, music and cultural moments that shaped generations, along with food, beverages and an evening of networking in one of Cleveland’s most recognizable buildings.
It’s a venue built for big personalities, unexpected combinations and people willing to challenge conventional thinking. Again: sound familiar?
Whether your preferred walk-up music comes from a Hall of Fame inductee, an artist who has been criminally overlooked by the selection committee or the opening bars of “Wild Thing,” this is one conference event that deserves a place on the setlist.
A City Worth Exploring
The conference schedule is packed, but attendees arriving early or extending their stay will find plenty beyond the convention center.
The Cleveland Museum of Art offers free general admission to its permanent collection, making it one of those rare travel experiences that is both genuinely impressive and unusually kind to an expense report.
Visitors can also explore Cleveland’s neighborhoods, restaurants, breweries, markets and Lake Erie waterfront. The West Side Market, Rock Hall and downtown attractions are among the city’s essential experiences, with the lakefront skyline providing the unmistakable backdrop.
And should the city’s architecture inspire you to look skyward, remember that Superman has Cleveland roots. Creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster grew up in the city’s Glenville neighborhood, giving conference attendees the opportunity to pursue truth, justice and Design-Build Done Right® without leaving Northeast Ohio.
Capes remain optional and may present a jobsite hazard.
Believe in Cleveland
Cleveland has never needed universal agreement to know what it is.
It’s a city of music and manufacturing, sports loyalties and architectural landmarks, reinvention and resilience. It’s the birthplace of a superhero, the home of a famously unpredictable (semi)fictional baseball team and a place that has turned “Believeland” into a civic operating principle.
That makes it a fitting destination for an industry built around a similar belief that better outcomes are possible when the right people come together early, communicate honestly and work toward a shared goal.
The 2026 Design-Build Conference & Expo will bring those people together this fall.
Pack your ideas. Bring your team. Choose your walk-up music.
Cleveland, this one’s for you.
Register now for the 2026 Design-Build Conference & Expo and join us in Cleveland, Nov. 4–6.
