The New Jersey Apartment Association Conference & Expo returned to the Atlantic City Convention Center from May 19 to 21, 2026.
By Joshua Burd
For the New Jersey Apartment Association, the push to professionalize the industry never stops.
It also goes hand in hand with a desire to continually enhance the experience for members who take part in continuing education, the association’s leaders say. That focus is on display this week with the annual NJAA Conference & Expo now underway in Atlantic City, where the group has introduced new three-hour “bootcamps” that allow leasing, maintenance and management and finance professionals to immerse themselves in essential training from the moment they arrive.
It’s among several changes that expo attendees will see this year — many of them in direct response to member feedback.
“Organizations like ours are created for a reason — an industry feels the need for the opportunity to get together, to advocate on behalf of the industry,” said David Brogan, NJAA’s executive director and CEO. “My hat goes off to the founders of the organization, but you have to grow and you have to evolve.
“I think that’s what we’ve tried to do, and a big part of that is listening to the members.”
The expo, which began Tuesday, is expected to draw thousands to the Atlantic City Convention Center and Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa for three days of networking, education and presentations. There’s also the popular trade show floor that will anchor the event when it opens Wednesday in a new one-day format, giving vendors and consultants a chance to showcase their products and services.
The refresh has already struck a chord with members. More than 300 attendees had preregistered for the Tuesday bootcamps, NJAA executives said in early May, more than double the typical participation for the one-hour classes previously held on the conference’s last day on Thursday. That shows the demand for the courses, which also allow attendees to satisfy three of the five hours of education that they’d typically receive throughout the week.
“This event, really, is important to bringing folks together in one place to do that learning, to get them acclimated,” said Nichole LoPresti, NJAA’s executive vice president. “And I think we’re always trying to look at ways to make those connections differently.”
It’s the association’s latest pivot after the pandemic forced it to go without its signature trade show in both 2020 and 2021. As LoPresti noted, NJAA has made more changes to the conference in the five years since than it ever did pre-COVID, when it admittedly had an “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” approach. Now, the association is doubly focused on how to “get people together and make those times meaningful, important and relevant — and the education is at the center of that.”
In past years, NJAA has offered a series of one-hour courses during the show to help attendees satisfy their National Apartment Association designation requirements. But LoPresti feels the three-hour bootcamps provide training that’s even more nuanced and complementary to the one-hour courses that members will still take on the expo’s second day.
They’ll also bring together professionals from different segments of the industry, she said, noting that NJAA has asked maintenance and property management teams to take the classes together.
“I think those deep dives are really going to help people not only get some better understanding of areas that maybe they’re not as comfortable with or don’t know, but also creating this peer group of people that understand and know what they’re dealing with,” LoPresti said.
The change came in response to feedback from members, including focus groups made up of suppliers and owners that are typically major participants in the classes.
“I think what you can see across the board is that the level of sophistication of the apartment industry has gone up dramatically, especially over the last decade or so,” Brogan said, encompassing not only the physical space but finance, compliance and cybersecurity. “Everything that goes into (it) and doing it at a professional level — all these things play a role in owning and operating properties today.”
This year’s expo will also have more casual but more robust networking opportunities on Tuesday and Wednesday, complementing the trade show floor as it shifts to a more targeted, one-day format from what used to be a two-day schedule. That’s meant in large part to accommodate vendor members seeking a condensed experience, having spent the past two months jumping from conference to conference.
Still, the floor is slated to feature more than 225 booths showcasing the latest products and services for the multifamily industry, NJAA said. That’s likely to include not only traditional businesses such as landscapers and maintenance services but also drones and other technologies that have seen increased adoption among landlords and vendors.
“What we’ve seen is a growth in the industry and a growth in the products and services — and you’re seeing newer and innovative ways of doing things,” Brogan said, later adding: “All the new industries that you see coming, all the new businesses that you’re seeing … with regard to technology also apply to our industry.”
