COAA Connect Fall 2026: Savannah Is Calling

by: Ashley Dale, COAA Marketing & Communications

Historic squares. Spanish moss. Incredible architecture. Great food. A city built for walking, talking and lingering over one more conversation.

Sounds like a pretty good place for COAA Connect.

This fall, the COAA community heads to Savannah for three days of education, connection and experiences designed around what COAA does best: bringing Owners and their project partners together to learn from one another and build better projects.

And judging by the response so far, plenty of you agree.

More than 200 attendees are already registered for COAA Connect Fall 2026, putting the conference well on its way toward another sellout.

REGISTER NOW BEFORE IT SELLS OUT

Content Built for Owners

COAA Connect has never been about sitting through a parade of project case studies. The question behind the program is much more useful:

What can another Owner take home and actually use?

The Savannah agenda delivers.

The conference opens with sessions examining a data-centric approach to delivering the University of Georgia’s new School of Medicine, the realities of digital twins and how Texas Parks and Wildlife Department approached Design-Build delivery. Workshops dig deeper into lifecycle planning, project team culture and the decisions Owners can make before design begins to set a project up for success.

On Tuesday morning, Ken Simonson, Chief Economist for the Associated General Contractors of America, takes the stage for Construction Outlook: What’s In The Mix After ’26? Simonson will look ahead to 2027 and tackle the issues Owners are watching closely, including tariffs, price volatility and workforce shortages. He’ll stick around afterward for a smaller, interactive follow-up session and Q&A.

From there, the conversations range from choosing renovation versus new construction and understanding the impact of data centers to Target Value Delivery, project health assessments and one of the most fundamentally COAA questions on the agenda:

Want to be a better Owner? Try asking your partners.

That session shares how the University of Maryland, Baltimore invited its design and construction partners into candid “Start, Stop or Keep Doing” conversations and then used what it heard to improve its own approach to project delivery.

Another session takes The COAA Way head-on, exploring how Owners and their partners can create cultures of trust and respect that help prevent disputes rather than simply managing them after they occur.

And Tuesday closes with a candid industry conversation that matters far beyond any single project: mental health in construction, featuring leaders from Hensel Phelps, Shawmut Design and Construction, Turner Construction and the Construction Industry Round Table.

The Good Stuff Continues Wednesday

Wednesday morning brings more real-world Owner lessons, including Penn State’s experience delivering a project despite dramatic budget and organizational challenges; Carnegie Mellon University’s lessons from building outside its traditional footprint; and the University of Tennessee’s decade-long, multi-phase renovation of Neyland Stadium.

Another session explores how physical mockups, simulations and virtual reality can help stakeholders experience spaces before they’re built, improving decisions and alignment during design.

Then we’ll wrap the formal conference the way COAA Connect should end: together.

The COAA Connect Roundtable is consistently one of the conference’s highest-rated sessions. There are no slides and no formal presentation. Instead, attendees bring their questions, challenges, ideas and experiences to the room for an open peer-to-peer conversation.

Because sometimes the most valuable thing you hear at a conference begins with:

“We dealt with that, too.”

And Then There’s Savannah

Of course, COAA Connect has never existed only inside the meeting room.

This year’s host city practically demands that we get outside.

The DeSoto puts attendees in the heart of Savannah’s Historic District, surrounded by the city’s famous squares, architecture, restaurants, shops and historic sites. COAA’s discounted room block is even available beginning Saturday, October 31, giving attendees an excuse to arrive early and make a weekend of it.

And COAA has already built a little Savannah into the program.

On Monday morning, attendees can sign up for the Savannah for Morons Tour, a fast-paced, 90-minute comedy trolley tour that promises plenty of history without taking itself too seriously.

Stick around Wednesday afternoon and the conference moves from talking about project delivery to walking through it.

COAA attendees have the opportunity to participate in an insider presentation and tour of Savannah’s historic Tomochichi Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse. The recently renewed landmark offers a fascinating case study in preservation, modernization, resiliency and collaboration. Better yet, attendees will see it during the unusual window between construction completion and occupancy.

Come Early. Stay Late. Wander a Little.

If your travel plans give you some extra time, Savannah makes it easy to fill it.

Stroll through Forsyth Park and the city’s historic squares. Walk River Street. Explore the shops and restaurants of the Historic District. Visit the Cathedral Basilica of St. John the Baptist, whose soaring twin spires are among Savannah’s most recognizable landmarks. Or lean all the way into Savannah and take a ghost tour after dark.

Arriving Sunday? Mamma Mia! is playing at the historic Savannah Theatre on November 1. Several museum exhibitions will also be underway during conference week, including programs at the Andrew Low House Museum, Savannah African Art Museum and Ships of the Sea Maritime Museum.

Early November is also one of Savannah’s most pleasant times of year for exploring on foot, typically bringing comfortable daytime temperatures, cooler evenings and lower humidity.

In other words: pack comfortable shoes.

Connection Is the Point

Great speakers and useful content matter. So do the conversations over breakfast, the person you meet at the reception, the Owner who has already wrestled with the problem keeping you up at night, and the industry partner who offers a completely different way to look at it.

That’s why COAA’s national conferences became COAA Connect in the first place.

The mortar really is stronger than the bricks.

This fall’s Opening Night Reception, Tuesday evening event, meals, breaks, COAA Cares activities and informal gatherings throughout the conference create plenty of opportunities to meet the people behind the name badges. And none of those experiences happen without the generous sponsors and industry partners who support COAA and help make COAA Connect possible.

Don’t Wait Too Long

COAA Connect Fall 2026 takes place November 2–4 at The DeSoto in Savannah, Georgia, and registration is moving quickly. More than 200 people are already registered, and space is limited. Registration rates increase in October, and the COAA hotel block is available through October 12, based on availability.

Come for the Owner-focused education.

Come for the conversations.

Come for Savannah.

Better yet, come for all three.

We’ll see you in Savannah.

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