NAEC 77th Elevator Convention - Chicago, IL - 2026

I had the opportunity to attend the National Association of Elevator Contractors (NAEC’s) 76th annual convention October 1st20226. It was great to get back and see some old friends, meet new friends, sit through education, be involved with talking points and walk around and visit about 300 different vendors. This was a particularly great convention because all Colley Elevator employees had the opportunity to go and see the convention!

What did I get out of it? On a regular basis I’m asked what I get out of going to the convention or other NAEC events. I had a list of items from our office to look into since you can talk face to face with industry suppliers. Meeting people face to face is different than trading emails or even phone calls. Challenges that occur over the year can be discussed and resolved in a matter of minutes. The networking is wonderful, seeing friendly faces and talking to people that you email on a regular basis cannot be beat. What I get the most out of is seeing my peers from independent contractors and seeing what is going on in their area and what they are doing and what challenges they are facing.

9/30/26 - Most of our project teams, 1/2 of our route mechanics and 1/2 of our office personnel got a chance to go 

10/1/26 - The rest of the maintenance team got to go and the rest of the office staff.  Here are some of the things we saw!

[Alpha had a great booth this year!]

[Our friends at Canton's power unit]

[EpCos cool Chicago fixture]

[Quad Cities Safety gear - not glamourous but IMPORTANT]

[Our friends at PSI]

[GALs Linear operator ]

[GAL's Nexus Controller]

[WE love Gorman's water/oil seperator & we love Gorman]

[HWEC Gen 2 solution]

[Nidec/MCE/Imperial has a Gen 2 solution too]

[Motor bike raffle by Fab A Cab]

[MEI & Vertitron have a new controller - Maverik]

[Thank you to our sponsors]

Why you should go – If you're in the elevator industry, this is THE show to attend where you can meet the best in the business, exchange ideas, get challenged, and come back to your company with new ideas, see new products and be a better elevator person.

Trends - Seemed like Otis Gen 2s replacements where big, lots of new control systems coming out to a saturated market, more ERP/CRM solutions approaching market.    Obsolecense and end of life solutions for OEM products. 

[See you next year!]

2027 Convention – St. Louis, MO – 9/12/27-9/15/27

2028 Convention - Atlantic City, NJ - 9/11/28-9/14/28

If you have any questions or would like additional information feel free to contact me at CraigZ@colleyelevator.com or 630-766-7230 ext. 107.

Also check us out on Instagram @Colleyelevator see what we have been up to.