As convenience and fuel retailing’s premier industry event, the NACS Show attracts more than 23,500 industry stakeholders from around the world. Every year, the event brings together the most influential people and ideas, explores trends, showcases the most innovative technologies and displays amazing new products in a single gathering place. Buyers and sellers come together to conduct business and learn from one another—all in an environment rich with new ideas and partnerships. The NACS Show is the best place to network and connect with convenience and fuel retailing industry peers and experts.

The Expo Shines

The NACS Show expo is the largest, most innovative, profit-boosting destination for game changers looking for convenience products, services and merchandise. You’ll find the “wow” products your customers are looking for, the aha experience that changes how you grow your business and the gotcha moments that put ideas and inspiration in the palm of your hand.

The 400,000-net-square-feet expo houses thousands of the latest products and services that c-stores sell and use every day. The six categories of the expo—Fuel Equipment & Services, Food Equipment & Foodservice Programs, Candy/Snacks, Facility Development & Store Operations, Merchandise and Technology—give you a one-of-a-kind, hands-on experience.

The Cool New Products Preview Room is loaded with new innovations, products, services and other growth opportunities. The Preview Room is segmented into seven areas to help you easily locate new products: Green (eco-friendly), Health & Wellness, New Design, New Flavors, New to the Industry, New Services and New Technology. Here, you can capture product details and access exhibitor contact information, as well as print your custom “shopping list” for a visit to the main expo.

Located on the expo floor, the New Exhibitor Area features only the supplier companies that have never exhibited at the NACS Show before. Get ahead of the game and your competition with these new products that are ready to hit the shelves and make your cash registers and attendants busier than ever.

In-Person Education

When it comes to learning, the power of peers is unequaled. Who better to learn from than the real-world industry insiders and retailer superstars who are shaping our industry’s future? The 50+ NACS Show education sessions are designed—by industry peers—to make you and your entire team better.

There’s no other gathering, workshop or school on earth that can match the industry-specific educational opportunities found here. Consider bringing additional team members to ensure you don’t miss anything. With learning opportunities ranging from category best practices, to fully reimagining business operations, to implementing technology innovations, there are education sessions specific to every convenience role and pain point.

Tech Edge returns for its fifth year to help you create a roadmap and solve the technology challenges you face today, tomorrow and into the future. Through a partnership with Conexxus, the industry’s standards and technology organization, Tech Edge is filled with innovative new ways to improve transactions, protect crucial data and keep your IT department and at-store workers ahead of the technology curve. Visit the Tech Edge booth to see the latest innovations in action, or attend one of several education sessions powered by Conexxus.

New This Year!

Keeping the NACS Show fresh and relevant means new offers for attendees each year.

Education Session Segmentation

This year's 50+ NACS Show education sessions are taught by industry insiders and retail superstars who are shaping the future of convenience. How do you choose the sessions that will deliver the most tangible takeaways? We’ve learned that attendee experience level can vary greatly depending on the topic—and is not always linked to the number of stores or the size of your company.

To guide your session selection this year, NACS has developed four segments based on where you are in the business lifecycle in a certain topic: Launcher, Experimenter, Transformer or Influencer.

To use the segments when planning your education experience at the NACS Show, read each session description and look for the segment identifier to understand if the session is designed for your current needs. You might fit into all four segments during the Show depending on where you are in your business. For example, a session on food safety geared toward Launchers would be ideal for retailers looking to implement a food safety program, but not for retailers with already-established food safety programs. A Transformer session on artificial intelligence, however, would engage retailers that understand the topic and are already tackling some AI initiatives. To learn more about the segments, visit www.nacsshow.com/Explore/EducationalSessions/Segments.

CBD Expo & Education

Cannabidiol, otherwise known as CBD, is an emerging product category that has brought more questions than answers to U.S. convenience retailers. To help attendees navigate the murky waters of what’s legal and what’s not, the NACS Show is offering two specialized education sessions to help you better understand this complicated issue, and what it could mean for your business.

On Wednesday, October 2, plan to attend “Cannabis, Marijuana, CBD: The Practical and Legal Outlook,” as well as “CBD, Hemp, Edibles: What Retailers Need to Know About this New Category.” Both education sessions will help you to analyze your current product mix and better communicate basic CBD legal and product information to your staff and consumers.

In addition, the expo will feature an entirely new pavilion in Hall C featuring CBD products, so you can preview emerging products and prepare to introduce them once they are approved for sale.

Super Sessions

Also new this year: two educational Super Sessions designed to appeal to the visionary leaders in our industry. These ground-breaking sessions feature speakers looking to push you out of your comfort zone and into long-term success.

On October 3, Zeynep Ton, an adjunct associate professor in operations management at MIT Sloan School of Management and cofounder of the nonprofit Good Jobs Institute, will take the stage for one of the super sessions.

Zeynep’s research explores how companies can design and manage their operations in a way that satisfies customers, employees and investors simultaneously. In 2014, Zeynep published her findings in a book, The Good Jobs Strategy: How the Smartest Companies Invest in Employees to Lower Costs and Boost Profits. The book draws on 15 years of research to show that the key to offering good jobs to employees, great service to customers and superior returns to investors is combining investment in employees with specific operational choices that increase employees’ productivity, contributions and motivation. Attend this session to understand how to implement the Good Jobs Strategy in your organization.

Schedule of Events

Among the NACS Show education sessions, networking activities and the expo, you’ll find everything you need to stay competitive.

Tuesday, October 1

7:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. Registration
10:00 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. Cool New Products Preview Room (retailers only)
12:00 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. Education Sessions
3:45 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. General Session featuring Keynote Speaker Jim Knight
5:00 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. New Member Reception (invitation only)
5:30 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. NACS Show Kick-Off Party at Mercedes-Benz Stadium (ticketed event)

Jim Knight

Jim Knight cut his teeth in the training field through the hospitality industry, starting out as a restaurant staff-level employee for Olive Garden and Hard Rock Cafe. He eventually became the head of the School of Hard Rocks, running point on all training and development functions for Hard Rock International. You’ll want to take notes from Jim as you'll get advice on how to create a customer experience that differentiates your store and delivers sustainable results. How can you become the “business of choice” in your location? Your team members’ behavior makes all the difference. Help them read the customer, strive beyond mediocrity, become guest-obsessed and turn a customer into a fan.

Wednesday, October 2

7:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. Registration
8:00 a.m. - 10:15 a.m. Education Sessions
8:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. Cool New Products Preview Room—Retailers Only
10:30 a.m. - 11:45 a.m. General Session featuring Keynote Robyn Benincasa
10:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. New Exhibitor Area
11:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. Expo
11:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. Cool New Products Preview Room

Robyn Benincasa

Robyn Benincasa will take attendees on a fast-paced multimedia adventure that visually and viscerally imparts the mindset that allows teams to adapt, overcome and win as one against all odds—especially when the stakes are high, the goals are audacious and constant change is the only thing your team can count on. Robyn is a world champion adventure racer, award-winning motivational speaker, 3x Guinness World Record kayaker, San Diego firefighter, 10x Ironman triathlete, New York Times bestselling author, proud owner of two bionic metal hips and the founder and CEO of the 501c3 Project Athena Foundation, which helps survivors live an adventurous dream as part of their recovery.

Thursday, October 3

7:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. Registration
8:00 a.m. - 10:15 a.m. Education Sessions
8:00 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. Cool New Products Preview Room
10:30 a.m. - 11:45 a.m. General Session featuring Henry Armour and Ideas 2 Go
10:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. New Exhibitor Area
11:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. Expo

Ideas 2 Go

With Ideas 2 Go, retailers from around the country invite us into their stores and provide a video tour of their best ideas—whether quick ideas you can implement tomorrow or ideas to consider in your next strategic planning sessions.

Friday, October 4

7:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. Registration
8:30 a.m. - 9:30 a.m. General Session featuring Keynote Daymond John
8:00 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. Cool New Products Preview Room
9:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. Expo

Daymond John

Daymond John is not only a pioneer in the fashion industry but also a shark on ABC’s “Shark Tank,” multiple New York Times bestselling author, branding guru and highly sought after motivational speaker. In 2013, President Barack Obama appointed Daymond a Presidential Ambassador for Global Entrepreneurship, a position focused on promoting the power and importance of entrepreneurship on a global scale. His focus on the entrepreneurial spirit is a perfect fit for our industry and this year’s NACS Show theme, “WE CAN.” His presentation will reinforce the positive culture and “can-do” attitude necessary for continued success in our industry.