FEBRUARY 16-18 – San Antonio
SmartCon 2026:
VIVA INNOVATION
Where Elite Leaders Transform Ideas Into Impact
Three days of hands-on workshops, breakthrough strategies, and measurable results. This isn’t just another conference—it’s your pathway to building an elite irrigation department. Watch a short recap and view photos from the event below. Interested in joining us next year or becoming a sponsor?
Sessions at a Glance
Download all the slides from SmartCon 2026 here!
Why Customer Service Is a Leadership Decision
Mark Sedgley
Customer service isn’t a department — it’s a leadership decision that drives business growth. This session explored how aligning core values to behavior creates a chain reaction from vision to performance to exceptional customer experience. Learn the real cost of losing the customer voice: slower decisions, eroded trust, and quiet churn.
Save Water. Give Life.
The Past, Present and Future of Providing Clean Water for Future Generations
Chantel Ortiz
Lessons from a Stubborn Partner
Parry Webb, Michael Smith
A candid look at the SmartLink journey — from what we didn’t know at the beginning to the changes that drove real success. This session laid out the formula: invest in onboarding, commit to implementation, and get your SOPs in place.
Beyond SOPs
How Automation and AI Are Redefining Scale
Mark Pyrah
SOPs are just the starting point. This session broke down the three layers of high-performance operations — Process, Automation, and AI — and redefined what leadership looks like when you’re scaling beyond the basics.
Built to Win: Sales Strategies for the Hardest Quarters
Ben Mason, Chris Psencik
A tactical playbook for winning when the market gets tough. This session covered AI-driven revenue expansion, closed-lost revisit strategies, and the disciplined sales math that keeps your pipeline compounding quarter over quarter.
Designing a Customer-centric Growth Engine
Chad Diller
A four-step framework for building a growth engine that starts with understanding your customer and ends with turning them into raving fans. This session showed how to attract the right buyers, close more deals, and create the kind of loyalty that drives referrals and repeat business.
3 Million Workers Gone
Building a Long-Term Stable Workforce
Elliott Mason
The landscaping industry has lost over 3 million workers — and the crisis isn’t slowing down. This session confronted what the labor shortage means for your business and laid out what to do about it: adopt technology, embrace automation, and rethink your workforce strategy.
Scaling Up
Growth & Operational Strategies that Drive Value Creation
Jeff Harkness
What separates best-in-class companies from everyone else — and the playbook they use to create lasting value. This session covered the operational strategies that compound growth over time and the common pitfalls that derail scaling companies before they reach their potential.
The Future of Irrigation
Bill Savelle, Josh Rives
A look back at the innovations that brought irrigation technology to where it stands today, and a look forward at what’s coming next. This session explored the convergence of technology, data, and sustainability that will transform how the world manages water.
Using AI in Landscaping
Michael Ding
AI is changing how landscape companies estimate — but only if you understand what it can and can’t do. This session broke down the fundamentals of machine learning, the key challenges and strengths of AI in estimating, and the path to building a sustainable process that scales with your business.
Now That I Learned A Bunch of Stuff; What’s Next?
Chris Psencik
McFarlin Stanford brought the implementation playbook. Not “someday” strategies. THIS WEEK strategies.
SmartCon 2026 Overview
SmartCon Attendees Enjoyed
Interactive Discussions
Learn how to build a marketing engine that earns confidence at every stage of the customer journey
Workshops
Learn how to win more work, differentiate your brand, and grow high-margin irrigation revenue
Networking
Connect with hundreds of other industry leaders and peers to help each other level up.
Engaging Speakers
Presentations and keynotes from a variety of backgrounds designed to empower and enable you.
Social Events, Entertainment and Meals
Monday evening dinner reception, Tuesday breakfast and lunch, Tuesday night party, Wednesday breakfast, snacks.
Live Entertainment
SMARTCON AFTER HOURS – Music, awards, and country vibes
Texas-born country star Coffey Anderson—American Idol alum, seven-time Grand Ole Opry performer, and viral sensation—is bringing his high-energy show to SmartCon.
SmartCon 2026 Sponsors
Our Cause
Save Water.
Give Life.
Your water efficiency work here delivers clean water to families who have none.
