(image credit: NAFA)
By Tod Trousdell, Fleet Marketing Consultant and Owner, RobertsTrousdell Communications
April 29, 2026
Picking up on a theme we saw play out at March’s Work Truck Week in Indianapolis, the NAFA I&E pulled into Cleveland April 13-15, rolled up its collective sleeves, and got down to the business at hand.
Fleet business, that is.
And if the positive feedback – and sustained buzz – from attendees is any indication, the afterglow has continued for the last few weeks. From what I’m hearing, a lot of people got a whole lot of things done over three jam-packed days in Cleveland, which was nice enough to even provide several 75-degree days in a row – an anomaly in a town where Spring snow is always a possibility.
The conference teemed with education sessions and seminars; more than 50 were hosted by fleet pros for fleet pros. And the sold out show floor featured over 250 exhibitors.
And in between, there were enough parties, luncheons, and client meetings to keep the more than 2,300 attendees – an 8 % increase over the previous year – busy.
Further, there were official events, including the private “Rev It UP” kick-off reception, held at the vaunted Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, as well as the Fleet Solutions Live Breakfast and the Technician Training track.
(image credit: NAFA)
To be sure, this year’s NAFA seemed to have a little something for everyone.
But perhaps more than anything – and there was a lot to take in – there appeared to be a lot of constructive business being conducted.
But why now? Especially after five incredibly volatile years?
Well, if you speak with folks in the know – and venturing a guess myself – it would seem as though there’s no time to waste. And no time to merely tread water. Much too much has been put off for too long, including deferred pipe dreams, that the industry simply can’t wait any longer to move forward. Call it pent up demand; if you were at the I&E you could actually feel it.
Steve Bender
Steve Bender, whose Fleet Street Remarketing team threw a pre-NAFA dinner that highlighted the company’s 2026 focus on “People, Connections and Promise,” noted that he could feel the buzz the moment guests started arriving for his event and continuing right up until his team’s final goodbyes on Wednesday.
“It’s different than the past few years, it seems like everyone I’ve talked to is more focused on getting things done and moving forward,” Bender said. “This is no time to be paralyzed, and that’s a good thing.”
As it always does, the NAFA I&E kicked off day one with a morning keynote followed by several rounds of educational sessions, some so heavily attended that members had to stand in the doorway. Topics included a wide range of timely subjects, and panels hosted mostly by top commercial fleet leaders. But according to I&E organizers, sessions featuring technology, data and safety were by far the most popular.
(image credit: NAFA)
As usual, the I&E featured a host of events designed to drive collaboration and interaction, including CAFM and technician training.
As it usually does, anticipation for the opening of the show floor on Day 2 was high with attendees lining up almost an hour early. And while exhibitors included the usual list of obligatory OEMs, FMCs, Upfitters and the like, this year’s I&E saw an even bigger influx of technology-related exhibitors, many of them trying to figure out where they best fit in fleet’s ecosystem and how to gain traction.
One of those receiving significant buzz was Slate. A mid-$20k electric vehicle concept with a 300-mile range and the ability to morph from a small pickup to a van by using various inserts. According to Drew Walker, Director of Fleet Sales for Slate, interest in the vehicle continues to grow with more than 160,000 prospective buyers to date plunking down a $50 deposit to “hold” a vehicle.
Illustrating the I&E’s claim that the event fosters a wide range of collaboration between exhibitors, Brian Barber, SVP of Sales and Marketing for Sortimo North America, stopped by the Slate booth to do a little intel for a storage component they are building for the EV maker.
(image credit: NAFA)
Another vehicle that drew considerable buzz during this year’s Work Truck Week – the Dodge ProMaster City, a vehicle top fleet leaders are calling a “missing link” – also enjoyed a spirited showing at this year’s I&E. Nick Ehrhart, Director of Commercial Fleet Sales for Stellantis, reported that booth traffic for the vehicle was “brisk, a welcome sign on the back of the 2027 Pro Master’s blowout showing at Work Truck Week.”
As they always are, FMCs were out in force – albeit with smaller contingencies than Work Truck Week. Holman featured an impressive booth while Wheels featured its always-popular coffee bar, which had caffeine addicts lining up throughout its full run.
John Korte
John Korte, VP of Merchant Fleet’s Central Region, said conversations at this year’s I&E really “reinforced how critical flexibility, data, and partnerships” are to fleets these days.
Introductions – for both people and products – played a big part in this year’s conference with several top names making big announcements. That included Fleetio, which launched its Fleet Map solution that focuses on making location data actionable. According to Stefano Daneri, Fleet Ecosystem Strategist at Fleetio, Fleet Map will “make it easier for teams to see where assets are and better understand their needs so they can take faster action … to protect uptime.”
In addition to the show floor, the educational sessions and keynotes, the I&E is a highly anticipated event for government fleets from across the country. Many of them were included in the 100 Best Fleet Awards, which in addition to government vehicle pools, featured more commercial fleets. This is something the I&E hopes to continue in the future, especially given the fact that the organization is equally split 50-50 between government and commercial fleet members.
Lending over 20 years of NAFA experience to the conversation, Frank Memolo, Director of Fleet at Teva Pharmaceutical, put a bow on this year’s event with similar sentiments that I also heard from a number of fleet managers in attendance.
“Cleveland rocked,” said Memolo. “Even though I’m a long time veteran of many NAFA conferences, I’m always reminded – and (this) was especially (true) this year – how great it is to have so many top fleet professionals under one roof… (including) casual conversations and taking those to the next level on the show floor; the educational sessions – and the ability to connect with so many new and existing vendors… it’s always meaningful.”
Bill Schankel, NAFA Executive Director, said the organization was excited by the feedback and enthusiasm it had received over the past few weeks about the 2026 NAFA I&E and was “anxious to leverage” that to help the organization grow, especially in the commercial fleet arena.
The 2027 NAFA I&E, themed “Bridging the Possibilities,” is planned for April 5-7 at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh. For more information, click here.
About the author
Tod Trousdell is partner at RobertsTrousdell Communications in Atlanta and a fleet marketing expert with nearly 20 years in fleet and over 40 years in marketing. He can be reached at [email protected] and is always ready to help fleet entities thrive!
