Each spring at AMPP’s annual conference, the Darrel D. Byerley Memorial Golf Tournament serves as one of the flagship fundraising events of the EMERG Student Outreach Program. This year, it takes place at the Lakes Course at Wildcat Golf Club in Houston.

The High Rollin' For a Harley contest is back in 2026! To play, AMPP attendees can visit the booths of each sponsor, where they will collect a playing card. Once all cards have been collected, head to the Harley parked outside the Exhibit Hall and complete an entry card.

As we gather in one of the world’s most important hubs for energy and infrastructure, let’s focus on the vital role our industry plays in protecting the assets that power, connect, and defend our communities. This year’s technical program delivers focused insights across the sectors shaping our global future.

Extending asset life, reducing maintenance interventions, minimizing waste, and ensuring safe, resilient infrastructure can deliver environmental, economic, and social benefits in ways that carbon accounting alone cannot capture.

AMPP’s annual Student Poster Session, sponsored by BP, kicks off on Monday, March 16, with the opening of the Exhibit Hall. This session features student projects of both undergraduate and graduate levels, which will be evaluated by an industry judging panel.

Monday’s workshop aims to educate facility owners, contractors, coatings inspectors, safety personnel, and others in the construction industry about the rules and requirements for working in confined and permit-required confined spaces.

Although corrosion persists as a costly challenge within the marine coatings industry, this forum will explore practical realities and solutions for extending service life and reducing lifecycle costs within some of the harshest environments on Earth.

Maintaining safety on jobsites is critical to ensuring operational success. Learn strategies aimed at enhancing safety, ensuring compliance, and improving practices during the “Jobsite Challenges, Strategies, and Safety Programs” forum on Tuesday afternoon.

AMPP’s annual awards program recognizes individuals and teams that advance the corrosion and protective coatings industry through innovation, leadership, and meaningful contributions. This year, the program will be held at Daikin Park, home of the Astros.

With four unique presentations as part of the AMPP 2026 conference, this session takes place as the industry is seeing a continued shift to robots and drones for surface preparation, coating applications, and visual inspections.

Corrosion remains one of the largest cost drivers in the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), estimated at billions annually. Yet, innovations are often siloed within individual programs or services.

Join the celebrations as CoatingsPro Magazine and the Master Painters Institute (MPI) present the 2026 winners of their respective awards programs! The announcements will be made on Tuesday, March 17, inside the Exhibit Hall at the Student Poster Session stage.

In a series of events on Tuesday and Wednesday, the “Coatings 101” forum provides an overview of industrial protective coatings including design considerations; material selection; and basic quality control techniques.

Led by Valerie Sherbondy and Julie Glover of KTA-Tator, Inc., Thursday’s session will highlight the importance of good specifications, proper paint selection, and solid communication in creating successful coating application outcomes.

The AMPP Bookstore at the 2026 AMPP Annual Conference + Expo will again offer daily discounts and multiple ways to purchase books. From Sunday through Wednesday, the Bookstore is open from 8:00 a.m. until 5:30 p.m., and on Thursday it opens from 8:00 a.m. until noon.

Gain practical insight into how workforce design impacts operational performance, along with frameworks for supporting reinvention and re-entry without compromising safety or quality. These topics will be discussed at AMPP’s workforce development forum titled “Reinvention, Reentry, and Retention.”

As corrosion programs become increasingly data-rich, the industry is being forced to grapple with how to manage, interpret, and apply complex datasets in ways that support sound engineering decisions. Those issues will be addressed during “Data Challenges in Corrosion,” a Sunday morning technical session during the 2026 AMPP Annual Conference + Expo.

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While inside the AMPP 2026 Exhibit Hall, attendees can feel like they’ve taken a trip to the Scottish highlands! Visit the Dairyland Lounge for an exciting game of mini golf with colleagues and industry peers.

The “Economics of Corrosion: Associated Direct and Indirect Costs” symposium will explore how corrosion continues to affect asset performance, operating budgets, and long-term planning across critical industries.

Education team members at the Association for Materials Protection and Performance (AMPP) are ready to guide demonstrations and answer questions regarding AMPP’s new and existing offerings.

Whether you’re a naval aviator or a materials protection professional, small decisions can have big consequences. That’s the message former Blue Angels pilot John “Gucci” Foley plans to share as the keynote speaker at AMPP’s 2026 Annual Conference + Expo.