2026 TT&S Annual Conference & Vendor Showcase

The 2026 TT&S Annual Conference & Vendor Showcase took over the Bismarck Hotel from February 17-19. Attendees came from across the state and adjoining states for a mix of training from industry professionals.

Our registration table had new faces this year. The Bismarck-Mandan CVB is always helpful with providing assistance for check-in. In addition, this year TT&S decided to partner with a local food bank to support our communities throughout the state outside the normal broadband services. Because of their reach, we chose Great Plains Food Bank and welcomed Ashleigh Brown, the Community Engagement Coordinator, to assist us with collecting donations. Orange tickets were given out for each item for the food bank for an extra drawing. At the Wednesday social, one lucky winner was drawn for a $250 Visa gift card.

Tuesday Opening:

Our conference started with a brief opening by Seth Arndorfer, CEO of Dakota Carrier Network, introducing the keynote speaker, Brian D. Newby, Broadband Program Director of NDIT. Brian spoke about partnering with North Dakota’s carriers on delivering last-mile broadband to 100% of all North Dakotans. All employees of broadband cooperatives within the state are affected by what happens with federal grants and he presented that to our attendees.

After the keynote, long-time networking trainer Andrew Walding explained a new contest for this year, a Wireshark "Capture the Flag" contest that he set up and would be monitoring through the day Wednesday. Participants were given a brief overview of how the contest would run.

Afterwards, it was off to the Tuesday social for drinks, appetizers, socializing with vendors...

And prizes! We were inundated with door prizes. TT&S provides many, but we're immensely grateful to our exhibitors and sponsors who support the fun with their own giveaways, from branded items to gift cards. To make it easier to know what numbers were drawn, this year we had a projector and screen to display numbers.

Wednesday prizes were just as many as Tuesday. Attendees who didn't claim their prize within a reasonable time missed out.  At the end of each social, we gave away a high-quality cooler, a Yeti on Tuesday and a YKO (see in picture) on Wednesday.

Wednesday Breakout Sessions:

Wednesday is always the busiest day of the conference. It started out with a breakfast buffet and two-hour sessions in all the rooms. Those sessions included some new topics - project management, Ubiquiti, and access control. Returning with the XGS PON and OTDR session from last year were Calix and Viavi representatives. These two-hour sessions packed a lot of information first thing in the morning. 

For managers and office staff, we brought Lisa Parry back with new topics for all levels of employees for workplace skills from leadership to staying positive in the face of challenges. She is an engaging speaker with experience and anecdotes applicable to many situations in the workplace.

Technicians had a great range of sessions to advance their skills continuing throughout the day. Sean Kelly of Light Brigade, our fiber optics training partner, talked about air-blown fiber. NISC hosted sessions on the latest features of Appsuite and iVue Connect. And Ryan Schmaltz from ND One Call returned after several years away from our conference. Attendees packed into the room to learn the latest of what excavators and utilities need to know.

Sometimes things go wrong, but we try to be prepared. Various issues sometimes come up, whether due to personal, weather, or technical issues, and we're always grateful when another vendor is available to step into those places. We had one last minute change in the morning sessions but had a fill-in ready of Matt Kautter of Precision Group. Due to technical issues, we replaced a fiber session with Matt's session on Lithium Ion vs. Lead Acid Batteries.

This year, AI continues to be a hot topic. It has changed the way we work, and people want to learn more about the tools available. Faith Harron presented twice on her topic of AI in the workplace. We also had Dr. Terry Pilling from the University of Mary present a session on how AI learns. This provided an insight into understanding why AI works the way it does.

Andrew Walding of Cellstream, one of our training partners, is always a popular presenter. This year, we kept him busy. He started with a network troubleshooting fundamentals workshop on Tuesday before the conference. On Wednesday, aside from his Wireshark Capture the Flag contest, he presented for a group of high school students, then held two sessions in the afternoon for technicians, one on troubleshooting Wi-Fi networks and the other on speed tests. He closed out the day at the social announcing the winners of the Capture the Flag contest, who each took home recognition medals and technology prizes (1st and 2nd place winners seen in the picture).

Other sessions in the afternoon included new faces and old. Andrew Degidio of Sumitomo Electric hosted a session in the Dakota Ballroom on ribbon fiber after finishing with his hands-on fiber with the students. Across the hotel, sessions included locating from Jack Rupp with Ditch Witch of ND, a fiber session with Justin Foth of Clearfield, and cybersecurity with Kyle Emmel and Ariel Jablonow of NDIT.

Ending the day on a fun note... Our Wednesday social included our third annual cornhole tournament, which attracted 15 mixed teams. Many were partnered with coworkers, but two of the teams included vendor representatives. Our official referee, Jeff Tweten, was on hand to prep everyone and monitor the contest, which ran smoothly. A fun time was had by all and the winners took home trophies and bag sets.

Student Mini-Conference:

Aside from the main conference, the Connecting the World: Introduction to the Broadband Industry Mini-Conference for Students ran throughout Wednesday, despite some of the out-of-town students not traveling due to bad weather that blew in Tuesday night into Wednesday early morning. A few students and chaperones from out of town managed to make it, but most of the students were local Bismarck Career Academy and Technical Center students.

Students started with a presentation from Andrew Walding explaining how information travels across the internet and then experienced hands-on fiber optics at three stations hosted by Jeff Harmon of Viavi, Andrew Degidio of Sumitomo Electric, and Sean Kelly of Light Brigade. At the end of the day, students had the option to travel across town for a tour of the Dakota Carrier Network building before heading home.

Students left with new knowledge about the different types of work in the industry and gift bags with swag and information packets about working at our many member companies throughout the state.

Thursday Closing:

On Thursday morning, attendees were treated to a breakfast burrito buffet and sat through closing sessions on safety. If you thought safety was boring, you haven't heard these two ladies speak! 

We couldn't have planned the closing better given the rain and snow that had come in during the conference than we did with Lt. Jenna Clawson Huibregtse of the ND Highway Patrol speaking about safe driving. It was an eye-opening and engaging presentation.

Following her was Dawn Chisholm, a wife and mother who lost her first husband due to a grain-bin accident that could have been prevented "If Only" a few safety precautions had been taken. Her story packed a punch that left barely a dry eye in the room.

TT&S is focused on keeping our member company employees safe. It's our hope that these closing presentations left attendees more aware of their actions and the lasting effects their decisions can have.

The 2026 TT&S Annual Conference & Vendor Showcase was another great event. We'd like to thank everyone who contributed and participated and look forward to seeing you next year!