Management Diaries: What’s New at Apartmentalize 2026

Elizabeth Ambacher, NAA's vice president of meetings and expositions, and Clark Ebbert, director of conference education discuss what’s on the agenda this year and what it says about the evolution of apartment operations.This year’s educational programming, shaped by direct input from NAA’s advisory board, reflects the challenges operators are facing right now. AI remains a major focus, but the conversation has evolved from “What is AI?” to proving ROI and scaling adoption.Listeners can save $150 on registration with promo code "MHNPODCAST" through May 26.Here are a few highlights from this episode:(3:19) Why centralization and automation haven't delivered as cleanly as operators expected(4:20) Doing more with less is the No. 1 challenge members bring to NAA(9:21) The shift from fixing things faster to building systems that break less(12:31) Why "we want less" is really code for "we're overwhelmed by options"(15:55) Three keynote speakers bringing perspectives from outside the industry