Lead photo: A view of a mainstage session during MDM’s 2025 SHIFT Conference, held May 13-15 in Denver. (MDM Photo)

We’re currently in the so-called lull of the annual industry events season, with only scattered conferences and networking events happening through late August before the onslaught of fall activity begins.

July 2 was technically the midpoint of 2025, which means I’m overdue to publish my semiannual industry events preview. Normally, I try to have it published at least a week before the halfway mark, but vacation time pushed it back.

Below, you’ll find my compilation table of all the events I could research that are hosted by associations, buying groups, industry marketing groups and more within the industrial, commercial and building supply verticals that MDM covers.

Innovators Summit Headliner Shows the Networking Pull of NAW & MDM

Of course, this isn’t a definitive list. There are plenty of events that aren’t squarely on our radar, including distributors’ own annual events. It also doesn’t include numerous software vendor user conferences that are becoming ever more frequent throughout the year. This is just our list of the 50+ events in MDM’s orbit. If there’s one you’d like to see included on this list, just shoot me an email at [email protected].

In October 2024, MDM’s survey of approximately 400 firms — the vast majority being distributors — found that 37% said their spending on industry events has declined over the past several years, with large distributors responsible for most of that trend. This correlated with commentary from that same survey in which smaller distributors articulated the value they get from these events more than their larger counterparts. In fact, for those firms with less than $50 million in annual revenue, a slight majority indicated an increase in their event spend.

MDM will continue to investigate whether that broader decline in event spend is due to heightened economic uncertainty over the past 18 months or a longer trend.

Meanwhile, I hope this event schedule helps you stay aware of what’s happening throughout the industry in the second half of 2025, when and where. This list includes plenty of NAW and MDM events, led by NAW’s Innovators Summit in mid-September.