A 1,200-Delegate Expo With a 12:15 p.m. Thursday Close
The Indiana Convention Center lists the Best Practices Expo & Conference for 13-15 October 2026 with a forecast attendance of 1,200. Smith Onandia Communications publishes the event as the Best Practices 2026 EXPO. The venue names the Indiana Convention Center as the location and publishes no hall or room assignment.
Tuesday 13 October starts at 8:00 a.m. with Conference Session #1, which runs to 9:15 a.m. Three workshops open at the same hour: Compressed Air Treasure Hunt, Sales Foundations and Pneumatic Conveying. The EXPO floor opens at noon and closes at 6:00 p.m., and the networking event runs 6:30 to 9:00 p.m. at Punch Bowl Social.
Thursday 15 October closes at 12:15 p.m. Conference Session #5 runs 8:00 to 10:00 a.m., and Session #6 runs 10:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. The EXPO floor runs Tuesday and Wednesday only, noon to 6:00 p.m. and noon to 5:00 p.m.
The Three Nights the Programme Requires
The 8:00 a.m. Tuesday start puts delegates into a Monday 12 October arrival. The 12:15 p.m. Thursday close releases the room that afternoon. The nights the published programme requires are Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, against a Thursday checkout. A delegate who arrives Tuesday holds two nights and misses the first session.
The Two Block Rates
The organiser secures reduced rates at two hotels connected to the building by indoor walking tunnels. The Crowne Plaza Downtown Union Station carries $214 a night, and the group cut-off has been extended to Friday 25 September. The Hyatt Regency Indianapolis carries $229 a night, with a reserve-by date of Friday 18 September. The housing page states that limited reduced-rate rooms are available and recommends early booking.
Registration is date-tiered. A Full Conference pass runs $550 on the early-bird rate through 30 September and $675 from 1 October. A Single Day pass runs $295 and $350. The Compressed Air Challenge workshop with the conference runs $550 and $675 and is restricted to distributor, engineering firm, consultant and manufacturing personnel. An EXPO Visitor pass runs $55 and $105. The programme carries up to 12 PDHs.
The Block Rate and the City Average
Engine reads the Indianapolis average nightly par rate at $128 across 1.2 million public rate observations from May 2024 to April 2026. October averages $134, five percent above the city average. The market ranks 39 of 50, 14 percent below the $148 median of the fifty markets.
Both block rates sit above the October city average, and both include a covered walk to the sessions. No rate is published for the expo nights themselves, so the hotel's written confirmation is the number to hold.
What Shares the Building
Two other events run across the same days. Metal Treating Institute - Furnaces North America runs 12-15 October in Exhibit Hall B with a venue forecast of 1,500, and the Indiana IT Symposium runs 14 October in Sagamore Ballroom 4-5 with a venue forecast of 300.
Tuesday 13 October carries the check-in peak. The expo's first sessions, its three workshops and the Furnaces North America programme all open that morning inside one building.
What the Booking Leaves Behind
The venue's calendar holds 11 events from 1 October to 20 October, beginning with the Gas Machinery Conference on 4 October. Nothing starts on 1, 2 or 3 October, and nothing starts on 17 or 18 October.
The Thursday night after the 12:15 p.m. close carries no venue booking, and neither does the weekend of 17-18 October. A delegate who adds a night after the close adds it to the quiet end of the month.
Getting In
The organiser's housing page gives the address as 100 S Capitol Ave, Indianapolis, IN 46225, places the building within a six-block area of downtown and states that it connects to Lucas Oil Stadium. The same page reads a 23-minute drive from Indianapolis Airport, and the venue's own footer reads 15 minutes to the airport.