ASBPA National Coastal Conference 2026

Speakers Share your Presentations Now

Oral presenters are expected to share your presentation with staff by 5pm the day before your presentation. Your presentation will be loaded on the laptop in your session room, and you are responsible for running your presentation with a slide advance remote or laptop keys. The slide advancer will be provided. Share your presentation with us now via goole drive. If you experience issues sharing via Google Drive, please email Annie.mercer@asbpa.org.

IF YOU ARE IN SESSION 1, PLEASE SHARE YOUR PRESENTATION WITH STAFF BY MONDAY AT 12PM.

Share Now

ASBPA is proud to present the National Coastal Conference Centennial Celebration celebrating 100 years of shore and beach preservation to be held in New Jersey where in 1926 the first beach preservationists seeded a revolutionary idea for future coastal protection.

The National Coastal Conference Centennial Celebration welcomes all coastal managers and stakeholders to learn the latest science, engineering, and policy needed to maintain and improve the health of our beachfront and estuarine shorelines and ecosystems, while developing collaborative networks to promote best management practices.

Centennial Program

Registration

Sponsorships and Exhibitor Opportunities

Information for Speakers

Field Trip

Tall Ship Sailing Cruise

Conference Co-Chairs

Hotel and Travel to ACNJ

ASBPA Swag PreSale Closed

Schedule: At-a-Glance

Pre-Conference Practitioner Workshop

Centennial Program

We are excited to share the National Coastal Conference Centennial Celebration program.

Click here for a live version updated as changes occur.

Click here to see the draft version last updated on 10/6/2026

Registration

We are pleased to announce registration for the National Coastal Conference Centennial Celebration is now open. Online registration is managed through the Whova platform. If you need to pay by check, please enter paybycheck in the discount code box and we will email an invoice to you.

PDHs: 18.5 professional development hours are available.

Click here to register.

Sponsorships and Exhibitor Opportunities

We are pleased to announce sponsorship and exhibit opportunities for the National Coastal Conference Centennial Celebration are now available. We invite you to click here to review the sponsorship matrix to learn more about the benefits of each sponsorship opportunity and sign-up today.

Information for Speakers

If you are one of our oral speakers or poster presenters please check out the Speaker Information page for details on the rooms, presentations, posters, and submission guidelines.

Field Trip

Field Trip: Atlantic City to Stone Harbor
October 8, 12:30 – 5:00 pm
Walk the famous boardwalk to the Ocean Hotel Observation Deck to view Absecon Inlet.
In Avalon/Stone Harbor, construction observation of USACE Active Beach Nourishment.
The Wetlands Institute, tour and observation.

Separate registration required. Box lunch provided in hotel prior to departure.

Tall Ship Sailing Cruise

Tall Ship Sailing Cruise
Thursday, October 8 1:00- 4:00 pm

The Schooner AJ Meerwald is New Jersey’s official Tall Ship.

Separate registration required. Box lunch and transportation provided.

Please join us for a 2 hour sail from 1:30-3:30pm aboard NJ’s official Tall Ship! She is a restored oyster dredging schooner, whose home port is in Bivalve, New Jersey. Launched in 1928, AJ Meerwald was one of hundreds of schooners built along South Jersey’s Bayshore before the decline of the shipbuilding industry which coincided with the Great Depression. Today, the AJ Meerwald is used by the Bayshore Center at Bivalve as a traveling classroom and vehicle to enjoy area’s waterways. The AJ Meerwald was added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 7, 1995.

Conference Co-Chairs

Hotel and Travel to ACNJ

Conference Venue

ASBPA has secured a room block at the Hard Rock Hotel at a special group rate of $120 per night (inclusive of resort fee), plus applicable taxes. Rooms in the block are available for Sunday, October 4 – Friday, October 9, 2026. Room rates are only guaranteed until Thursday, September 17, 2026 and are based upon availability.

Hard Rock Hotel Reservation Link

Travel to Atlantic City

Arrival By Air

Atlantic City International Airport (ACY) offers nonstop flights on Spirit Airlines, Allegiant Air, Breeze Airways, and American Airlines.

Philadelphia International Airport serves 25 airlines and nearly 500 daily flights to 140+ destinations. It is an estimated 1 hour 15 minutes car ride, (65 miles), to the Hard Rock Hotel in Atlantic City.

Learn more at https://www.visitatlanticcity.com/planning-tools/transportation/,

ASBPA Swag PreSale Closed

The ASBPA Swag Tech Tee pre-sales to benefit the Students and New Professionals Chapter is closed. New purchases and pick up will be available at the SNP Chapter exhibit booth on site.

Schedule: At-a-Glance

Monday, October 5, 2026:

Pre-Conference Workshop 1:00 – 5:00 pm
ASBPA Board of Directors Meeting 2:30 – 5:00 pm

Centennial Gala 6:30 – 8:30 pm

Tuesday, October 6, 2026:

Morning Plenary Session

Lunch

Concurrent Sessions

Evening Poster Session and Welcome Reception

Wednesday, October 7, 2026:

Morning Concurrent Sessions

Awards Luncheon and Annual Meeting

Afternoon Concurrent Sessions

Evening Students and New Professionals (SNP) Chapter Mixer

Thursday, October 8, 2026:

Morning Concurrent Sessions

Conference adjourns 12:30 pm

Field Trip 1:00 – 5:00 pm

Pre-Conference Practitioner Workshop

This workshop is full.

On Monday, October 5 from 1:00-5:00 pm, the ASBPA, NOAA, USACE and USGS are hosting an interactive workshop aimed at fostering a collaborative exchange between federal science providers and coastal practitioners. Participants will learn about the latest federal coastal science and data products, share directly with agency scientists and managers about how you use these resources, and co-design improvements to federally provided coastal flood hazard information.

Participants will come away with a clearer understanding of federal coastal science and products, relationships with the scientists and managers who create and maintain these resources, and having helped shape federal products to more effectively support real-world decision making.