Building or Expanding: How to Avoid Expensive Mistakes from Concept to Lease-Up
with Lou Barnholdt and Mary Hunter, Universal Storage Group and Jamie Lee, Elevate Structures

Developing or expanding a self storage property is exciting, but one wrong decision early in the process can cost operators hundreds of thousands of dollars later. This session walks attendees through the full lifecycle of a successful project, from feasibility and unit mix planning to design choices, marketing launch, and staffing strategy. Using real-world examples and lessons learned from both successful builds and avoidable missteps, the session breaks down what owners, operators, developers, and managers need to know before signing contracts, pouring concrete, or hiring staff. Attendees will leave with a practical roadmap they can use whether they're planning a ground-up build, adding a new phase, rehabbing an older property, or taking a stalled project back on track.

Hidden Money in Your Facility: Revenue Leaks Most Owners Miss
JC Reed, All-Purpose Storage

Northeast operators face unique challenges including seasonal demand swings, older assets, staffing constraints, and competitive markets. This session focuses on how real operators achieve operational excellence without relying on “perfect” staff, ideal markets, or unrealistic systems.

Attendees will learn practical, repeatable strategies for improving occupancy, revenue, and customer experience through better processes, smarter pricing, and cross-functional alignment between operations, marketing, and revenue management. This session emphasizes what actually works in the field and how to implement it immediately.

The Self Storage Players Present: The Key to Poor Operations

In this fast-paced and funny session, this team will act out the "bad" behaviors in storage management and operations and then speak to the correct methods. Topics covered include, but are not limited to:
First Impressions - How to act when someone walks in the door
Connections - How to make the right connection without being "too much" or completely insensitive.
Difficult Conversations - All the ways we procrastinate on doing the hard things like collection calls or taking inbound sales calls.
Lead Tracking - Making sure that everyone knows if a "closing percentage" is 100%, you have a lead tracking issue.
Poor Behavior in the Office - What to do if your staff is behaving badly, stealing, or allowing other tenants to behave badly.
Cleanliness - How to make sure your units are presentable rather than relying on your previous tenants!
Handling "Preppers" - What does our lease say about food in units, again?
Too Scared to Operate - "But I don't want to raise their rates, or they'll leave," or "I want to be the lowest priced facility in my market."

And so much more!

Tradeshow and Reception

Celebrate the opening of the 2026 Northeast Storage EXPO with hors d'oeuvres and drinks in our expanded tradeshow hall. Take advantage of our full tradeshow hours to meet with every booth!

Late Night Happy Hour

Join us for drinks, networking, games, and a DJ at DRAFT KINGS! Free drink tickets will be given as first come, first served.

Registration and Breakfast

Enjoy a delicious breakfast buffet courtesy of our sponsors while catching up with your fellow attendees and exhibitors before the day's opening session.

Optimizing the Customer Experience: Cutting-Edge Tactics to Attract and Retain Tenants
Mark Cieri of StorageDefender, Gary Edmonds of The Storage Manager, Jessica Johnson of The Storage Group, and Rich Trott of Bomarc Self Storage

From digital innovations to personalized services, we'll examine how self storage operators can curate the ultimate tenant journey to create a deep sense of satisfaction and foster long-term loyalty. Panelists will discuss personal examples and experiences with:

• Leveraging technology to streamline processes and offer convenient, user-friendly solutions.
• Implementing customer-centric initiatives to address diverse tenant needs and preferences.
• Designing physical spaces and amenities that prioritize comfort, accessibility, and security.
• Integrating digital interfaces and promoting meaningful interactions to enhance the customer experience.