ACCA SmartTech Summit – November 2, 2026

AI in the Field: What Actually Works for HVAC Contractors

Speaker: Seth Early, CEO and Founder, Earley Information Science

For HVAC contractors and business owners across all company sizes, from owner-operators to multi-state enterprises. No technical background required.

Your technician is standing in front of a broken unit. The customer's cargo is warming up. The manual is 300 pages. The answer is in there somewhere, but finding it fast enough is the difference between saving the load and losing it.

This is not a technology problem. It is a knowledge problem. And the right AI tools, built on the right foundation, solve it.

This session walks through a real field service AI deployment built for refrigeration technicians in the HVAC supply chain: 300 technicians, multiple service centers, 50% reduction in time spent searching for technical answers in the field. We cover what made it work, what tripped it up, and what every contractor needs to understand before building or buying AI tools for their own operation.

Attendees also receive a free AI Readiness Assessment with a personalized report showing exactly where their organization stands and what to focus on first. The assessment is usable the same day.

Take aways:

• A clear picture of where AI delivers real field service ROI and where it fails
• Practical ways to use AI in day-to-day operations immediately, regardless of company size
• A checklist for evaluating any AI tool or vendor pitch
• A free, personalized AI Readiness Assessment report
• The one question to ask before buying anything

The AI Journey – A Decade of Decisions, Implementations and Results

Speaker: Josh Campbell, Founder and President, Rescue Air & Plumbing

In this timeline-style, interactive presentation, you’ll identify where you are, what you need, and what do next when it comes to leveraging AI for operational efficiency. After a quick self-assessment, Josh will walk us through what he did at different stages of his growth, from his first AI implementation to his current initiatives. He’ll share the critical framework he used to determine what his business needed, lessons he learned at each turn, and the wins that results. You’ll leave this session with a short and long term view of how AI can help your team thrive and your business grow.

Optimize – Automate – Delegate

Speaker: Tersh Blissett , Founder and Co-Host, Service Business Mastery

Tersh will share his Optimize – Automate – Delegate framework as a practical approach to help contractors keep up with AI without losing their human touch. This “hands-on, workshop-style, do-it-now” session will provide business owns with a step by step way to map their processes, decide what to delegate to people, and what to hand off to automation and AI so they can save time, improve customer experience, and not break the bank.

NETWORKING LUNCH

Refuel, connect, and have meaningful topic-driven conversations during lunch. This interactive working lunch is designed so HVAC owners can sit with peers who are tackling the same AI challenges. Each table will focus on a specific AI topic, guided by a simple discussion prompt so you leave with new connections, practical ideas, and at least one action item you can take back to your business.

Discussion topics include: Getting started with AI, AI for Call Center and Dispatch, AI for Marketing & Sales, AI for Back Office Efficiency, AI for Field Operations & Service, AI for Tech Training and Support, AI for KPI Tracking, Maintaining Relationships in an AI Driven World

Prefer to use lunch to check email, touch base with the office, or just have casual conversation? Not a problem – a few tables will be reserved for attendees who’d like to use the lunch break a different way.

AI Without the Hype: A Practical Framework for HVAC Owners to Evaluate, Implement, and Win

Speaker: Bekka Martel, Co-Owner and Head of Operations, Advanced Air Conditioning + Heating

Every HVAC owner has felt it — the missed maintenance reminder that became a lost customer, the estimate that sat unanswered for two weeks, the call that rang out at 8 PM and went to a competitor. These aren’t just operational frustrations. They’re quantifiable revenue leaks and missed opportunities to deliver the experience your members and customers deserve.

The session opens by helping attendees identify which operational gap is costing them the most. AI is a solution — but only after you’ve named the problem.

AI won’t solve all of it overnight — but it can solve more of it than most operators realize, faster and more affordably than they expect. This session cuts through the vendor noise to give HVAC owners a clear process: identify where the real pain is, evaluate tools against that pain, ask the right questions before you sign anything, and take a first step that actually moves the needle. Real-world outcomes, honest tradeoffs, and a framework you can use next week.

You’re the Hero. AI Is the Cape.

Speaker: Stephanie Allen, CEO, AirWorks Solutions

We now have access to the most powerful tools in the history of this industry. But a cape doesn’t make a superhero. AI will amplify your genius or expose the absence of it, and the owners who thrive in this next chapter won’t be the ones who adopted the best tools. They’ll be the ones who got radically specific about what only they can do, and then built everything else around protecting that. This interactive closing session is about the identity shift every owner has to make right now. Not a generic “know your strengths” conversation, but the real work of identifying your specific superhero genius, the thing no tool, no technician, and no competitor can replicate. You’ll leave with a framework for naming your superpower, protecting it, and letting AI handle everything that isn’t it.

Speaker Panel – Bonus Content and Q&A

All Summit Speakers

This closing panel will bring all of our speakers back on stage for a fast paced, unscripted conversation about what really matters when it comes to AI in the trades. Instead of slides or theory, you will hear honest reflections on the day: the single most important takeaway each speaker hopes you act on, the one big idea about AI they did not have time to cover in their sessions, and the biggest mistakes they see contractors make when they roll out AI in their businesses.

We will also use the questions you submit throughout the day to guide the discussion, so the conversation stays grounded in real challenges from owners in the room. Expect a mix of practical next steps, cautionary tales, and “I wish someone had told me this sooner” insights. You will walk out of this session with clearer priorities, sharper questions to take back to your team, and the confidence to keep moving forward with AI in your HVAC business this year.