Rethinking the traditional roofing conference

By Emma Peterson.

MRCA is introducing a new event format focused on the relationships, conversations and practical education that help roofing professionals become stronger leaders.

In a new episode of the Roofing Road Trips® podcast, Megan Ellsworth got the chance to talk to Megan Pope and Chris Daly about the Midwest Roofing Contractors Association (MRCA)’s upcoming Leadership Summit. Megan and Chris were the perfect people to talk to about this as Megan is the current executive director of MRCA and Chris is the vice president of MRCA and will be stepping into the role of president next year.

The Leadership Summit is a new format for the MRCA team. Megan explained, “Everybody is used to seeing us have an annual conference and expo. And this is now going to be our new annual event.” She went on, “There are similar components to what we used to do, but we have changed the format to focus on supporting those in any type of leadership, whether that’s the owner of a company or a site manager.”

The reason for this switch? Member feedback. Chris shared:

For a lot of us, myself included, the big value of being a part of MRCA, especially early in our careers, was the relationships and conversations that were fostered by attending and engaging with the community at events. What we’re trying to do with this summit format is focus on that.

And the Leadership Summit is just the start of this focus on community! Megan elaborated, “You’ll see the word ‘Summit’ more in relation to other events. We’ve already had a Service Summit, which we’ll be continuing and looking ahead, we’re considering a Safety Summit and maybe even a Young Contractors Summit.” She continued, “And what makes these summits and not just conferences is the fact that the programming will emphasize networking, both for attendees and for our exhibitors.”

This year’s Leadership Summit will be held in November 18-19, 2026 and will feature a variety of speakers talking about everything from scaling your business, AI integration and the economic outlook to mental health support, job site safety and cybersecurity. As Megan put it, “The goal was topics that had a broad appeal and were seriously important to people that would be attending.”

Listen to the whole episode or Watch the recording to learn more about MRCA’s upcoming events. You can also still register for their November Leadership Summit.