ABAI Convention 2026

Event type: Behavioral science, applied behavior analysis, clinical practice, education, research, autism services, mental health, therapy, professional training

Estimated attendance: Typically a large multi-thousand-person professional convention; for planning and attendee-list strategy, assume a broad professional footfall with strong concentration of practitioners, researchers, educators, clinic leaders, and service providers. Final attendance can vary depending on the official program, city, and keynote lineup.

The ABAI Convention is one of the most important annual gatherings for professionals connected to behavior analysis and related fields. It brings together a highly specialized audience that includes clinicians, researchers, professors, graduate students, supervisors, school-based practitioners, autism service providers, and organizations that support therapy delivery, training, supervision, assessment, and intervention. For attendee-list research and buyer targeting, this event is valuable because the audience is not random general traffic. It is a concentrated professional community with clear purchasing intent across software, training, assessment tools, therapy materials, clinic services, education platforms, recruiting services, and healthcare-adjacent solutions.

For your use case, this event should be analyzed as a professional B2B and B2B2C audience source. The best opportunities are not simply “any attendee,” but the decision-makers and influencers who control budgets, choose products, recommend vendors, train teams, buy clinical tools, and sponsor services. The event is especially useful for companies selling to autism centers, mental health providers, therapy clinics, schools, university departments, training organizations, and behavioral health systems.

1️⃣ Who attends: Buyers / attendees

The ABAI Convention attracts a highly educated and specialized audience. Most attendees are either direct practitioners or people who influence buying decisions in behavioral health, education, or research environments. This makes it a strong event for attendee-list targeting if the client’s product fits clinical, educational, training, or professional-service categories.

Main attendee groups include:

• Behavior analysts, BCBAs, BCaBAs, RBT supervisors, and clinical supervisors
• Autism therapy center owners, directors, clinical managers, and operations leaders
• School psychologists, special education administrators, and district behavior specialists
• University faculty, program directors, and graduate researchers
• Mental health professionals working in behavior-focused programs
• Healthcare administrators managing therapy delivery or intervention programs
• Training providers, certification coaches, and CEU/continuing education vendors
• Software and technology buyers in clinic operations, data collection, and outcome tracking
• Publishers, curriculum providers, and assessment tool companies
• Recruiters and staffing leaders focused on clinical hiring and therapy workforce development

From a buyer perspective, the strongest leads usually come from organizations that need to purchase one or more of the following: therapy management software, session data tracking tools, practice management systems, assessment products, training content, supervision platforms, continuing education, curriculum support, staffing solutions, and client engagement tools.

2️⃣ Where the show is happening + attendee geographic origin

Location: The convention is held in a major U.S. city and typically draws a national and international professional audience. Final venue and city should be verified based on the 2026 official event page.

Geographic origin of attendees: The audience is usually broad and multi-regional. Most attendees come from the United States, with strong representation from major metropolitan areas, university towns, autism service markets, therapy-heavy regions, and school districts with behavior intervention programs. There is also likely to be a meaningful international audience because behavior analysis is a globally recognized discipline and the convention has academic visibility beyond one country.

Best geographic targeting approach:

• Primary: United States nationwide
• Secondary: Canada, United Kingdom, Middle East, Australia, and other markets with active behavioral science and autism service communities
• Regional concentration: major U.S. states with large ABA clinic networks, university programs, and school-based intervention systems

Because this is a specialized professional convention, geographic targeting should be less about the city itself and more about where the buyer organizations operate. The real value sits in national and international buyer coverage rather than a strictly local audience.

3️⃣ Audience reach: Local / National / Global

Reach type: National with global academic and clinical relevance

The event is not a local trade show. It functions as a national-level professional convention with global visibility in the behavior analysis field. That matters for attendee-list sales because the attendees are often decision-makers from institutions, clinics, schools, universities, and service organizations that operate across multiple states or countries.

For your client outreach, this means the event can support a buyer list segmented by:

• U.S.-based clinic chains and regional therapy networks
• University training programs and research departments
• School systems and special education departments
• International providers looking for clinical or educational partnerships

4️⃣ Sample buyer company names + websites

Below is a practical sample list of likely buyer organizations or buyer-relevant accounts to target for attendee-list or exhibitor-list research. These examples are selected for fit with behavior analysis, autism services, therapy delivery, education, healthcare operations, and adjacent technology or training needs.

Top 5 sample buyer accounts to start with: Center for Autism and Related Disorders, BACB, Autism Speaks, Sevita, and RethinkFirst. These names give a balanced mix of clinical, certification, nonprofit, healthcare, and software demand.

5️⃣ Job profiles, industries & event type

The attendee profile is one of the most important parts of this event. The convention is strongest when targeting people who have budget influence, procurement responsibility, vendor evaluation authority, or program ownership.

Best job titles to target:

• Clinical Director
• Behavior Analyst / Senior Behavior Analyst
• Director of Autism Services
• Practice Manager
• Operations Director
• Program Director
• School Psychologist
• Special Education Director
• University Professor / Program Chair
• Research Scientist
• Training Manager
• Continuing Education Manager
• Human Resources Manager
• Talent Acquisition Manager
• Partnerships Manager
• Clinical Compliance Manager
• Product Manager
• Customer Success Manager

Best industries to use based on the industry list you provided:

• Health, Wellness & Fitness
• Hospital & Health Care
• Mental Health Care
• Education Management
• Higher Education
• Primary/Secondary Education
• Professional Training & Coaching
• Research
• Information Technology & Services
• Computer Software
• Medical Devices
• Nonprofit Organization Management
• Staffing & Recruiting
• Management Consulting
• Publishing

Event type classification: Professional convention, clinical education conference, academic research meeting, therapy and training marketplace, and network-building event.

6️⃣ Estimated attendance / expected footfall

The exact 2026 attendance should always be confirmed from the official event source, but for planning and buyer-list development this convention should be treated as a high-value niche gathering with a meaningful attendee count. Since the audience is specialized, the quality of leads is often more important than pure volume.

Estimated attendance characteristics:

• Large concentration of credentialed professionals
• Strong university and research participation
• Meaningful clinic and therapy organization presence
• High educational and purchasing influence

The buyer density is usually good because attendees are already interested in improving their practice, learning new methods, and evaluating tools, systems, and services. That makes the event especially effective for attendee-list campaigns where the client sells to professional decision-makers.

7️⃣ Key focus areas & buyer engagement

The event’s value comes from the mix of scientific, clinical, educational, and operational conversations taking place in one place. The strongest buyer engagement angles are tied to outcomes, efficiency, training, compliance, and improved patient or student support.

Key focus areas include:

• Behavior analysis methods and clinical intervention strategies
• Autism services and applied therapy programs
• School-based behavior support and special education collaboration
• Research presentations and evidence-based practice
• Certification, supervision, and continuing education
• Data collection, reporting, and treatment documentation
• Practice management and therapy operations
• Professional development and workforce training
• Ethics, compliance, and quality assurance
• Digital tools, software, and service innovation

Buyer engagement angle: The most effective outreach message should focus on how the client’s product or service helps behavioral health professionals improve efficiency, training, documentation, supervision, compliance, client outcomes, or staff retention. Generic event-list language is not enough here. The audience expects relevance and specificity.

For example, if the client sells software, the best pitch may focus on data tracking, telehealth support, practice management, or reporting. If the client sells training, the pitch should focus on CEUs, staff development, onboarding, or supervisor training. If the client sells staffing, the pitch should highlight clinical hiring, therapist recruiting, and workforce expansion. If the client sells publishing or educational content, the pitch should emphasize curriculum support, professional learning, and clinical education.

8️⃣ Client website review and best buyer selection

I can refine the buyer list much more accurately once you share your client’s website. That step is important because the best buyer profiles change significantly depending on what your client sells.

Please share the client website so I can review it and identify the best buyer segments based on the product.

Here is how the targeting changes by product category:

• If the client sells software, prioritize clinic directors, operations leaders, practice managers, and customer success decision-makers.
• If the client sells training or education, prioritize program chairs, continuing education managers, university faculty, and professional development leaders.
• If the client sells recruiting or staffing, prioritize HR managers, recruiting directors, clinical operations leaders, and therapy network owners.
• If the client sells medical, clinical, or therapy products, prioritize behavior analysts, clinical directors, school-based specialists, and therapy-center purchasers.
• If the client sells consulting or services, prioritize operations directors, compliance managers, and program leaders.

Without the client website, the list can only be broad and event-based. With the website, I can filter it into the exact buyer types most likely to convert.

9️⃣ Best industry suggestions from the provided industry list

Based on the event theme and likely attendee profiles, the strongest industry filters to use are:

• Health, Wellness & Fitness
• Hospital & Health Care
• Mental Health Care
• Education Management
• Higher Education
• Primary/Secondary Education
• Professional Training & Coaching
• Research
• Nonprofit Organization Management
• Information Technology & Services
• Computer Software
• Staffing & Recruiting
• Publishing

If you need a tighter list for outreach, I would usually prioritize Education Management, Hospital & Health Care, Mental Health Care, Professional Training & Coaching, and Computer Software first, then expand into research, staffing, and nonprofit organizations.

Final assessment

The ABAI Convention 2026 is a strong event for targeted attendee-list research because it attracts a concentrated, high-skill, high-influence audience. It is especially valuable for companies selling into behavioral health, autism services, education, research, clinical operations, staffing, and training. The event is not broad consumer traffic; it is a specialized professional market with real decision-making power.

Buyer-list quality rating for B2B outreach: 8.5/10

Why it scores well:

• Highly specialized audience
• Strong professional and institutional buying influence
• Good match for software, training, staffing, education, and clinical tools
• National and global visibility
• Relevant across multiple business models

Main caution: The event is very niche, so the buyer list must be filtered carefully. It is best for clients with a clear product-market fit in behavioral science, therapy, education, healthcare, or professional services. If you share the client website, I can narrow this into a precise list of the best buyer companies, the best job titles, and the best industry filters for outreach.

ABAI Convention 2026 - Attendee / Buyer Profile

52nd Annual Convention of the Association for Behavior Analysis International

Prepared for attendee-list targeting and sample buyer selection. Note: As of 16 June 2026, the May 2026 event has already concluded; this profile is still useful for post-event lead sourcing and similar ABA/autism-behavioral science conferences.

About Area - Event Basics

1. Who Attends - Buyers / Attendees

2. Location + Attendee Geographic Origin

3. Sample Buyer Company Names - Buyer Targets Only

These are recommended buyer/sample target accounts for Apollo or similar prospecting. They are not presented as a verified attendee list unless specifically marked by public exhibitor/attendance references.

4. Job Profiles, Industries & Event Type

5. Key Focus Areas & Buyer Engagement

6. Best Buyer Segments to Sell Attendee Lists

7. Apollo Industry Mapping

8. Recommended 10 Sample Contacts to Build in Apollo

9. Client Product Review Prompt

Before finalizing the exact buyer list, ask the client for their website/product page. Review the client product and then filter ABAI contacts by: buyer industry, job seniority, clinical vs education use case, geography, company size and budget ownership.

Sources Checked