The Women In Trucking Association’s Accelerate! Conference & Expo runs October 25 through 28, 2026 in Dallas, Texas, and if you work anywhere in transportation and haven’t been paying attention to it, now is the time to start. This isn’t a generic industry event with a women’s panel bolted on at the end. It’s built from the ground up around the professional development, networking, and advancement of women across trucking, logistics, and the broader supply chain.
What Four Days in Dallas Actually Looks Like
The 2026 conference brings together more than 125 expert speakers across 50-plus educational sessions, with an agenda covering leadership, operations, HR and talent management, sales and marketing, and professional driving. The opening keynote features Shelley Simpson, President and CEO of J.B. Hunt Transport Services — one of the most prominent women leading a major carrier in the country. Beyond the sessions, the event includes a comprehensive expo and a Truck and Technology Tour where attendees can explore the latest equipment and innovations firsthand, from AI platforms to new cab technology. The 2024 edition drew more than 2,000 attendees. This one is on track to be larger.
The Networking Is the Real Curriculum
No conference agenda tells the whole story. Some of the most valuable hours at an event like Accelerate! happen between sessions, over coffee, at dinner, or in the hallway after a panel wraps. Attendees range from C-suite executives to professional drivers, which means the conversations happening in those in-between moments cross every level of the industry. For a woman trying to figure out her next move in trucking, whether that’s growing a team, launching a business, or breaking into a new role, the people in that room are the resource. The sessions get you informed. The connections get you further.
Why Lisa Steed Believes Events Like This Actually Matter
Lisa Steed built her career largely by doing the work, learning on the ground, and figuring things out through experience. But she also understands something that gets underestimated in a field where toughness is the default currency: community accelerates everything. When women in trucking find each other — across roles, across companies, across experience levels — they stop having to solve every problem from scratch. They share what works. They refer each other. They build the kind of informal networks that have always existed in male-dominated industries but historically left women out.
That’s what WIT Accelerate! creates, year after year, in one room.
Who Should Be There
The conference is designed for anyone who wants to change the gender balance in the industry, and the attendee list reflects that breadth. Company owners, fleet managers, drivers, recruiters, safety directors, and logistics entrepreneurs all show up. Lisa Steed’s perspective is direct: if you’re a woman working in transportation at any level and you’ve never attended, this year is the one to go. The industry is changing. The people shaping that change tend to be the ones in the room.
Registration closes October 17 before prices increase. Details and sign-up are available at womenintrucking.org.
About Lisa Steed
Lisa Steed is a Utah-based transportation leader, logistics entrepreneur, and FedEx contracting specialist with a career built on safety, service, and people-first operations. She is the founder of Linked Delivery Inc. and Linked Again Inc., a FedEx contracting company that earned a President’s Award for service excellence and maintained an exceptional safety record across a multi-zip code delivery network. A competitive ATA stepvan champion, FedEx Humanitarian Award recipient, and recognized voice in women’s transportation leadership, Lisa is committed to building stronger pathways for women entering and advancing in the trucking industry.