Explore the Agenda
Pre-Conference Day
Tuesday, December 1
Day One
Wednesday, December 2
Day Two
Thursday, December 3
9:00 am Registration & Networking
Track 1: Breaking Into Data Center Delivery
With demand for data center capacity outpacing delivery, new entrants have a significant opportunity - but only those who establish credibility and execute successfully will secure future projects. Join this interactive track to refine your market entry strategy with peers and leaders who have successfully broken into the industry.
10:00 am Workshop A: Breaking Into the Data Center Market by Demonstrating Credibility to Win Your First Projects
Winning your first data center project is increasingly difficult without a proven track record or established credibility. Join this hands-on workshop to pressure-test real entry scenarios, tackle the barriers new entrants face, and define how to build trust, demonstrate capability, and win your first project.
- Understanding what Eastern States clients evaluate in new entrants, from navigating dense, high-demand markets like Northern Virginia, Georgia and New York to proving technical capability, delivery track record, and financial resilience under tighter scrutiny
- Exploring pathways to enter the data center market by starting with smaller projects and retrofit opportunities to build track record and trust
- Building a credible entry strategy through partnerships with established regional players, pilot scopes, and avoiding common entry mistakes
11:00 am Workshop B: Choosing the Right Projects to Enter Into the Data Center Market Successfully
With more companies entering the data center market and competition for projects increasing, many teams are taking on opportunities that stretch their capabilities, dilute focus, and create longterm delivery risk. Take part in this hands-on workshop to pressure-test your pipeline, make tough calls on which projects to pursue, and avoid overextending your team.
- Leveraging existing strengths by evaluating client types and technical project requirements to identify opportunities that align with existing delivery expertise
- Matching project scale to delivery capacity by assessing incoming opportunities against available resources and current backlog to pursue the best-fit projects
- Aligning contract risk with portfolio strategy by evaluating contractual requirements, risk profiles, and partnering approaches to support sustainable growth
- Securing long-term repeat work by focusing on a core group of repeat clients to build strong delivery relationships and support serial building programs
Track 2: Scaling Data Center Delivery
As projects become larger and more complex, staying on track means managing design changes, growing partner networks and community demands without compromising cost, schedule or quality. Join this interactive track to overcome delivery challenges and keep projects moving forward.
10:00 am Workshop D: Building Community Trust & Overcoming Misinformation to Reduce Resistance to Data Center Development
Data center projects are facing growing resistance from communities and local authorities, often driven by misinformation and lack of early engagement. Take part in this workshop to shift from reacting to resistance to building proactive community alignment and buy-in, using real scenarios to handle objections and strengthen trust.
- Working through real examples of community concerns and misinformation to test messaging and improve stakeholder buy-in
- Sharing proactive community engagement strategies and identifying trusted local voices that could help build trust before project kick-off
- Learning from success and failure stories of engaging with zoning boards and community stakeholders
- Defining steps to maintain continuous community alignment throughout the project lifecycle and avoid late-stage resistance
11:00 am Workshop E: Sustaining High-Performing Teams & Partnerships to Successfully Deliver Mega Projects With a 1000+ Workforce
With thousands of workers on large-scale projects, even the strongest teams can see breakdowns in communication, decision-making, and workforce performance. This session will work through real delivery scenarios to expose where that happens and define clear expectations and approaches you can take back to sustain performance across multi-year projects.
- Setting clear expectations and guardrails to enable fast, aligned decision-making while maintaining control of delivery outcomes
- Defining success criteria upfront and identifying risks early to reduce reactive firefighting during delivery
- Exploring how to create sustainable team environments to maintain engagement across multiyear project lifecycles
- Working through real-world delivery scenarios to diagnose root causes and decision breakdowns
12:00 pm Networking Lunch Break
1:00 pm Workshop C: Delivering Your First Data Center Projects by Mastering Mission Critical Project Management Fundamentals
Delivering your first data center project comes with tight timelines, high stakes, and requirements that traditional project management often doesn’t fully cover. This session will work through real-life scenarios to highlight what sets these projects apart, and help you build the core structures, faster decision-making, and client alignment needed to deliver without costly delays or missteps.
- Identifying what sets data center delivery apart to optimize execution across the full lifecycle
- Establishing clear, fast decision-making structures to keep pace with accelerated schedules and avoid costly delays
- Understanding how to align closely with client teams to meet stringent testing and readiness expectations
1:00 pm Workshop F: Managing Design Evolution Proactively to Maintain Delivery Momentum Without Disruption
Design changes are inevitable in complex data center builds, but without clear coordination they quickly lead to misalignment, scope creep, and delays. This session will expose where those breakdowns happen and help you establish the governance, coordination, and decision-making needed to manage change proactively without disrupting delivery.
- Aligning contractors, designers, and owners from schematic design to navigate dense urban constraints, legacy infrastructure, and multi-agency permitting environments to minimize scope creep and coordination breakdowns
- Building internal frameworks and processes to treat change as a controlled process rather than a disruption, minimizing rework and delivery risk
- Pressure-testing design change scenarios in Eastern States conditions (e.g. constrained sites, phased retrofits, union labor impacts, and conflicting stakeholder requirements)
3:00 pm Afternoon Refreshments
3:30 pm Speed Partnering: Secure Your Next Project Partner Today
Are you looking to understand project pipelines and how you can win your next bid?
Designed to streamline partner sourcing in an increasingly constrained labor and supply market, join this fast-paced networking session where hyperscalers, colocators, developers, and general contractors will share their upcoming projects and partner requirements before leading a discussion tailored to their project.
Connect directly with delivery teams actively seeking qualified project partners to support upcoming builds and regional growth – this is your opportunity to explore real project opportunities, discuss delivery needs and build new relationships.