The broadband industry is moving fast, and the stakes have never been higher. Fabric Forward is a working conference designed to help ISPs, State Broadband Offices, and other broadband leaders navigate industry changes and succeed in broadband’s next chapter. Through hands-on sessions and dialogue with experts, the event will provide strategic context, policy analysis, technical insight, and practical guidance on using data and tools to strengthen your business strategy, competitive analysis, program operations, and reporting.
Bring your computer, a notepad, and your questions. Expect to leave with a holistic understanding of the current broadband environment and how to help your organization respond effectively in the next chapter and beyond.
When: October 26 – 29, 2026 | Where: Edgewater Hotel in Seattle, WA | Questions: Please email [email protected]
*Limited spots available* (Hit capacity in 2025) | Early Bird Registration: Ends May 20, 2026.
Adjust, operate, and execute with the speed of change
BEAD rules are shifting, competition and consolidation are accelerating, and costs are rising. Broadband organizations today are being asked to execute in a market that’s changing faster than internal playbooks can respond.
The need for revised strategies and alignment between regulatory, operations, strategy, and business development has never been more important to stay on top of market dynamics.
Fabric Forward is thoughtfully designed to provide you with the data, tools, interpretation, and repeatable workflows teams need to respond to major market shifts, prepare for BEAD next steps, and build workflows to support effective decision-making around competitive positioning, customer acquisition, compliance, financing, and network deployment.
What you’ll gain
Regulatory Clarity & Compliance Guidance
As BEAD oversight expectations, FCC/NTIA guidance, and HUBB/BDC filing requirements continue to shift, this conference cuts through the complexity – translating evolving policy into a clear, actionable compliance strategy. Attendees will leave with repeatable methods to demonstrate performance, navigate permitting realities, and protect reimbursement by reducing rework, delays, and audit and clawback exposure. All guidance is grounded in Fabric fundamentals: authoritative location reference, Location IDs as the evidentiary backbone, and maintaining consistency across Fabric versions and challenge review cycles.
Strategy & Capital Optimization methods
Understand how major market shifts – convergence, overbuild pressure, and consolidation – affect your organization and how to respond. Translate market dynamics into clearer build/defend decisions, sharper market prioritization, and geo-targeted sales and marketing approaches. Learn to leverage Fabric location data, BDC filings, and market intelligence to anticipate competitor moves, evaluate scenarios with greater precision than broad geographies allow, and align build phasing, take-rate projections, compliance reporting, and financial optimization.
Expert Data & Technical Practices
Build a comprehensive understanding of the Location Fabric: how it’s built, how it evolves, and how to operationalize it for compliance, planning, and competitive analysis while keeping BEAD and BDC reporting aligned. Learn practical GIS, SQL and Power BI workflows alongside API-enabled approaches to change management and data matching, keeping internal databases, billing systems, maps, and submissions consistent across data refreshes and reducing mismatches and rework.
HANDS-ON
Working sessions & Office hours
Each session is designed to provide clear direction and actionable takeaways you can implement right away. CostQuest experts will also offer appointment-based office hours to answer specific questions, troubleshoot challenges, and provide guidance.
EXPERT & PEER PERSPECTIVES
Insights from the people who build & use the tools—and help shape policy
Hear directly from the people who build the Fabric—plus leaders and peers across broadband organizations, government, and state broadband offices—as they share practical tips, lessons learned, and best practices for tackling real-world data, mapping, and program requirements.
COMPREHENSIVE
Regulatory + Strategy + Technical insights all in one event
Because your biggest challenges and risks live at the intersection of all three.
UNIQUE FORMAT
Unlike any other broadband conference
In a small-group, education-focused setting, you’ll gain insights you won’t find anywhere else. The event goes beyond surface-level overviews to share practical data and technical practices you can apply immediately—so you leave with clear takeaways designed for execution.
Offsite event
Set sail on Elliott Bay
Experience one of the most iconic views in the Pacific Northwest.
As part of Fabric Forward 2026 registration, attendees who RSVP are invited to join a cruise excursion around Seattle’s Elliott Bay on Tuesday evening, October 27. Attendees will board a private Argosy Cruise and enjoy sweeping views of the city skyline, the Olympic Mountains, and the working port that helps define this world-class city.
To reserve your spot, please select “Yes” in the RSVP section of the registration form.
More Fabric Forward Information
