Back from the GBA Conference: What We Learned in Phoenix

Last week, Chad Dunham and Walt Flood made their first trip to the GBA conference in Phoenix, Arizona, and came back with a lot to say about where the construction materials testing and geotechnical industry is headed.

Here is what came home with them.

The People in the Room Were Serious About Progress

About 200 people attended the GBA conference this year, a fraction of the crowd you would find at larger industry events. That intimacy turned out to be one of its greatest strengths. Everyone in the room was well-known in the industry, motivated, and genuinely invested in moving things forward, not just for their own companies, but for the industry as a whole.

What caught their attention was how many of those firms were still running on legacy systems. Not because they were resistant to change, but because they simply were not aware of what was available to them. Once the conversation started, the receptiveness was immediate.

Competitors at Work, Colleagues in the Room

Attendees left their company affiliations at the door. Competitors sat down at the same table, identified shared challenges, and tackled them collectively. The focus was never on individual advantage. It was on raising the floor for everyone.

The agenda reflected that spirit. In addition to technical sessions, the conference covered leadership development, communication, efficiency, and broader construction market issues. Ten committees drive that work year-round. A few that stood out:

• Emerging issues and trends
• AI-focused initiatives
• Geotechnical business
• Inclusion advancement
• Resource collaboration

That range says a lot. This is not a group narrowly focused on technical compliance. They are thinking about the whole picture.

As Chad put it: "What impressed me most was that everyone in that room was there to make the industry better, full stop. That kind of mindset is rare, and it is exactly the kind of community Omnant wants to be part of."

Where Omnant Fits Into That Picture

Sitting in those sessions made one thing very clear. The challenges these firms are facing, workflow inefficiencies, missed tests, communication breakdowns, time lost to administrative tasks, are exactly what Omnant was built to solve.

When the routine things run smoothly, managers get time back. Time to lead, to think, to focus on the work that actually moves the needle. That is the real value of a system that addresses more than just one piece of your workflow. It is not about automating a single task. It is about freeing up the people who run these organizations to do what they do best.

For a group as motivated and forward-thinking as the GBA community, that kind of operational clarity is not a luxury. It is a competitive necessity.

Proud to Be a Sponsor

Being part of the GBA conference as a sponsor meant more than having a presence in the room. It meant aligning with an organization that is clearly focused on the collective good of the industry rather than the bottom line of any single company. That is a value Omnant shares.

As Walt put it: "It was a unique opportunity to be exposed to such a great organization. Omnant looks forward to working with the change makers at GBA more in the future."

We could not agree more. If you were at the conference and want to see how Omnant geotechnical software can help your team work more efficiently, schedule a demo today.