We came to Fort Worth with a booth, a bag full of cow slippers, and 20+ years of emergency preparedness technology to show the largest gathering of emergency management professionals in the state of Texas.
What we left with was something far more valuable: a deeper understanding of the challenges facing the emergency management community right now — and a growing conviction that the technology we’ve built at Building Safety Solutions is exactly what this industry needs.
Here’s our first-hand account of the Texas Emergency Management Conference 2026.
A Record-Breaking Event — and We Were There for It
The Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM) announced record-setting registration for the 2026 conference, with more than 4,280 individuals from over 40 states and 3 countries attending — marking the highest registration total in recent years and the third consecutive year a new record has been set.
To put that in perspective: we were on the exhibition floor of the largest emergency management conference in the country, in front of more emergency management decision-makers than any other annual gathering of its kind. For a company whose entire mission is bridging the gap between chaos and coordination, there is no better room to be in.
The four-day event, held May 26–29, 2026 at the Fort Worth Convention Center, brought together emergency management professionals, first responders, elected officials, state and federal agencies, tribal communities, private sector partners, nonprofit organizations, voluntary organizations active in disaster, and other decision-makers from across Texas, the nation, and beyond.
We were at Booth 121 for the full run of the exhibition floor — and the traffic never stopped.
What We Showcased at Booth 121
Our goal going into TDEM 2026 was straightforward: show attendees a complete, integrated picture of what modern emergency preparedness and incident response technology actually looks like in practice. We ran live, hands-on demonstrations of our full emergency management software platform throughout both exhibition days:
| BSS Platform | Core Capability | Who It Serves |
| BSS Guardian™ | Web-based emergency preparedness with training, compliance reporting, real-time notifications, and “I’m Safe” check-ins | Building owners, HR, compliance officers, facility managers |
| BSS First Responder™ | iOS and Android app with one-touch calls, secure chat, interactive floor plans, and offline access to critical building systems | In-house response staff, security teams, first responders arriving on scene |
| BSS Archangel™ | Digital operations platform with immersive 3D models, interactive floor plans, document repository, and API integrations | Facilities and engineering teams responsible for protecting critical systems |
Together, these three platforms form a coordinated resiliency ecosystem — one that takes an organization from pre-incident preparedness all the way through active incident response and post-incident documentation.
What the Emergency Management Community Is Talking About
Throughout the week, attendees participated in sessions focused on preparedness, response, recovery, mitigation, crisis communications, emerging technologies, disaster finance, cybersecurity, infrastructure protection, sheltering, and whole community coordination.
Walking the conference floor and sitting in on sessions between booth shifts, several themes came up repeatedly that map directly to what BSS has been building toward:
Emerging technology adoption is accelerating. Emergency managers at TDEM were not asking whether to adopt new technology — they were asking which technology integrates with their existing operations. The days of skepticism about digital emergency planning tools are largely over. The question now is implementation. FEMA’s National Preparedness Goal continues to push organizations toward measurable, technology-supported readiness — and the conversations on the TDEM floor reflected that pressure.
Private sector accountability is growing. Multiple sessions touched on the expanding legal and regulatory expectations placed on private sector building owners and employers in the aftermath of workplace emergencies. This is an area where BSS Guardian™ — with its built-in compliance documentation and incident reporting — is uniquely positioned. Organizations increasingly understand that documented preparedness is not just good practice; it is a legal and liability imperative.
First responder pre-incident intelligence is a gap. A consistent theme from fire marshals, first responder coordinators, and emergency managers we spoke with: responders still arrive at incidents without adequate building intelligence. This is the exact problem BSS First Responder™ was built to solve — putting floor plans, utility shutoffs, hazardous material locations, and real-time occupant data in the hands of responders before they step through the door. OSHA’s emergency action plan requirements make this pre-incident intelligence not just operationally valuable but a component of workplace compliance.
Multi-agency coordination remains a challenge. The complexity of coordinating response across municipal, county, state, and federal entities — particularly in Texas, which faces one of the most diverse threat environments in the country — came up in nearly every substantive conversation we had. Our platform’s communication architecture directly addresses this gap, a challenge that extends well beyond Texas and into every public sector and infrastructure environment we serve.
The Conversations That Stayed With Us
At our IAEM 2025 booth in Louisville, we heard a university professor describe BSS First Responder™ as “a medical alert bracelet — but for a building.” At TDEM 2026 in Fort Worth, the analogies were different but the recognition was the same.
One county emergency manager told us she had been trying to get building owners in her jurisdiction to provide pre-incident intelligence packages to her department for years — and that what we showed her was the first product she’d seen that made that handoff automatic and always current.
A state agency facilities director — responsible for multiple buildings across Texas — stopped mid-demo and asked how quickly his team could be onboarded. He wasn’t looking for a brochure. He was looking for a deployment timeline.
A fire marshal from a major Texas municipality told us that his department’s single biggest frustration was arriving at a high-rise incident and relying on building staff who may or may not be available, may or may not know where the utility shutoffs are, and may or may not have an accurate occupant count. BSS First Responder™, he said, solves all three of those problems in a single app.
These are the conversations that remind us why we do this work.
Why TDEM 2026 Mattered for BSS
Conferences like RISKWORLD connect us with risk managers and insurance professionals who think about emergencies in terms of liability and exposure. IAEM connects us with the national emergency management practitioner community. TDEM 2026 was different from both — it put us directly in front of Texas-based decision-makers who are planning for, funding, and executing emergency preparedness programs across the most geographically and demographically diverse state in the country.
Texas faces a threat environment unlike anywhere else in the nation: hurricanes along the Gulf Coast, tornadoes and severe storms across the plains, wildfires, flooding, industrial incidents, and an increasingly complex urban environment. As Texas Emergency Management Chief Nim Kidd noted, the conference shines a spotlight on the vital work of emergency managers across Texas and beyond — offering hundreds of hours of workshops and training, a dynamic exhibit hall, special recognitions, and opportunities to strengthen coordination across the emergency management community.
That mission aligns directly with ours. The Texas Division of Emergency Management operates under the Texas A&M University System and coordinates preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation programs statewide — precisely the lifecycle our integrated platform is designed to support end to end.
See You in Fort Worth Again in 2027
Chief Kidd and Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker announced that next year’s Texas Emergency Management Conference will return to the Fort Worth Convention Center from June 1–4, 2027.
We’ll be there. If we crossed paths at TDEM 2026 and you’re ready to continue the conversation, or if you missed us at Booth 121 this year and want to see what all the fuss was about — reach out to our team. Every demo is free, and we’re just as enthusiastic about showing you the platform one-on-one as we are on the conference floor.
Frequently Asked Questions About BSS at TDEM 2026
What is the Texas Emergency Management Conference? The Texas Emergency Management Conference is the largest annual gathering of emergency management professionals in Texas, hosted by the Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM) under the Texas A&M University System. The 2026 event was held May 26–29 at the Fort Worth Convention Center in Fort Worth, Texas, drawing more than 4,280 registered attendees from over 40 states and 3 countries.
What products did Building Safety Solutions demonstrate at TDEM 2026? The BSS team demonstrated its full integrated resiliency platform at Booth 121, including BSS Guardian™ (web-based emergency preparedness and compliance), BSS First Responder™ (mobile incident response app for iOS and Android), and BSS Archangel™ (digital operations platform with 3D building models and interactive floor plans).
Who attends the Texas Emergency Management Conference? TDEM attendees include elected officials, first responders, municipal and county emergency managers, state and federal agency representatives, tribal community leaders, private sector partners, nonprofit organizations, voluntary organizations active in disaster, facility managers, and other preparedness and response decision-makers from across Texas and nationally.
How does BSS First Responder™ help first responders during live incidents? BSS First Responder™ provides responding personnel with real-time access to building floor plans, utility shutoff locations, hazardous material inventories, critical systems references, and live occupant status — all accessible on iOS and Android before and during an incident, including offline access when connectivity is unavailable.
How can I schedule a demonstration of BSS products after TDEM 2026? Contact the Building Safety Solutions team directly through the BSS website or by calling 800-315-5676. Every product demonstration is free, and the team can tailor a walkthrough to your specific facility type, jurisdiction, or compliance requirements.
Will Building Safety Solutions attend the Texas Emergency Management Conference in 2027? Yes. TDEM 2027 has been announced for June 1–4, 2027, at the Fort Worth Convention Center. Building Safety Solutions plans to be on the exhibition floor.
About Building Safety Solutions
Building Safety Solutions has been protecting people, operations, and assets for more than 20 years. Our integrated emergency management software and incident response platforms — BSS Guardian™, BSS First Responder™, and BSS Archangel™ — are trusted by premier facilities worldwide, including One World Trade Center and the Burj Khalifa.
We help organizations in commercial real estate, the public sector, corporate environments, and educational institutions prepare for, respond to, and recover from emergencies — protecting property, limiting liability, and saving lives.