The convention and the calendar
The 99th National FFA Convention and Expo runs October 21 to October 24, 2026 at the Indiana Convention Center. The venue publishes a forecast attendance of 70,000. The convention stays in Indianapolis through at least 2033, and the next edition runs October 27 to 30, 2027.
October 21 falls on a Wednesday. October 24 falls on a Saturday.
Housing closes September 23
Chapter housing opened May 13, 2026 at 6 p.m. EDT. The last day to cancel without penalty was September 2 at 5 p.m. EDT. Housing closes September 23, 2026 at 5 p.m. EDT.
The organiser asks groups not to contact their hotel until after September 24, so hotels can download the reservations once housing closes.
Four resources carry the chapter channel: the Chapter Hotel List, the Hotel Area Map, the Chapter Housing Webinar and the Reserve Chapter Housing link. The reservation link runs through FFA sign-in, so a chapter books with its own FFA account.
The exhibitor path publishes its own cancellation ladder. Cancellations from August 3 to August 17 received a full refund, August 18 to September 1 received 50 percent, and cancellations on or after September 2 received nothing.
The chapter is the group
A chapter travels with students, an advisor and chaperones. FFA replaces a lost badge for $15, and requires student members to be accompanied by an advisor or chaperone at the registration desk. That supervision requirement shapes the block more than the room count does.
A chapter block needs adults adjacent to students. Ask the hotel for rooms on the same floor or in the same wing, and write that into the block agreement.
The Housing Desk sits in Room 116 of the convention center and takes housing questions at (317) 262-5906. It staffs Tuesday October 20 from 1 to 5 p.m., Wednesday and Thursday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Friday October 23 from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. The published hours carry no Saturday shift, so a Saturday-night problem goes to the hotel.
The event's published material states no minimum block size for a chapter. Ask each hotel how many rooms per night a chapter must contract, and which nights carry the hold.
Four nights, and the calendar behind them
Wednesday October 21 to Saturday October 24 holds three nights. A four-night block releases on Sunday October 25.
Shape one holds the three-night reading. Guests check in Wednesday and check out Saturday, so the block covers the Wednesday, Thursday and Friday nights.
Shape two adds the Saturday night. Guests check in Wednesday and check out Sunday, so the block covers four nights.
A third shape adds the Tuesday night instead. Guests check in Tuesday October 20 and check out Saturday October 24, four nights that end on the Saturday.
Ask each hotel to price the three-night and the four-night shapes separately. The floor, the rate and the release schedule move with the shape.
Confirm the Saturday night first
Saturday October 24 carries the American FFA Degree Ceremony and the seventh general session at 1:30 p.m. The Expo and the Shopping Mall run Wednesday through Friday. Saturday single-day registration covers the degree ceremony and session seven.
Saturday carries the least programme of the four days and it holds the last night of the stay. Confirm that night before the rest of the block. A chapter that releases Saturday morning still reaches the degree ceremony, and it drops a night of exposure.
Thursday carries the opening and second general sessions at 8 a.m. and 2 p.m. plus a third at 7 p.m. Friday carries general sessions at 8 a.m., 2:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. Those two nights will carry the tightest floors on a four-night block.
The attrition clause
Attrition is measured at the stay. The clause sets a pickup floor, and the group pays on the shortfall below it. A four-night block multiplies that exposure, because each night carries its own room count. A chapter that fills Thursday and empties Saturday pays on the Saturday gap.
The blocks.travel glossary states that hotels calculate attrition per night on blocked rooms against picked up rooms, and that the penalty on an unused room night is typically the full room rate. The groupRooms guide places the attrition percentage at often 80 to 90 percent of room nights. Both sources describe common practice rather than a governing rule.
Ask for the floor on cumulative room nights across the whole stay, so a strong Thursday offsets a soft Saturday. Ask for release dates at 90, 60 and 30 days, and for credit on any room the hotel resells.
Capacity in downtown Indianapolis
The convention center publishes 7,100 hotel rooms in downtown Indianapolis, with 4,700 connected by skywalk, 200 restaurants within walking distance and 15 minutes to the Indianapolis International Airport.
70,000 forecast attendees against 7,100 downtown rooms makes the chapter channel the practical route to a room. A chapter that misses the September 23 close approaches each hotel directly, and it should expect to argue for the same terms without the organiser's housing list behind it.
groupRooms.org takes requests for 10 or more rooms. The platform publishes 103,857-plus hotels across 46 states, a free submission, and a 24-to-72-hour response window. Its Indianapolis directory lists 273 hotels. Those are the platform's own figures and they are unaudited.
A request that names the room count per night, both the three-night and four-night shapes and a cumulative attrition floor will draw bids a chapter can compare. A request that names one shape invites a renegotiation in October.
