SOF Week 2026 Attendee List: How to Get It

Quick answer: The SOF Week 2026 attendee list isn't published by organizers, but you can build one using public LinkedIn posts, the official exhibitor directory, and attendee data platforms. SOF Week runs May 18-21, 2026 in Tampa with 19,000+ expected attendees.

What Is the SOF Week 2026 Attendee List?

A SOF Week 2026 attendee list is a database of verified professionals attending SOF Week in Tampa, Florida this May. It includes names, titles, companies, and contact details for defense industry executives, military personnel, and government officials planning to attend.

Unlike most trade shows, SOF Week pulls a unique crowd. You're not just looking at SaaS buyers or marketing leaders. This is the special operations community: program managers from USSOCOM, acquisition officers, defense contractors, and allied nation delegations from over 60 countries. That changes how you build your list and how you approach outreach.

The event is co-hosted by U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) and the Global SOF Foundation, which means the attendee mix skews heavily toward decision-makers with real procurement authority. If you're selling into the defense space, this is the room you want to be in.

Key Takeaways

• SOF Week 2026 runs May 18-21 in Tampa, with 19,000+ expected attendees and 800+ exhibitors across defense, tech, and government sectors.
• Organizers don't publish an attendee list, but the official exhibitor directory, LinkedIn activity, and attendee data platforms can get you verified contacts before the show.
• The defense buying cycle is long. Pre-event outreach to SOF Week attendees works best when it references specific capability gaps or program areas, not generic sales pitches.
• SOF Week replaced SOFIC in 2022, broadening the audience beyond industry to include operators, allied nations, and innovation-focused startups.
• Start building your list now (8 weeks out) to book meetings before calendars fill up in late April.

SOF Week 2026: What You Need to Know

SOF Week has grown fast. When it launched in its current format in 2022, USSOCOM wanted something bigger than the old SOFIC conference. They got it. The 2023 event drew over 15,000 attendees. By 2025, that number crossed 19,000.

For 2026, the event returns to the Tampa Convention Center from May 18-21. The exhibition hall opens May 19 and runs through May 21.

Who Actually Shows Up

I've talked to a few folks who've worked the floor at SOF Week, and the attendee breakdown is different from your typical defense trade show. It's not just booths and badge scanners.

The crowd includes:

• USSOCOM leadership and staff from MacDill AFB (they're literally down the road)
• Program managers and acquisition officers across SOCOM's procurement pipeline
• Defense primes like L3Harris, Raytheon, Anduril, and Northrop Grumman
• Small businesses and startups pitching through Accelerator Alley
• Allied nation SOF delegations from 60+ countries
• Government civilians from DoD, intelligence agencies, and interagency partners

That last group is easy to overlook. A lot of the real budget conversations happen between program offices and contractors, not on stage during keynotes.

Key Programming Areas for 2026

SOF Week isn't one big expo hall. It's structured around functional areas and programming tracks that matter if you're trying to figure out which attendees to prioritize.

Based on past agendas and the 2026 event site, expect:

• Keynotes and panels featuring USSOCOM commanders and allied SOF leaders
• Capabilities demonstrations along the Tampa Riverwalk (live demos, not just slide decks)
• CNECT meetings connecting tech companies directly with acquisition reps
• Accelerator Alley for startups and non-traditional defense companies
• SOF Community Corridor for veteran organizations and nonprofits
• Awards ceremony and dinner (tickets close May 5)

If you're targeting procurement officers, the CNECT meetings are where deals start. If you're going after program managers interested in emerging tech, Accelerator Alley is your zone.

5 Ways to Get the SOF Week 2026 Attendee List

Let's be direct: SOF Week organizers don't sell or share a full attendee list. That's standard for defense events, especially ones co-hosted by a combatant command. So you have to build your own.

1. Use the Official SOF Week Exhibitor Directory

Start with what's free. The SOF Week exhibitor list is published on the official site and includes 800+ companies organized by functional area: maritime, information systems, small business, SOF Warrior, digital applications, and more.

This gives you company names and booth locations, not individual contacts. But it's a solid starting point for account mapping. Cross-reference exhibitor names against LinkedIn to find the specific people attending from each company.

The limitation? You only get exhibitors, not the thousands of government and military attendees who make up the bulk of SOF Week's crowd.

2. Search LinkedIn Manually

This is the brute-force approach. Search LinkedIn for posts mentioning "SOF Week 2026," "heading to Tampa," or "see you at SOF Week." Filter by industry, title, and connection degree.

It works. Sort of. I've seen teams spend four or five hours per event doing this and end up with maybe 50-80 contacts. For a 19,000-person event, that's a rounding error.

The upside is that every contact you find this way has publicly signaled they're attending. That's a warm lead. The downside is the time investment, and you still need to find verified emails separately.

3. Use a LinkedIn-Based Attendee Data Platform

This is where I'd point most teams, especially if you're working more than one defense event this year.

Platforms that scan public LinkedIn posts for event mentions can surface hundreds of verified attendees weeks before SOF Week starts. You get names, titles, companies, and (critically) proof that each person posted about attending.

That proof changes the outreach conversation. Instead of "Hey, are you going to SOF Week?" you can write "I saw you're heading to Tampa for SOF Week. We're demoing our [capability] at booth 412."

4. Buy Third-Party Exhibitor Data

A few vendors compile and sell SOF Week exhibitor contact lists. Pricing typically runs $400-$500 for a spreadsheet of exhibitor contacts with names, emails, and phone numbers.

The data quality varies. Some of these lists are scraped from exhibitor websites and may include generic info@ addresses rather than the actual person staffing the booth. Worth it if exhibitors are your primary target. Less useful if you're trying to reach government attendees or military end-users.

5. Scan Badges On-Site

If you have a booth at SOF Week, you'll get access to badge scanning tools. This is great for post-event follow-up but does nothing for pre-event outreach.

The problem with relying solely on badge scans: by the time you follow up after the show, every other exhibitor is doing the same thing. Your email lands in an inbox alongside 30 others. Response rates drop fast.

How SOF Week Compares to Other Defense Events

SOF Week isn't the only game in town for defense industry networking. If you're working this vertical, you're probably evaluating multiple events. A quick comparison with two other major shows.

If your product serves special operations specifically (think: tactical comms, ISR platforms, SOF-specific logistics), SOF Week is the clear priority. If you sell across branches, you might work all three.

Check out the Sea-Air-Space 2026 event page and the GEOINT Symposium 2026 event page for two other defense events worth tracking.

Pre-Event Outreach That Works for Defense Audiences

Defense audiences aren't like SaaS buyers. You can't send a "quick 15-minute call?" email and expect results. These folks get hammered with vendor outreach, and many of them operate under communication constraints that commercial buyers don't face.

A few things I've learned from talking to teams that sell into this space:

Reference specific programs, not product features. If your solution maps to a known USSOCOM capability gap or a published Program of Record, say so. "We support PEO-SOF Warrior's next-gen comms requirements" lands better than "our platform improves communications."

Respect the classification boundary. Don't ask about classified programs in a cold email. Stick to publicly available information from USSOCOM's published strategic guidance or SOF Week's own programming themes.

Time it right. Based on SOF Week's registration data, early bird pricing closes April 14. That's when attendance commitments spike. Your outreach window is late March through mid-April for booking meetings, then a reminder wave the week before the event.

Keep it short. Military and government professionals scan emails on mobile between meetings. Three sentences. One clear ask. That's it.

Registration Breakdown: Know Your Audience Segments

Understanding SOF Week's registration tiers helps you prioritize outreach. Not all attendees have the same access or budget authority.

According to the SOF Week 2026 registration page:

• Active duty military and USSOCOM personnel: Free. This is the largest group and includes your end-users and program managers.
• U.S. and partner nation government civilians: Also free. Think acquisition officers, intelligence community, and interagency.
• Industry full conference: $640-$800. These are your peers (and maybe competitors). They're there to sell, not buy.
• Industry exhibition only: $165-$250. Lower commitment, often sent to scout the floor.
• Small business: $530-$690. Growing segment as USSOCOM pushes innovation from non-traditional vendors.
• Academia and nonprofit: $410-$555. Researchers and veteran service organizations.
• Students: $105 flat. Future workforce, not current buyers.

The highest-value contacts for most B2B outreach are the free tiers: military, government, and partner nation attendees. They're the ones with procurement authority. Funny enough, the people who pay nothing to attend are worth the most to your pipeline.

Build Your SOF Week 2026 Attendee List with WhoGoes

WhoGoes builds attendee lists from public LinkedIn posts. If someone posted about attending SOF Week 2026, WhoGoes finds them, verifies their identity, and delivers contact details including name, title, company, and email. Every contact comes with a link to the LinkedIn post as proof of attendance. You can preview 5 contacts free on the SOF Week 2026 event page, and full lists start at $29 for 200 contacts. No contracts, no subscriptions. Credits never expire. WhoGoes covers 1,200+ events, so if you're working Sea-Air-Space or other defense conferences this year, the same credits work across all of them.

Related: What Is a Trade Show Attendee List? covers the full breakdown of attendee list types, sourcing methods, and how LinkedIn proof works.