[EVENTS] ATCC 2027: Advanced Trade Education, Real-World Compliance & Powerful Networking (Podcast)

ATCC 2027 Preview: What Experienced Trade Professionals Need to Know

The Advanced Topics in Customs Compliance Conference (ATCC) is returning in 2027. According to organizers, the lessons from past years are clear: don’t wait to register.

In this episode of Simply Trade, host Lalo Solorzano sits down with Cindy De Leon and Guillermo De Leon. Together, they preview the 2027 event, taking place February 3–5 in Houston.

2027 Schedule Highlights

The general conference runs Wednesday, February 3 at 1:00 p.m. through Friday, February 5 at 1:00 p.m. Optional intensive workshops start earlier, at 9:00 a.m. on Wednesday. New this year is a Tuesday-evening Connections Reception. As a result, first-time attendees, sponsors, and speakers get an extra chance to meet before the main agenda begins.

New Workshops: FTZs and Human-Verified Audits

Two optional masterclass-style workshops headline 2027. First, Zone Mastery examines the current Foreign-Trade Zone landscape, covering tariff policy shifts, compliance risks, and savings opportunities. Second, a workshop on human-verified customs audits looks at how data analytics and ACE data can help identify risk.

Cindy is direct about the limits of that technology. Automated flags and algorithms can surface potential problems, but a flag isn’t the same as a finding. Because of that, experienced professionals still need to interpret the data and understand the context behind the numbers.

Register Early

Registration for ATCC 2027 is capped at 600 attendees. Notably, the previous conference reached capacity before early-bird registration even closed. Therefore, early registration and hotel booking are strongly encouraged.

Lalo (00:07)
Today we are talking about another event. so you all have been listening in and tuning into our podcast and have noticed that there have been several announcements for several events. they’re they’re they’re all somewhat different. You know, we’re we’re talking to some folks in the logistics area, containers, maritime, and then in trade and then others, you know, that might be

very niche in in other indust not industries but within our industry that’s what I meant to say. And today we’re talking to one of our most favorite ones. And I I started calling them the A Team. So let’s let’s keep on doing that and see if we can keep that keep that going. The A Team is in the advanced trade team. So so that would be obviously y’all would now know who I’m talking about is Cindy de Leon and her team. So De Leon trade. and on the show today I have Cindy and Guillermo De Leon

And they are here to tell us about their annual event that everybody looks forward to that I talk to and they’re like pretty pissed that they missed it because they forget to they forget to register on time. So that’s

Cindy Deleon (01:13)
Yeah.

Lalo (01:14)
that’s our goal here. That’s our goal. We’re gonna get this out and make sure that everybody registers cause we’ll find out a little bit more about l how how that’s going down. But welcome Cindy, welcome Guillermo to Simply Trade once again.

Cindy Deleon (01:28)
Thank

you, Lalo. Thank you for having us. And it’s always a pleasure to spend some time with you and and with the community of Simply Trade. I would love to talk a little bit about the conference and maybe I’ll ask Guillermo to just give some of the logistic logistical details of the conference, if you don’t mind when it is, where it is, all those good details. I’ll turn it over to you.

Guillermo (01:53)
Okay, great. Thank you. And thank you, Lalo. I’m gonna give you the official start date and end date, and then I’ll give you a little bit a little bit of a twist. So we officially begin the general conference on Wednesday, February 3rd, 2027, at 1 p.m. And we go through Friday the 5th through 1 p.m. as well. That gives folks from out of town the chance to catch slice and get back home.

weekend starts. And we found that that is something that attendees and sponsors and speakers really appreciate, as opposed to you know having to fly home late afternoon or even having to stay overnight Friday. So that’s been a really positive feedback we receive from folks. We’ve done it for the last three years now. In addition to that, for certain folks that want additional training, we start at 9 a.m on Wednesday and that’s four

Two optional workshops. And Cindy will go into more detail as to what those workshops entail. And those workshops go from 9 a.m. on the third through noon. So three hours of those intense workshops, there is a break in between. and for folks that sign up and pay for the additional fee for the workshops, there is breakfast and also lunch. having said that, the surprise coming up in 2027 is that we’re going to have one additional.

reception and we’re gonna do that for the folks that show up early on Tuesday afternoon, Tuesday evening. So we’re gonna have what we call the connections reception starting at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, the second, for first time first timers to the conference, for sponsors and for speakers. don’t know exactly how many folks we’re gonna have, but however many we have we’re gonna have a lot of fun. So we’ll have that as a brand new event

on Tuesday the second. If if you’re not in yet, or if you’re starting on Wednesday with the general conference, don’t worry. We have the opening networking reception on Wednesday evening. And of course we have the big reception, platinum sponsored reception on Thursday evening, which is the the party night for everybody that comes to the conference. So with that I’ll turn it back to Cindy so that she can go into more details into the workshops.

Lalo (04:13)
Okay.

one one small detail. So let’s talk about the venue Omni, right? In in Houston. It’s the same as what they’ve always had. And speaking from experience and guys, I’m telling you because I’ve as a sponsor at slash attendee, I need to tell you guys register early because you will not get a room if you do not if you wait till the last minute like I did. Okay, so

you don’t wanna experience that. And then secondly, I like what you guys do here, Cindy and and Guillermo, that that you you can get in a little early, like at one PM when it starts, and then the same thing on on leaving. The leaving is golden, you know what I mean? Because some people might have some stuff going on in the weekend.

And and like you said, sometimes you don’t want to stay over till through Saturday. And that worked out really nice. And and then what happens? when we were leaving St. Louis, all those

Cindy Deleon (05:03)
Yeah.

Lalo (05:04)
canceled flights that people were going east. And I think most of those people had to spend the night at the either back at the hotel, try to get their room back or at the airport. I mean, I don’t see I didn’t see any other option, but at least you have that.

that ability to kind of plan, you know, instead of being that on the last flight going home, right? So thank you so much for that. But Cindy, so yeah, let’s talk about your workshops. Let’s talk about what’s going on with that. Cause I I know I last year when I talked to folks about the at least the USMCA one, I mean they were just raving about it, how it was so intense yet

Cindy Deleon (05:43)
Thank you.

Lalo (05:44)
so good. You know, so and

I’m hoping to get you to do that for us here at Global Training Center, but we’ll talk about that later. But anyway, but tell us about your two workshops this year.

Cindy Deleon (05:54)
Sure. I want to talk also about basically how registration works really quick

Lalo (05:59)
Yes.

Cindy Deleon (05:59)
for the conference. you know, a lot of you have known me and met me over the years and you know that running conferences is not what we do. We started the Advanced Topics and Customs Compliance Conference, ATCC, because we just felt there was a real need for advanced education by knowledgeable practitioners and service providers in this space.

And

so I wanna let you know who is really allowed to register as registration opens today, Monday, August 31st. it should be opening as as we publish this video here. And so only importers, exporters, and licensed customs brokers are employees of a brokerage. Okay, so you don’t necessarily have to be licensed, but you need to be an employee of a customs brokerage are allowed to

register. So register is by is an approval process. When you register, you know, our team will go in and they will approve you. And then once you register, you will get a link for the hotel. Why do you why do we do this? we do this to really keep the concentration guys of importers and exporters and and customs workers high. You guys are the ones that need this information. I go to a lot of conferences and there’s a lot of service providers like me.

there but we’re really trying to educate that community of importers and exporters and their first line of defense which is the customs broker and so just so you know those that’s going to be open to you all and then who is really intended who is this conference intended for it’s really intended for people who have been in the industry at least five possibly even ten years and if you come to this conference someone new new to customs new to trade

Your eyes are probably going to roll back into your head because it’s going to be advanced. We have no basics track at our conference. This conference is intended to be for people who have been in the business a long time that got they have to get beyond 101 and even 201 level education and dive deep and be able to interface and network with people who have been in the business. I hand select the people who are the speakers.

And work with them on their topics because we want to bring in the best and the brightest. Last year’s conference survey, we have like about 50% of the people who attend the conference, which is about five, six hundred people, respond to the survey. That’s a lot in the world of surveys. And we have like a 95% plus excellent rating on the conference overall. And so we do a lot of the things the way we do it in order to make sure that we achieve and do a good job for you all, the attendees.

So just want to put that out there. As far as the workshops, my gosh, I’m so pumped about this workshop. So we we work on audits and RAS and CF28s and all this stuff nationally. We deal with a lot of different industries and we work with a lot of different people. So in thinking about what we have done in the past, like we did USMCA in the past, we’ve done ACE in the past, we’ve done these different things. We said, what do we want to do this year?

In 2027. And so FTZ came up because CBP is really targeting duty deferral programs. They’re targeting and auditing and visiting FTZ bonded warehouses. they’re looking at chapter 98 with gusto. And so we’re gonna have a workshop for three hours, and it’s titled Zone Mastery: Navigating Tariff Policy with Respect to Zones, Compliance Risks, and Savings in just in today’s FTZ environment. That’s gonna be given by

A team of people led by Robert Stein at Brown Miller Consulting Group, which thank you, Adrian Brown Miller and Bradman are there our diamond sponsors to the conference and they have always supported the conference. We appreciate them so much. So, you know, Robert’s been in the business for over 30 years, and he is going to really just give a masterclass on FTZs. Not, it’s not gonna be a

How do you know an FTZ is good for you? No, no, no, we’re way beyond that. You’re already in an FTZ if you’re coming to this class. We have prerequisites for the class recommended for you. The other classes, I kind of approached my team, and let me grab my sheet here. I kind of approached my team and I said, okay, guys, what do you want to do this year? What do you what do you want to share with the trade community at large? And so what we decided to do is what we’re also going to call a master class on a state of risks to real findings.

And just really talk about the importance of human verified audits. You know, auditing and Deli owned trade go hand in hand. And I’m kind of just, I’m kind of just concerned that we’re getting so reliant on AI. Everybody’s like, I’ve got this AI tool, I’ve got that AI tool. and just AI is going to solve all my problems, you know. And I just really want to bring everyone back to reality and just talk about the importance of

the human in the loop. And I’m going to we’re going to talk about using data analytics and ACE data to be able to identify risks. But our team has literally over 200 years collectively of combined audit experience. And we’re going to tell you that that algorithm can only get you half of the way there. Our team is going to give you real war stories, having been former customs on the other side and firsthand accounts of j some of the data red flags that we saw when we were we were working at Customs and that customs sees now.

And how those escalated into investigations, what data really tipped off the auditors and how it all played out. So it’ll be fun to share some of those war stories with you. But then we’re really gonna talk about just why keeping the human in the loop is so important because an automated flag isn’t always a finding. And you really need to pair that with a true audit. So those are the two optional workshops. It’ll be me again, Ashley Aducci, who is one of our directors of audit services.

We’re probably rope in a few more auditors as well to tell some of their war stories. So it’d be super fun.

Lalo (12:03)
That

is amazing because we have learned as educators and I mean y you all are bundled into that group as well because you that’s that’s what you do at least that once a year and I’m sure when you when you meet up with clients, but we have learned that storytelling is what gets you to understand and even reflect back, you know, months, weeks later, you know, on

How did this work? You know, it’s that story that’s gonna get you. And then it’s it’s it’s that’s awesome how you’re doing that with the auditors, it’s telling their war stories and and giving a relation that it’s not just So I I like that a lot. So thank thanks for that.

I do have my here in my notes I needed to ask you guys as well regarding the big extravaganza or the big closing event. The big party. Yeah. So

Cindy Deleon (12:54)
Party.

Lalo (12:58)
yeah. So I know you’re you’ve been well known for for theming those parties and what have you have you all planned on on that theme already or is it too soon?

Cindy Deleon (13:09)
Yes,

yes. So it’s not even out there yet. So you’re the first to know, Lalo. It’s

Lalo (13:14)
Yeah.

Cindy Deleon (13:15)
unmasking innovation. And so definitely it’s going to be a kind of a masquerade themed event. And it’s always elegant. We like upscale at Deli Antroid. It’s always going to be elegant. So be dress your best and bring your mask. everything that you can expect from the food to the drinks to the hospitality.

At ATCC will be there, and even more so. This year I talked to George Tuttle and got him to sponsor a coffee bar. So it’s going to be awesome to have him. I think we have one other coffee bar sponsor, which is KYG Trade. We have Adrian Browniller and the Brown Miller team. They’re going to be a diamond sponsor. We have Ann Daringer that are going to be also diamond sponsors, one of the premier brokers at the conference.

And then we have Sayari back as always, also supporting us and and as a diamond sponsor of the conference. And then we have our normal speakers and sponsors with Covington and Burling. We’ll have Alex Chinoy. Maybe I can convince Cher Aronoff to come to Houston and give us a presentation. She was a former ITC commissioner. Just really impressive resumes of speakers. there are a lot of people out there speaking about trade, some of which have

You know, just a few years of experience and it it d it doesn’t discredit having a few years of experience, but the people at the ATC conference were looking for people with twenty plus years of experience to be able to really share the evolution and what the future may hold in trade.

Lalo (14:51)
That’s amazing. Yeah. So so I did notice that a lot of folks tell me so this is what the the w one of the most common things that I hear from folks when when when I ask about ATCC, they’re Yeah, that’s the event that I go and my laptop’s always closed.

Cindy Deleon (15:07)
Good. Good.

Lalo (15:08)
So that means that means they’re not doing work.

they’re listening and they’re really like they know they’re gonna get a lot out of this. You know, it’s the it’s the one that they do make sure that they close their laptops.

Cindy Deleon (15:18)
Yeah, last

last year or this February for this February’s conference, registration was full before the early bird registration expired. And people were calling me in desperation, almost asking me to please get them in. We literally had to reconfigure the layout of some of the rooms in order to be able to accommodate more people. And even then we could not get everyone on the wait list in.

So I’m just letting you know, especially if you’re a previous attendee, please register early, get your hotel room. especially get your hotel room because going back and forth to other hotels. Although we are gonna have a ready-to-go overflow hotel at a cheaper rate than the Omni. So, you know, if you want a quick walk in the evening or in the morning, there you go. You’ll be able to go to the second hotel.

Lalo (16:13)
Yeah, but the thing is, Guillermo, I think you’re the one that told me this that that the reason well you said, I mean, the the reason was that you like you you guys like to have it there at the Omni. And it’s if anybody has ever been there, have noticed and seen it, it’s it’s a nice, quaint hotel. It’s it’s not a small hotel. It’s not obviously it’s not a conference center either, you know, but

It is limited in size. You know, the the rooms, the ballroom is is a good size, but I think that’s about the biggest room that they have and then they have a bunch of smaller rooms. So the the there’s only so much that you can grow. I think you told me, Guillermo. I mean, I I can start putting them in the you literally take over everything, the lobby. The lob

Guillermo (16:57)
Well,

yeah, I think the we’ve we’ve grown so much that we basically for for that week almost take over the entire hotel. And I think

Lalo (17:05)
Right.

Guillermo (17:06)
participants will see next year we’ll have even more rooms available for different things. and I’m sure the hotel will sell out once again. So yeah, we’re basically taking up the entire hotel space for the conference, for the receptions, for the learning, for anything else that that takes place during the conference.

And I’ll just make one point in terms of the advanced aspect of it. You have to be advanced in just about everything, but you do not have to be advanced in your dancing skills. Okay. We will take you as a novice and and train you up. Okay. So don’t be afraid to come and dance, even if you haven’t danced in a long time. More than happy to train you up. And you know, when the party gets going on Thursday evening and the after party, everybody ends up dancing and everybody looks like a pro.

Lalo (17:54)
wanna give everybody this tip too.

On Thursday night for this big party, people dress to the what how do they say dress to the nines or whatever? Yeah. Yeah

Cindy Deleon (18:02)
Trust to impress.

Lalo (18:04)
my gosh. I mean

gowns and I mean and and tuxedos. I mean, this it’s awesome, you know? And so I I’m glad I had a coat with me and so I was able to wear at least the coat. But I was like, my gosh, next year I’m gonna have to level this up because I mean it

Cindy Deleon (18:22)
Ha ha.

Lalo (18:22)
it you everybody looks really sharp. Everybody goes out there and like Guillermo says just go out there and dance because it it’s it’s definitely that that kind of event. It’s it’s a it’s a lot of fun. So

just fair warning for everybody. and don’t let that discourage you because everybody’s the same. Yeah, exactly.

Cindy Deleon (18:38)
You don’t have to, you don’t have to.

Lalo (18:41)
Exactly. But but you everybody does it so it’s not like you’re looking like a like a goofball, like out of place, because everybody does that. So so it’s it’s pretty fun. anything else? let’s talk about your keynote. do you have a keynote yet or or last year I like the way you did it also, and I’m gonna I’m also gonna interrupt and say this.

Very few times do you see that you dedicate a in this case it was a plenary because there was no other sessions other than the keynote. And it was right before lunch, and you made sure that we heard and talked, had questions and everything before we actually ate because of the all the noise and clinking and people just talking. and it was a great keynote. former ambassador.

Barcena from from Mexico to the US, right? So that

Cindy Deleon (19:34)
Yes.

Lalo (19:34)
was the and so anyway, but that was a great she she had a lot of good insight on USMCA hadn’t been coming up for renewal the the in July, you know, because i it was in in February. But this year, well not this year, for twenty twenty seven, do you all already have ideas or

Cindy Deleon (19:55)
Garmo, do you wanna take that one?

Guillermo (19:57)
We have we have a main idea. We we are not ready to announce it yet because

Lalo (20:02)
Okay.

Guillermo (20:02)
it is still only the end of August, but it it’s gonna be we hope something similar to last year. most likely another former ambassador with a slightly different take because this would not be USMCA focused. But we found that we we got great feedback from the folks that attended that lunch and and that plenary in terms of the interaction, in terms of what she was able to share.

So we’re really excited about what we think will be a a very great keynote for twenty twenty seven. we hope to have that nailed down probably early October at the latest, and then we’ll make an announcement. But I think it will be it’ll definitely be worth people’s time to go in and listen. I I’ve heard this speaker before and he is is very dynamic and just very knowledgeable, has a ton of experience and I think

We would be well served to to have them come to to the conference as well.

Lalo (21:02)
So short and sweet episode, but anything else before we wrap up, Cindy or Guillermo?

Guillermo (21:08)
Yeah, one one thing and then I’ll I’ll let Cindy go into more detail about this. But this this time for the very first time, we’re gonna have a very well known DJ from Chicago joining us at ATCC. if you’ve been to ATC in the past, you know that we’ve had live music, we’ve had a live band, we’ve had DJs. But this time around we we have an exclusive. We’ll have

DJ Victor R from Chicago will be joining us on Thursday evening. And he has

Cindy Deleon (21:38)
Yes.

Guillermo (21:38)
a long career. I’ll let Cindy go into a little bit more detail about Victor R.

Cindy Deleon (21:42)
I mean, I just categorize DJs as, you know, wedding music kind of DJs and then true artists and club DJs. And Victor is an amazing Chicago DJ. I’ve known him for a long, long time. And, you know, I I was at a club with him in Chicago and I said, Hey, why don’t you come and DJ our event and especially the after party where there are no rules that is sponsored by De leon Trade.

So he is going to be there. It will be like nothing you’ve ever seen before on what a DJ can actually do with music. It’s really cool. the last thing I want to say about the conference and what makes the conference what it is is the the true support and dedication of the attendees, the sponsors, and the speakers. The people that participate are committed.

And the sponsors and the speakers are not just there, you know, passing out a silly tchotchke in their booth. They are giving you trade insights. They are putting their best and their brightest in those exhibition booths, talking to you about the latest and greatest in trade. we are very selective. Sponsorship is by invitation only for ATCC. So we have assembled a group of sponsors and exhibitors that are best in class.

And the speakers, when we talk about their opportunity to be a speaker at ATCC, it’s like I tell them, look, you can’t just fly in and fly out. We want you there talking and mingling and networking and sharing with the community at ATCC. In fact, former Ambassador Barcana was attended most of the conference. She was talking with people and engaging,

Lalo (23:26)
Yes.

Cindy Deleon (23:27)
and that’s what we asked her to do.

We want you to become this person. It’s not like, former Ambassador Bar Barcelona is a person that you can’t just talk to. She’s a person like everyone else. And she just did such a great job engaging with people and just sharing her candid thoughts. And and that’s what our speakers do. And we want you guys to take advantage of that. It is true power networking at ATCC. So thank you so much, Lalo, and for all you do to elevate the trade community. Guillermo, thanks for joining me on this.

And you know, we really look forward to seeing you all in February in Houston. If you live in a cold place, it’ll be warmer in Houston. and have a great rest of your summer and rest of the year. Take care.

Lalo (24:11)
Thank you all. And thanks for joining us. So check the show notes for connection information for Cindy and Guillermo, but more importantly for the official website where you can register and just just go now, like literally, like go now and register because it is open and you you will lose out. I’m telling you prior experience. Thank

Cindy Deleon (24:34)
It’s

Lalo (24:34)
you very much.

Cindy Deleon (24:34)
six hundred max. Six hundred.

Lalo (24:37)
Like

Really, we mean it, right?

Guillermo (24:40)
We mean it this time, that’s right.

Cindy Deleon (24:40)
You mean it. No, don’t call me. Don’t call me.

Lalo (24:45)
Have a good one all and stay stay safe out there. Have a good one.

Guillermo (24:50)
Thanks, Lalo.

Lalo (24:50)
thank you. Bye.

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