When you are in the automotive media, it seems there’s always an event, conference or trade show worth attending.
Our role as an industry magazine, after all, is to help discover and present the best ideas we come across that can help our readers — Canada’s new car and truck dealers — be more successful at running their businesses.
Some conferences and events are better than others, but of the ones I attended, I always walked away having learning something. And I’ve been to a few pretty bad ones!
Many times the insight might come from the expert presenters, who are usually hand-picked by conference committees (and who all strive to make their event the most relevant, and most impactful). Other times the best takeaways come from conversations and exchanges with dealer attendees, speakers and other industry players.
There’s no question that the more engaged you are at an event, the more you get from it. From my experience, car dealers are no shrinking violets and have no trouble working a room and finding good conversations to have.
It’s not surprising that I often regularly see some of Canada’s top dealers at these events.
We devote a lot of space in Canadian auto dealer to covering some of the events we attend, like the CADA Summit, NADA Show, CADEX, the Digital Signage Expo and the TADA’s recent ACE event in Niagara Falls (showcased on the cover of this issue.) We do this because we recognize that not all of our readers are able to attend them. Which is really a shame.
The most common lament I hear from conference organizers is that not enough dealers show up to their events. Which is odd when you think about how these events are all custom-built for them, and they are all but guaranteed to get some valuable information.
I recognize that dealers are urged — and outright pressured — to attend a host of other events: those put on by their manufacturer, the events in their communities, and of course there are many demands on their time.
But as important as those other events are, there’s something different about an industry conference that is looking at trends impacting your business, and I wish more dealers would show up.
As I reflect back upon what I’ve heard over the years at these events, the presenters have been painting a dramatic picture of an auto retail industry that is in the midst of a complete transformation. The old rules of the game no longer work as effectively, and these presenters are often sounding important alarms, but also offering tips and strategies of how other dealers (and often other industries) are reacting and adjusting. These experts and visionaries have been very good at predicting industry trends that have since come to fruition.
If you truly believe the auto retail industry’s future looks a lot different than it does today, then wouldn’t it be in your interest to attend every gathering of those experts to get as many good ideas as you can?
Well some dealers do.
It’s not surprising that I often regularly see some of Canada’s top dealers at these events. CADA Laureates, heads of dealer groups, and well known leaders who are already at the top of their game.
I also get to interview a lot of them for the magazine, and the consistent message I get from them is that they always derive some value from attending — which is why they attend.
Somehow they find time in their schedule to attend. More dealers should follow their lead.
