Digital Dealer 9 or Driving Sales Exec Summit

[Nathan Carr]

So I've been debating this and asking a few people. I wanted to hear who's going where and why.

We were planning on sending an Internet Manager or two and a Digital Marketing Manager to either DD9 or DSEC. Do you guys have any opinions as which event would be more beneficial?

Thanks!
Nathan

 

[Jeff Kershner]

I'll be attending DD9 this go around but mostly due to scheduling. I'd really like to attend both with also JD Power.

I've attened all 3 of these conferences in the past and here are my thoughts.

Digita Dealer - mostly 101, for dealers struggling to understand Internet marketing. Typically a few sessions about process but very general. Many of the speakers in the past are vendors that typically takes several opportunities to "sell". I personally leave DD wondering why I went (expcept for the chance to network). With that being said, if you are a dealer or a GM that looking to understand what all this Internet marketing is along with what it takes to be successful, I would recommend going.

DSEC - very social media focused. Jarred and the team puts on a great conference with some great speakers that get you thinking outside of the box.

JD Power - very OEM and tier 2 focused. Less there for the dealer body, however they usually release some stats from their recent studies.

I'd recommend going to all 3 if you can.

 

[Susan Tyson]

I'm Susan Tyson, the new Marketing Director for Dealer Communications, producers of the Digital Dealer conferences. I came from Cars.com, managing their trade show program, and have attended the Digital Dealer Conferences #1 through #6. Although I haven't attended the Driving Sales event or the JD Power event, I can fill you in a bit on our conference.
-- Check out the quotes page we included on our web site (DigitalDealerConference (dot) com) to read what attendees have said about the event.
-- Review the agenda. We have a printable version posted now. I think you'll see more presentations -- and a wider range of content -- than at the other events
-- We have 7 dealer practitioners presenting at the fall conference, so plan to attend their presentations if you want to be absolutely certain that you won't get a sales pitch
-- If you attend a session that you feel leans too heavy on the sales pitch side, take advantage of our new "text us if your speaker is selling" option that we'll be offering to all attendees
-- The roundtables continue to be a big draw for attendees. In the spring we had 350 dealers participating at tables of 10 dealership managers from similar sized operations
-- We've grown quite a bit from the "newbie" content and we're seeing attendance coming from all aspects of the store from owner/dealer principal to internet managers to general sales managers to fixed operations managers, and so on. Right now it looks like we're on target to have more than 500 dealership attendees
I hope that helps to put the 9th Digital Dealer Conference & Exposition into perspective.
If you have any questions feel free to post them here or contact me at styson (at) dealer-communications (dot) com or 312 558-1799.
I'm looking forward to seeing you -- both of you -- at the Conference.
Cheers!
S

 

[cltwhite]

It's really nice to hear from the great speakers...
I will surely try to attend it.