Since DR is the only forum NOT sponsoring a conference this fall...

[ddavis]

Doug, if and when DealerRefresh has a small conference you'll be on the VIP list. Promise!

Purple ties to all VIP.

Very kind to say.

Uncle Joe Rule #67

The best benefit to attending conventions is networking after hours. Get out and find where people are and mingle with vendors and dealers. Trade stories and business cards. Be sure to chat about your most frustrating challenges, people like to help, be prepared to get help.

The vendor booths and workshops aT the convention are added value

Joe, I would seek you out and the first drink is on me.

 

[Stan Sher]

I will be at AutoCon and most likely at Driving Sales. I believe that Ralph, Chris, Mike, and First Class Educators are working on something very special. This is not going to be a "pay me big bucks to speak so I can pitch the attendance" event like Digital Disaster (thanks Ziegler for coming up with that term). AutoCon is the real deal and this will be setting the bar rather high. I know Jared is amazing and he is about to do major things with DrivingSales Executive Summit.

After being at DD 12 this past spring it has become clear that having a DD twice a year is way too much and too repetitive. I have been to four Digital Dealer Conferences and the best one that they ever put on was DD 11 because they did somethings that were outside the box. This is where Arnold Tijerina made the conference stand out. Digital Dealer 12 was poor. The vibe was off and the content was too elementary. I walk into a session to learn about how to run a high volume BDC successfully using mobile only to find the speaker talking about laying out the blue print to setup a BDC. I walked into the presentation that TrueCar did (who by the way had a huge booth) and one of the speakers gave his company (TrueCar) a shameless plug. He then said "oh by the way this is not a pitch". I guess when you strike a huge check like that you can get away with everything. The sign in each meeting room that allows you to text in if you believe the speaker is doing a sales pitch is there for the ego of the person that puts on that conference. The reality is they don't care because if the speaker strikes a big check, it is perfectly fine to do what you want. That is at least what I feel that I have experienced in my four times of going there.

I have watched Digital Dealer wrong many people that have in fact supported them over the years and have helped to try to make them a better conference. Perhaps there are too many conferences going on this year. For the dealers that have never been to any of them they do not know the politics that surround these conferences and they waste a ton of money on conferences that need to be avoided at times.

The time has come for AutoCon to make major waves in the industry. Look I have watched Ralph work to help the automotive industry from the bottom of his heart. I have watched Jared Hamilton and his whole team work and out their heart into making this industry great. I have never seen Mr. Roscoe do that (if I am wrong please prove me wrong).

I have never been to JD Powers for various reasons so I do not know what to say about the event. I have heard things that made me want to steer clear of it(a few years ago) but I may just make an appearance and experience it for myself. Perhaps it can be a great experience and a must attend event. I have heard amazing things about DrivingSales and feel like they are doing innovative things which is why I plan to attend.

I am hearing and seeing crazy amounts of politics here. Please understand I am in no way playing politics here by supporting two conferences, questioning a third, and telling my true feelings about Digital Dealer. No one is pushing me or paying me to say anything as I speak my mind. I support what I believe in and I don't support the ones that have wronged me in the past or have done things to make me speak out against them.

Now I think having an event for DealerRefresh would be an awesome idea and I would love to be a part of it as well if Jeff decides to do something. This forum has been amazing throughout the years. Let's all get along and respect the business as we help each other and let's avoid doing business with the ones that don't support us or wrong us.

 

[pcauto]

I'm new to the digital/e-commerce/bdc game (under two years) so my experience in conferences is limited to NADA back in Feb. and DD in April. I got more out of NADA because they had repeats of sessions allowing me to attend more of what I wanted to attend. However since DD is much smaller than NADA, the networking opportunities were better at DD, which I think over time will be better for most people in my position. Workshops are great, but in the end, they are really pitches for the most part, while networking gives you more of the inside scoop of what really works and what doesn't.

As others have said, there is the time and travel factor that will keep me from doing more than 1 or 2 of these a year. I don't even have enough time to really review the recordings of some of the workshops that I missed at DD. I would find time however to do a good 2 day networking event maybe every quarter, preferably in my part of the country.

 

[abarish]

I have avoided DD at the advice of many dealers who have complained of it being one big commercial. I attended DSES last year and came back with lots of great actionable items. I am signed up to attend AutoCon to see what it ends up looking like. I will probably sign up for DSES soon since it was so valuable last year. One biggie that is missing on the list is of couse NADA - the founding convention that apparently did not serve and allowed these others to grow and prosper. I think an important question is what DIDN'T NADA do that the others are doing.

 

[yagoparamo]

Knowledge is a funny thing.

I've been at conferences where I didn't think I learned much and later on some of the things they covered became very handy.

I've been at conferences where I didn't think I did much networking and later on just one person that I met changed what we do at my company.

I've been at conferences where I truly didn't learn anything, and I realized that the hard work or reading every day paid off and I was well informed about my business.



So in the end I truly believe there is something for everyone but set your expectation right: You will not find or learn about a silver bullet. If anything, you will get lots of confusing and sometimes contradictory ideas.

You must at least experience each conference once because they all have a different 'theme' and 'flavor'. Some people complained about True Car sponsoring the last DD, to that I can tell you that I know whom the main characters in AutoCon will be and that is OK because each 'group', company, etc bring a different set of knowledge and POV.

Worst thing you can do is not opening yourself to this unique learning time in the Auto biz.

 

[ajholland]

I have only been to Digital Dealer, so I can't speak to the quality of the other conferences. I have pulled great information from DD and as other's have stated, the best part is the connections you make. I plan on attending again in October-I usually don't go in the spring.

I think a Dealerrefresh meeting would be great! Less sitting in on sessions and vendor browsing, more real talk with your peers and drilling down on how to improve your e-commerce/BDC/internet departments.

 

[Jerry Thibeau]

I recently spent some time talking with Jared while at the Dealer Socket user summit in CA last week and all I can say is "WOW!" He has one hell of an event planned this year. This is one you will want to attend.

Since you'll be out there, you might as well maximize your travel dime and stay for Digital Dealer. Digital Dealer has been a great event for me from a vendor perspective. I always sign plenty of business and the sessions that I do attend are educational and beneficial. There is very little plugging going on. In some cases plugging is good if it's a product that can help you deliver more units. Everyone one should set some time aside in their week to get one plug. Turning a blind eye to the latest and greatest in technology is not a wise business decision.

AutoCon is the wild card this year. New event, but the people putting it on know how to throw a conference. Carrie from FCE has been the puppet master for all of Brian's events and she does an amazing job. Ralph has been to a conference or two and knows what it takes to host an event. There is no doubt in my mind that this one will be a great event. For DP's it's free, how can you beat that?

The majority of the dealerships within our industry do not attend these events, so if having more of them helps get the word out, then I am cool with that. I probably would not send the same person to each of these events. Instead send a different person from your dealership to each event. I would suggest making a contest out of this. Have a quarterly contest and the winner gets to attend a conference.

It does cost me a lot of money to attend these events, but as long as I continue to see a return on my investment, I'll continue attending. There is no value I can put on the relationships I have forged at these events and for me that's a big part of attending. Sometimes we need to get out and just recharge our batteries!

See you all this fall if not sooner!

P.S. You don't want to miss Todd's & Jerry's Lake Meade adventure taking place between DSES and DD13.

 

[MikeFitzpatrick]

Every one of the events have tremendous value for both dealers and vendors to see what is working, what isn't and share "war stories".

Having gone to and spoken at events over the years it seems the greatest value is; it takes the dealer personnel away from the day to day grind and forces them to learn what is going on in the industry. ALL of the sessions cover things that are already available online if the time is taken to read, watch videos etc.

Yago, I think in the other thread that you started regarding pricing for vendors being so high, the answer was (paraphrasing) "whatever the market will bear". In just about every other industry the trade shows cost about 1/4 per square foot than in automotive, not to mention the upselling (Wireless for $1200-ish for 2-3 days). Probably because of the price of goods sold etc., but ultimately this raises the price of the products themselves which the dealers pay for. It would be great to see a conference that was priced in line with what other industries charge as I would think there is still a substantial profit margin. Backed up with some great (fresh) content would still make for a strong conference.

As far as long term: I see dealers starting to go to out of industry events like SXSW, Pubcon or even WordCamps as these events are where "new" information is being shared. In most cases "techniques" and information has been out for 6 months before being used in the automotive industry which makes it old news.

My recommendation to dealers is that they go to one dealer conference per year (rotating them every year), and one out of industry event per year. Then read at least one article per day that has to do with Internet marketing.

Most importantly: Take action on what you learn. If you find yourself paralyzed with so much information that you aren't doing anything, stop learning and start doing.

 

[yagoparamo]

Yago, I think in the other thread that you started regarding pricing for vendors being so high, the answer was (paraphrasing) "whatever the market will bear". In just about every other industry the trade shows cost about 1/4 per square foot than in automotive, not to mention the upselling (Wireless for $1200-ish for 2-3 days). Probably because of the price of goods sold etc., but ultimately this raises the price of the products themselves which the dealers pay for. It would be great to see a conference that was priced in line with what other industries charge as I would think there is still a substantial profit margin. Backed up with some great (fresh) content would still make for a strong conference.

Mike,

I know that statement was somewhere in the mix along with my postings but I don't agree with it. That tipe of statement was in response to Ralph's comment: Ralph: Make this right - Automotive Digital Marketing Professional Community

I've a lot of mixed feelings about these conferences because as you know unlike NADA or Driving Sales there is a list of preferred vendors in these conferences so I do get the feeling that some pay for the others.

 

[Jerry Thibeau]

I've a lot of mixed feelings about these conferences because as you know unlike NADA or Driving Sales there is a list of preferred vendors in these conferences so I do get the feeling that some pay for the others.

Define preferred vendor?

NADA looks at your previous history and the longer you have been exhibiting, the better your booth placement. I see nothing wrong with this by the way. My first year I had a horrible location. Last year I had a great one.

At the end of the day it is about money. He who spends more has more clout! I will also tell you that it's about building a good relationship with the conference host. What can you offer that will provide for a better conference?

Look at it from the eyes of the person organizing the conference.