Fall Conferences and "Pitch-fest"

[kevinfrye]

From a dealer's perspective, what will make any of the current or new fall conferences not turn into a "pitch-fest"? I see many of the same vendor/speakers at each of these shows - and if there are already multiple tools in place at prior shows (clear warnings in speaker agreements, Twitter handles to report "pitching", speaker reviews that report this, etc), why would these same speakers do anything different at another show? Is there someone in the back of the room with a Taser watching the speaker?

I realize I am being cynical, but I don't see what could be done much differently to stop a vendor from pitching their product in a presentation. On the other hand, I have not found this to be a major problem, and in reality, I have no problem with a vendor taking a few minutes at the end of their presentation to share some information about their product. If the vendor/speaker has spent a lot of time presenting useful information to share with dealers, and they believe in their product, I am open to giving them a few minutes at the end of their session to share what they offer...

 

[Eley Duke]

From a dealer's perspective, what will make any of the current or new fall conferences not turn into a "pitch-fest"?

..... Amen!

If the vendor/speaker has spent a lot of time presenting useful information to share with dealers, and they believe in their product, I am open to giving them a few minutes at the end of their session to share what they offer...

I also agree. I think it is much more credible that a vendor talk about the subject, then give a few real world examples. It doesn't have to be a pitch, simply just give an example or two how the subject has worked in a real dealership with some real results.

Honestly the best place I have seen this work is the GM eSummit! Vendors spoke about the subject, gave real world examples and experiences, and opened it up for discussion. There was no pitch.

 

[Jason L]

I agree with Eley that the GM eSummit seems to feature the most helpful information from the vendors without them trying to sell you their products left and right.

Too bad there are only five conferences nationwide, instead of the 20+ they had last year.

C'mon, Vegas....

 

[Eley Duke]

I agree with Eley that the GM eSummit seems to feature the most helpful information from the vendors without them trying to sell you their products left and right.

Too bad there are only five conferences nationwide, instead of the 20+ they had last year.

I agree, why did they go from 20 to 5? I have been to Greensboro every year and its packed! Now I only have 5 places to choose, none in driving distance except Philly, 5 1/2 hours for me in the car vs last year a 3 hour drive making it an easy 1 day conference.

The GM eSummit by far has been one of the most informational things I attend yearly. It might be 101 and 201, but I learn something all the time. This year the line up gets even better with it becoming more segmented into categories vs the old format.

I highly recommend all GM dealers take advantage of going, you can learn something!

 

[Jerry Thibeau]

I agree, why did they go from 20 to 5?

Think about it from the perspective of the speakers. 17 cities in 3 months is a lot to ask. 5 is much more manageable.

 

[Bill Simmons]

I am somewhat of a rookie at being a conference attendee. I have only been to the past 2 Digital Dealer Conferences. I plan on going to Driving Sales in the Fall and skipping the next DD. I must say though that I have not seen "the pitch" being much of an issue. Or maybe I just got lucky and picked the right sessions to attend. When planning my schedule at the 2 DD's, I tried to focus on attending sessions where a dealer representative was speaking. Especially at the DD this past Spring, there were several sessions of dealer panels, that were moderated by a vendor. I really enjoy attending those types of sessions because I am hearing from people that are in the dealership everyday, doing what I do,and I want to learn from them. And of course, props to Kevin Frye for always giving a great presentation in his sessions.

 

[kcar]

I go to SEO/Affiliate/IM conferences and stay out of the dealer scene. I own a small handful of established website brands. Haven't really gone to any automotive ones aside from factory meetings. For the topic, I ignore pitches and only actively pursue products/vendors I'm interested in. I'm prob one of the worst people to sell too, I very rarely buy anything that I can't do myself. A lot of the ideas going around the dealer world are outdated, at least compared to the internet marketing world.. I do like them though, helps me infuse these new together with ideas dealers have to take things to the next levels. That being said, I'll be at AutoCon2012 though!

 

[kevinfrye]

I am somewhat of a rookie at being a conference attendee. I have only been to the past 2 Digital Dealer Conferences. I plan on going to Driving Sales in the Fall and skipping the next DD. I must say though that I have not seen "the pitch" being much of an issue. Or maybe I just got lucky and picked the right sessions to attend. When planning my schedule at the 2 DD's, I tried to focus on attending sessions where a dealer representative was speaking. Especially at the DD this past Spring, there were several sessions of dealer panels, that were moderated by a vendor. I really enjoy attending those types of sessions because I am hearing from people that are in the dealership everyday, doing what I do,and I want to learn from them. And of course, props to Kevin Frye for always giving a great presentation in his sessions.

Thanks for the kind words Bill!

 

[Eley Duke]

Think about it from the perspective of the speakers. 17 cities in 3 months is a lot to ask. 5 is much more manageable.

Great point Jerry. I do wish however they would have the southeast one in Atlanta, much more accessible to everyone in the south. ATL is easier to get to for dealers, can fly in there in the morning, and fly out afterwards. Can't do that in Orlando, with flights and room expense it triples the expense of the trip for many for a 1 day conference.

 

[Alex Snyder]

Think about it from the perspective of the speakers. 17 cities in 3 months is a lot to ask. 5 is much more manageable.

Aside from GM scaling back, conference fatigue is definitely going to be an issue very soon....if it isn't already. It is getting really hard to keep up with all the gurus.