How Many Auto Conferences Do We Need to Attend?

[joe.pistell]

Clint,

From my POV (only). If I send my guy to a conference and when he returns, if he can't present an interesting review with an action plan, then, I've sent the wrong guy.

If he/she's a noob, it's on me to prep them ("this may look like fun, but it's three 16 hour days of work...")

 

[Bill Simmons]

Clint,

From my POV (only). If I send my guy to a conference and when he returns, if he can't present an interesting review with an action plan, then, I've sent the wrong guy.

If he/she's a noob, it's on me to prep them ("this may look like fun, but it's three 16 hour days of work...")

Great point @JoePistell It's up to the dealer to set the expectation of what they want reported on when they get back. We were all Noobs once but have learned the right way to navigate these conferences. I see a lot of newbies that are sent, without any prep from the dealer, and get caught up in the excitement of being there and the after parties instead of learning. I hope they don't have spending power when they hit the vendor showcase

 

[jimbell]

Great discussion @kevinfrye. I am partial to my 20 group. Yes, we don't have all of the vendor hype, but it does come down to accountability. We will do 1 conference a year and then our three 20 group meetings. That is basically 4 weeks out of the office and then you have a couple weeks vacation so all of a sudden, you are up to a month or 2 out of the office.

The group we are in, we have our best idea sessions, great discussions, reviews of composites, and 2 presentations from vendors on things going on in the market with zero sales pitch. I do have to agree that there are too many conferences with duplicate content. When I read through tweets, I am seeing same shots of slides time and time again.

I feel that a lot of the 'veterans' are out prospecting at the conferences as well on the dealerships dime which isn't right at all. That's my 2 cents and I''m sticking to it.

 

[Tallcool1]

Great discussion @kevinfrye. I am partial to my 20 group. Yes, we don't have all of the vendor hype, but it does come down to accountability. We will do 1 conference a year and then our three 20 group meetings. That is basically 4 weeks out of the office and then you have a couple weeks vacation so all of a sudden, you are up to a month or 2 out of the office.

The group we are in, we have our best idea sessions, great discussions, reviews of composites, and 2 presentations from vendors on things going on in the market with zero sales pitch. I do have to agree that there are too many conferences with duplicate content. When I read through tweets, I am seeing same shots of slides time and time again.

I feel that a lot of the 'veterans' are out prospecting at the conferences as well on the dealerships dime which isn't right at all. That's my 2 cents and I''m sticking to it.

This is exactly the point I was trying to make in my reply to this thread. I have to say, you said it much better!

 

[ruggles]

One needs to know what one's objective is. If you want to chase every shiny new object, DD is your conference. It is rare to see a dealer there. The expo space has shrunk but attendance is still good. But if you want to hear about those who are stuck in the past and those who are "visionaries" you can get that in any of the automotive forums. You don't have to go to DD to get that.

This week we had Driving Sales, a conference with an agenda. This was followed by JD Power Automotive Round Table. This is a really good conference for networking. The content is good, although I prefer their spring conference from a content perspective. Regardless, I attend each. We are currently into the Auto Finance Summit at the Wynn. This is high level stuff and there's a lot going on. For dealers concerned about CFPB and other compliance issues, this is a good conference to attend. And this all happening this week.

I get something out of all of them, but I don't go with a dealer perspective these days.

 

[JessicaRuth]

Back from DSES and I did hear more than a few dealers say they had to cut back from the conferences they are attending. I bet 2016 will see a more conscience dealer attendance at these conferences.