The Digital Dealer Conference - a week later

[Jeff Kershner]

*Actual photos taken at the Digital Dealer Conference.

Was the Digital Dealer Conference a Smashing Success??

“We sold out everything,” said Michael Roscoe, Chairman of the event. “We sold out all our booth spaces, all our food and beverage sponsorships, all our title sponsorships, our room block…if it was for sale, it got sold,” Roscoe continued. “We beat the 300 dealership registrants from last fall by more than 83%. This conference was a smashing success!” - Mike Roscoe

This is a 2 part post. First mine then Alex.

Well it's been a week since the Digital Dealer conference. Wait..is it the Digital Dealer Conference or is it the AAISP Conference? I'm always confused about that!!

Anyways, I had intended to write the post tracking it day by day but that never happened. So I thought I would give a brief run down from my side of the conference, the good, bad and maybe some ugly.

I didn't fly in until mid-day Monday so I missed out one the 101 sessions. Props to Jesse over at
HomeNet for having me picked up in the stretch Hummer at the airport!

The Likes:

• The Gaylord Palms Resort & Convention Center was very nice! Great place for a conference like this.
  
• Meeting and placing faces with all the dealerrefresh readers and contributors that attended. (Alex has listed everyone below, sorry if we missed anyone!)
  
• Mr. Shaun Raines had a most excellent session "Why Most Dealers Can’t Solve the Internet Puzzle" was an excellent session. I always enjoy your message Shaun.
  
• The exhibit hall was decent, none of the vendors go way out like they do with NADA obviously but there are some players in there.
  
• TKCarsites was the center of attention in the middle of the exhibit hall for more then one reason. Wheeew.
  
• Apparently I won some Internet Sales Manager award.?

The Dislikes:

• Tuesday mornings general session ""Putting all the Pieces Together" was a waste of time. I'm sorry but that was not good at all.
  
• I almost fell asleep during the Marketing Mixology session. What was that?
  
• Technology-Assisted Relationship Sales with Jim Ziegler was really out there. Even for me! That was just enough information for a green pea to become really dangerous, and not in a good way.
  
• Dinner at Norman's at the Ritz Carlton. The company was excellent but the food wasn't.
  
• Missed some of the sessions because we couldn't figure out the class layout
  
• I won an award but had do idea, so I wasn't there to accept it. So TJ over
  at Homenet accepted it on my behalf. THANKS TJ!! LOL

The Neutrals:

• The Panel Discussion: "Technology:  What is Moving the Sales Needle from Some of the Best and Brightest" I thought was average at best. David Metter was the 1 person on the panel that I was impressed with. Someone kept talking about how they work to make their sites "sticky".
  
• I sat in on a session by Pat Ryan Jr. "Winning in Today’s Internet-Driven Pre-Owned Market". He focused on 360 degree used vehicle pricing and the 4 different type of buyers. The end of the session became a sales pitch for one of the many used car price to market software companies that seem to popping up all over the place. It was a decent session.

I really wanted to attend more of the sessions. Sorry I missed the " Selling Vehicles, Service, Parts and Accessories Online – Like Books and Music" session Wednesday morning, maybe Alex can talk more about that one since he caught it.

This was my 1st time attending a Digital Dealer conference and overall the conference wasn't bad, good actually. A lot of information for the green pea. There were some sessions (apparently on Wednesday) that I missed out on that I heard were really good.

If you're on the fence on whether or not to attend, I'd have to recommend it. If the conference keeps going with the same amount of steam it will definitely continue to grow.

I will say though..PLEASE, lets get some people outside of the industry to speak. I get a little worn out hearing the same people in our industry over and over.

A few side notes:

Buzzwords - "Sticky" and "Meta"
OEM's were in attendance albeit incognito
Hangovers were still pretty bad
The camaraderie was awesome
Some returning link love to Chad over at
AutoRevo.

-Jeff

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As Jeff stated, it has been a week since the DD Conference....and we're just weak for not posting this recap till now.  Sorry guys!

Mike Roscoe and the gang deserve high marks on picking the venue this year - the Gaylord resort had just about everything the Conference could need.  The only issue we had was on finding some of the classes.  It doesn't seem this was the fault of the Digital Dealer crew, but more the resort's infusion of what seemed like three different conferences sharing space on the second floor.   A big THANK YOU for having Dasani water readily available all the time!

After check-in, I got lost trying to find my room. I think the hotel staff intentionally give bad directions as a joke.  However, I eventually found my room and all the accommodations (especially the alcohol-serving ones) the Gaylord had to offer (yes, that sounds bad).  Many meals were had in the Italian/Med restaurant; where I grabbed dinner with my boss Monday night, and ran into Brian Hoecht (AI-Dealer), Shaun Raines, Jamie Adams (Reach Local), and Ken Lees & Jeff Clark (Skoots) who had pioneered the phrase DGI. 
DGI is what it is all about in 2008!  The dealer with the biggest DGI has no problem getting a date to the prom...or selling more cars - however you wish to think of it.

I also didn't get started on the classes till Tuesday. It was definitely school for green peas:  Internet 101.  There were some good sessions though: Jeff mentioned Shaun Raines' class, and I found Brian Hoecht's panel to offer some good points as well. David Metter definitely owned the panel he sat on, and Jim Ziegler helped me bust a gut a few times. Some of Jim's proposals on how to use social marketing frightened me though.  I also enjoyed a session from someone at Cobalt, but I cannot remember his name. This was the Wednesday morning session Jeff missed. It was an excellent presentation on how to incorporate most areas of this "new marketing" mix we're in by putting it all in plain terms.

I want to say it was nice seeing some old faces: Gilbert Chavez, Ken Lees, Jeff Clark, Tom Bernardcyk (sorry if I butchered that), DJ Ports, Mike Dee @ Dealer.com, of course - Jon Bon Kershner, and many more.  Even better, I had the pleasure of meeting these folks:  Dean Evans (you would have thought I'd have met Dean before now being a Dealer.com customer for so long - Vermont is slacking ), Patrick Workman, Mark Rikess, Jennifer Picheco, Shaun Raines, the rest of the MileOne crew, Alex Bravvy, the HomeNet gang, Kevin Frye, Ralph Paglia, Andrew Difeo, Jaime Adams, Brian Hoecht, and many more...if I listed everyone, we'd be reading for a much loooonger time.

The best part of the conference was actually having my boss, Pete Lively, there. It was great to see him grow a better appreciation of things - not to say he didn't appreciate this side of the business before.  Having him there made the conference invaluable for me!

I'm looking forward to 2009's Digital Dealer/AAISP conference....or whatever it is called?

-Alex

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So what did you think of the Digital Dealer Conference?
What was your fav?
What was your least fav?
Will you attend again and would you recommend it to others?

The 5th Digital Dealer Conference & Exposition,
will be held at the Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center in
Grapevine, Texas, six minutes from the DFW airport, October 5th-8th.

 

[Seth]

I would also encourage researching DGIO which is a distant relative to VSEO.

Seth

 

[andwrig]

Sorry I missed it. Sounds like it was a good show. I wish I could have attended but I have been out of the stores so much for other work related meetings that I couldn't afford the time away. One suggestion - for those can't make it, perhaps a streaming video website that we could log into for a partial fee? I know the spirit of the event is having everyone together, but I would have definitely watched some of the presentation on web video if available.

Thanks for the updates fellas.

 

[Shaun Raines]

Nice recap gents!

Jeff, I appreciate the high marks on my preso. It means a lot coming from you and I'm glad you were finally able to see me present in person.

Alex, I can't believe you created a DGI graphic! Man, you are hilarious! Truly made me laugh out loud. It was a pleasure finally meeting you face to face and I'm glad your boss was able to make the trip with you. BTW, kudos to you and Dealer.com on the re-design of www.checkeredflag.com. I look forward to seeing you at the next DD/AAISP or whatever it's called.

Extra Notes From a Non-Exhibiting Speaker (me):
This may sound a bit egotistical, but I was very disappointed to find that my session was not being video taped. When I arrived in the room before my presentation, there was no technical person to be found. Fortunately, I knew how to set up my own computer, brought my own wireless remote to click through my slides and was also able to mic myself so folks could hear me. I received a ton of positive feedback while at the conference and it has continued since returning home. Unfortunately, that session will now only live in the minds of those that were there. If you were there, please don't forget about the "silver bullet."

Final highlights were seeing old friends like Aaron Bickart, Ralph Paglia, Gilbert Chavez, Brian Hoecht, Jesse Biter, Cary Smith and many more. I of course have to give a shout out to Jamie and Seth over at ReachLocal. Their support of me is invaluable and much appreciated. DGI was truly brought to life by these two who regularly think of AMAZING opportunities.

New friends and contacts also make the DD/AAISP event worthwhile. A big "nice to meet you" goes to:
Kevin Frye at Jeff Wyler
Bill Hayden at Carl's Buick Pontiac GMC
Jeff and Ken at Skoots
Tony Taylor at Reynolds
Patrick Workman at Dealer.com
Robin Beebe-Moussaoui at Giant Recreation World (thanks for the unforgettable Jack Black moment)
Dick Clipp at Chrysler
Ralph Ebersole at Cars.com

I might share more later, but for now, I'm going back to bed.

Shaun

 

[bhoecht]

If you weren't able to attend, this is quickly becoming "THE" conference for car dealers who want to achieve online sales competency / mastery. Shouts out to Mike Roscoe for recognizing this 2 years ago + building up the brand.

Since our blog host missed my presentation + since I've had numerous requests for the "Cliff notes" version of the Shop + Buy Online presentation and panel discussion, I've put it out there on Google Docs.

Loading…

docs.google.com

Great conference, great learning, great networking, great friends.

 

[Kevin Frye]

Without doubt, the highlight of the conference was interacting with other eCommerce folks who are on the front lines of this market every day. It was also about time that I finally met Alex, Jeff, Gilbert, and many others that I have emailed and spoken to several times in the past.

I have to agree that the highlight was Shaun Raines' presentation. Why? Because he GETS IT folks! I don't want to be overly critical of many of the other presentations, but a lot of it was the same old stuff that has been preached for the last couple years. The reality of our market is that it is moving FAST and Shaun's presentation was applicable to our current situation. One of my primary goals to research was video integration into our sales process, websites, and other online sources. Most of what I saw was OEM videos being tagged and thrown on your website, however, there were a few folks who were on top of it - Shaun, Jeff, Gilbert, etc. Hence I found my greatest value in talking to the other folks who are doing this every day.

Location was awesome. I spoke to Mike Roscoe and thanked him for a job well done. Good thinking to keep having free food and drinks throughout the day where the exhibitors were, it kept folks coming back to meet.

It was also great to see Pat O'Connell, who is taking Performance Lexus to new heights with his hard work, and also to make a great new friend - Alex Jefferson. We worked hard to help Alex get a date with the TK Website "basketball assistant", but things just didn't work out. Keep working that process out 90 days Alex, lol! Cheers! Kevin Frye/eCommerce Director/Jeff Wyler Automotive Family/ www.wyler.com

 

[Fred Haney]

I do enjoy visiting Dealer refresh and have suggested the site for well over a year in my workshops. I don't "post " as I feel this is your site ( for retail folks ) and I am a visitor. I like to keep it that way.
My two cents this year.

This year's conference verse last years was much better and I agree with a lot of your comments. I also got to find some old friends and meet some new ones. There is a need to bring in new speakers and a floor plan would have been a great help.
Name tags could have been easier to read and color keyed. Dealer verse vendor.
I'm sorry but I need coffee at breaks, but no such luck. Water worked.
The other issue I felt would have a value would be to define the levels of content for people attending. As noted there were some, some? green peas, yes there were.
I am very happy to see Texas as the next location. Reviewing the attendee listings, I didn't see too many dealers from the west coast or from Phoenix. Hay Ralph Paglia we have got to do a better job here in Phoenix!
Thanks for allowing me to post my two cents. Now I will return you back to retail.

Fred

 

[Andrew DiFeo]

Alex and Jeff, great recap and it was a pleasure meeting both of you at the conference.

This was my first Digital Dealer conference and I enjoyed it on many levels.

Favorite Seminar : The eBusiness Performance Study from Cobalt

Favorite Seminar Honorable Mention : ROI of the Internet Department from Izmocars

Least Favorite Seminar : I usually don't like to point out my least favorite things so I don't offend anyone....but...I can't believe I got up early for the keynote speech of "Putting all the Pieces Together." Next time I will "keep all the pieces apart" and enjoy an extra hour of alcohol induced sleep!

A great networking event as well with so many talented people to learn from. It was a pleasure meeting everyone including Matt Nazar, Kevin Frye, Pat O'connell, Karen from cars.com, Mike from KBB, Patrick from dealer.com, and many many more that I can't remember due to a Heineken overdose.

Looking forward to another stay at the Gaylord in Texas in October!

 

[Kevin Frye]

Andrew - how did I forget to leave your name out... It was also great to meet you and the "mini-Boston" convention at the H2O Bar, lol, great times!

 

[Alex Snyder (blog)]

Shaun - I'm not sure that graphic does DGI justice. It is by far the coolest term yet for eCommerce - lol. I'm sorry I misspelled your name in the original post. My father's name is Sean and I was emailing back and forth with him when I wrote my portion of the post - I guess I got the spelling of your names mixed up. Maybe Jon Bon Kershner can fix it for me?

Andrew - you're a dangerous man to hang-out with at a bar! With that said, we're meeting up in South Beach soon....you fearless bastard....too much fun!