Three hundred registered dealership personnel, 525 total attendees, 32 sessions and 45 exhibitors in 55 booths at the Las Vegas Hilton far surpassed the event held in Nashville last spring

As conference chairman, I may be a little biased, but the 3^rd Digital Dealer Conference & Exposition was a smashing success by any measure as 300 dealers, GMs, GSMs, sales managers, Internet sales managers, e-commerce directors, BDC managers and CRM managers converged at the Las Vegas Hilton on October 1-3. Those who attended found 30 sessions to choose from, as well as an optional, free five-hour introduction to automotive Internet sales featuring Cory Mosley; a general session by the legendary Mike McFall (Veretech/Autonation/General Motors) and a keynote speech by the venerated James A. Ziegler, the dealer advocate. 

Dealership attendees also had a unique opportunity to meet with 45 different companies in the exhibit hall, which also served as the location for all food, beverage and social functions, leaving more time in the agenda for networking with vendors, prospective vendors, and of course, fellow dealership practitioners.

The event got off to a rousing start on Monday with Cory Mosley’s five-hour session, “Automotive Internet Sales 101 – The Fundamentals.”

As many as 185 dealership attendees took advantage of the free, bonus session held before the conference even started, as “the hardest workin’ man in the automotive Internet training/consulting business” shared his vast knowledge, experience and expertise.

A three-hour Welcome Reception in the exhibit hall sponsored by cars.com followed Cory’s marathon session, as old friends got re-acquainted and new friendships were made. I was in bed by 10:00pm, I swear.

Tuesday morning kicked off with Jim Ziegler’s keynote speech, “It’s Time to get Serious about the Internet.” Jim shared his thoughts of where we were, where we are and where we’re going in a way that only Jim Ziegler can. The day before Jim’s keynote, an ex-ISM asked me, “Why is Ziegler talking about the Internet?” I informed him that when carsdirect.com, greenlight.com, et al., and associates of  a certain alleged research firm were saying dealers are dinosaurs and are becoming extinct, the Dealer Advocate (Jim Ziegler) was not on the bandwagon. When dealers started to take control of the process, Jim got all over it like stink on a monkey.

Next, choices of six sessions in the next two time slots; lunch and networking in the exhibit hall sponsored by Dominion Enterprises; choices of nine sessions in the next three time slots; then the Networking Reception in the exhibit hall sponsored by AutoFinancing-USA and Pricewheels.com. I was in bed sometime after 10:00pm, I swear.

Wednesday morning was jump-started by General Session speaker Mike McFall’s speech, “Are We There Yet? Has the Internet Finally Arrived at the Dealership or Has the Journey Just Begun?” This session was so good we’re not allowed to share the audio, video or slideshow. If you weren’t there, it would have been worth the time/money/effort to attend the event just to hear Mike’s talk.

Next, choices of six sessions in the next two time slots; lunch and networking in the exhibit hall sponsored by AAISP; choices of nine sessions in the next three time slots; and then everybody said goodbye ‘till the spring. I caught my 7:00am flight the next morning, I swear.

Seriously, if you missed this event you missed a lot. One dealer told me it was the best event he had been to in 27 years. I met two dealers who each brought three employees with them. I talked to dozens of dealership attendees who have been to all three Digital Dealer Conferences who said, by far, this one was light years ahead of the last two. I’m very proud that our dealership attendance was up over 62 percent from the event last spring, but if you weren’t there, or you didn’t send someone in your stead, I consider it a failure.

The good news is that you can make up for it this spring. We’re just about to make final selection on the venue, but plan for mid April-early May for the 4^th Digital Dealer Conference & Exposition and AAISP Annual Convention. We’re adding individual tracks for fixed operations and pre-owned, and maybe F&I, all technology-specific. We should announce the venue in the next week or two, so plan on coming and bringing your ISM/e-commerce director, your service director/fixed operations manager, your pre-owned manager and your GSM too. We’re going to have a full two-day track for each one of them.

Thanks to the title sponsors that helped make the Las Vegas event such a smashing success…HomeNet, Dominion Enterprises, eBay Motors, Black Book Online, VinSolutions and Ad Ready. Without their HUGE financial support, we just could not have put on an event as fantastic as it was.