Wards Auto and DrivingSales.com Tie Knot for Executive Summit

Today I read a press release announcing that WardsAuto.com, an industry leader in Automotive News and Data Analysis, has partnered with www.DrivingSales.com for the upcoming 2010 DrivingSales Executive Summit. The event will be held in Las Vegas from October 18-20th which is just four days after the 9th Digital Dealer Conference.

Since the conferences are scheduled in the middle of the month it will be nice to stay out for an extended week in Las Vegas but fate would have it that I have to speak at a 20 Group meeting in Boston. So I'll be adding up the frequent flyer mileage that month with two trips from the East Coast to Las Vegas.

The addition of WardsAuto.com as a marketing force behind the 2010 Driving Sales Executive Summit will greatly increase the visibability and awareness of the event. My recommendations is that dealer staff attend both events since they are targeting different purposes. As you read through both conference agendas, you can decide which staff members are best suited for each conference.

The finalized speaker agenda for the 2010 Driving Sales Executive Summit will be posted on the event website located at www.drivingsalesexecutivesummit.com.

You can get a glimpse at the 2010 agenda by reading the official press release below. You can also see last year's agenda on my blog: 2009 Driving Sales Executive Summit.

The 2010 event is two days instead of just one and will have more breakout sessions and industry experts and keynote speakers.

Wards Auto Official Press Release

WardsAuto.com is partnering with an automotive conference that has quickly established itself as a premier event for innovative dealer principals and managers.

The DrivingSales Executive Summit presented with WardsAuto.com will be held Oct. 18-20 at the Encore luxury resort in Las Vegas.

Attendees of the second annual event will include the nation’s most successful and forward-thinking dealer operators.

The summit provides a setting for that advanced group to learn about and discuss new strategies for driving dealership sales.

The summit starts with a “30,000-ft. view” of the latest trends touching the auto industry, then drops down to a “15,000-ft. view” of how leading dealership innovators are using intelligence from these trends to develop new ways of doing business.

Completing the event are roundtable sessions at which participants discuss implementing specific aspects of cutting-edge plans to enhance their operations.

Registered attendees are welcome to submit some of the summit’s topics of discussion. Topics are voted on up to a few weeks before the summit to ensure relevance and timeliness.

Established conference topics include:

• Price compression. How are progressive dealers handling online pricing and still maintaining vehicle gross profits?
• Social Media. Despite the hype, what is the return on investment? The conference will look at real-life practices at dealerships, not just social-media marketing theories.
• The Evolving Finance Office. Top dealers will discuss and debate what they are doing to stay ahead of the curve in this profit center.
• Location-Based Media Applications. New technology allows users to share their location along with a real-time stream of data. How can dealers use this as a marketing opportunity?
• Fixed Operations and the Internet. Online marketing for fixed operations is one of the largest opportunities for dealers since the advent of their websites. The conference will explore this next frontier in digital marketing.

For more information and to register, go to http://WardsAuto.com/DrivingSales.

Source: http://wardsauto.com/ar/partners_drivingsales_100726/ or contact: sfinlay@wardsauto.com