On October 18-20th we’ll be rocking the Encore at the Wynn with Jared’s second Driving Sales Executive Summit. I am really looking forward to this one as it will me my first time attending this event and I heard so many great things about last year’s. And the Wynn is one of my favorite hotels in Vegas….it also comes with some nightlife that I highly approve of!
On the attendance level, the Driving Sales Summit is more intimate which always leads to more engagement and tighter networking. On top of that it is really cool to catch-up with some of the big thinkers who attend this conference.
Monday the 18th
Charlie Vogelheim kicks things off on Monday to pave the way for Jared Hamilton. Jared is a fantastic speaker and he is going to talk about sorting through all those “shiny objects” we have a tendency to get hung-up on. In my opinion those damn “shiny objects” are a serious inhibitor of profits. Yes, I will be listening intently to Jared.
After Jared we get to hear about one of the greatest modern-day dealership success stories; Paragon Honda. Sean Wolfington will be conducting the interview which means it will be top-notch.
To finish the day off, we get to hear from Scott Monty on the rise of Ford’s social media strategy. Last year at JD Power I found Ford’s story to be one of the most intriguing at the conference.
Tuesday the 19th
Jeremiah Owyang is going to help us understand how to formulate a plan for social media. Jeremiah does not come from the automotive industry, so it will be very interesting to hear his insights.
After Jeremiah I get to support two good friends. First, Brian Pasch is going to talk about….hmmm….I’m not sure? What would Brian talk about? Oh yeah! I remember! SEO. Yep, Brian gets to beat that horse a little more, but he is a blast to listen to because he does a good job of not just beating the horse (I didn’t call it a dead horse), but he is really good at beating it into your thick skull as well. I’ll be there!
Second of my good friends is Eric Miltch who has definitely become the king of location-based marketing. Did you know Eric and Jared developed a mobile app together (you know, those app thingies for iPhones and Droids)? Jared launched it at the Paris Auto Show (lucky bastard) and it is definitely a fun app for car gawkers.
The legendary Grant Cardone closes down the single-sessions for the day. It is Grant Cardone. Need I say more?
Tuesday Break-outs
I am severely conflicted over which session to attend for the first breakout session. I do want to hear about RBM North Mercedes, but I’ve got to support Mike DeCecco, Kevin Root, and Dani Hart. Which I can’t decide on right this minute because Dani is part of panel and Kevin & Mike are presenting in a different breakout. I’ll make this decision on the fly – can’t do it right now.
The second breakout is even worse. Damn it. I want to hear about F&I stuff (always fun), but then I’ll be turning my back on Brian Pasch, Andrew Difeo, Todd Smith, and Justin Brun. Since I’m going to see a Brian presentation earlier in the day I think I am going to hear what Andrew, Justin, and Todd have to say about real-time chat. And I’ve never seen Justin or Andrew on stage, so I’m bringing a banana peel….yes, you two, be nervous….be very nervous 🙂
I have to say that I am quite biased toward the 2:30 PM breakout because Matt Murray and I have been working on the fuel for this presentation together. I’ve got to watch him deliver! Although I have to give a shout-out to Rafi Hamid who helped me out years ago on setting me down a path that forever changed my life – thanks Rafi!
I hate to say that this is the only breakout session I don’t personally know anyone. But database marketing is something I am SERIOUSLY interested in, so I’ll be expecting to be schooled by Cassie Broemmer and Michael Hammond. Don’t let me down you two.
To finish things off for the day is the Driving Sales Innovation Cup. I must say that this is one of the events I am most looking forward to. I’ll be rooting for Adam Boalt’s team at GOSO, but am very interested in what Matt Watson has cooked up at VinSolutions.
Wednesday the 20th
Dan Zarrella will be starting things off. Dan is another non-car-biz guy who wrote “The Social Media Marketing Book”. Yeah, I’m thinking this will be a good one.
Then we have Joel Ristuccia from Babson College and the NADA Dealer Executive Education Program. I am very interested to hear what he has to say. If I had stayed at Checkered Flag, I would have gone to NADA school…who knows…maybe I can still find my way there.
Dale Pollak, who just recently made one of the best executive decisions of automotive history, will be on hand to talk. Now that Dale has all that Autotrader data to play with he is going to be even more dangerous than ever!
To close the sessions down we get to hear from John Holt. We’ve got the two hottest sales of 2010, so far, back-to-back (vAuto and CoBalt) and I must say that I’m looking forward to hearing from both of them. Jared will be interviewing John, so this should be a good finale.
Before lunch, and the end, the winners of the 2010 Driving Sales Innovation Cup will be announced. Then it is a mass scramble back to the rooms to move from the Encore to the Red Rocks for the JD Power Automotive Internet Roundtable.
