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In-Person 2022 Show
NADA Plans Big Kickoff for In-Person 2022 Show
The Na onal Automobile Dealers Associa on is planning to fi re up its annual show with a big kickoff recep on March 10 at Allegiant Stadium.
WASHINGTON — With plans for an in-person 2021 event intercepted by the coronavirus pandemic, the Na onal Automobile Dealers Associa on says it is preparing for a “safe and responsible” return to Las Vegas in 2022.
The associa on is planning to kick off its annual show with a recep on March 10 at Allegiant Stadium, the brand-new NFL venue, where a endees will be welcomed with a performance by rock band Train. The main show runs March 11-13 at the Las Vegas Conven on Center.
NADA Show Commi ee Chairman Sco Dube described the opening night party as a “can’t miss” event for the industry and the largest celebra on the associa on has hosted since its 100-year anniversary in 2017. “There’s no other way to describe it,” Dube told Automo ve News last week during a recording of the «Daily Drive» podcast. «The level of excitement, the number of people that will be there, the venue itself — it›s just going to be an epic event.»
Last year, NADA quickly pivoted its 2021 show from an in-person gathering at the Ernest N. Morial Conven on Center in New Orleans to its fi rst all-virtual show amid uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic.
The organiza on had been tenta vely moving ahead with plans to host the in-person event in January, but a series of state and local government orders to limit the spread of the virus proved to be a showstopper. NADA ul mately opted for a virtual-only show, pushing the event to February to allow more me to adjust.
Face-to-face
While the 2022 NADA Show is being planned for in-person a endance, the associa on said it’s reviewing the possibility of presen ng some of its workshops online.
“It’s a very heavy li to do an expo virtually,” said Dube, who is also a secondgenera on dealer and president of Bill Dube Hyundai in Wilmington, Mass. “I think what we’ve learned is that our dealers appreciate, our vendors appreciate, and our OEMs appreciate, an in-person show.”
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Continued from Page 4 The dis nct and palpable energy of face-to-face gatherings is one reason why NADA CEO Mike Stanton says the associa on wanted to create a “wow” experience that revitalizes and celebrates the industry while bringing people back together. “Mee ng face-to-face is certainly where we want to be, and we think it’s the most eff ec ve,” said Stanton, the trade group’s former COO who became its chief execu ve Jan. 1
“We’re in the car business, but we’re also in the people business, and the successes that we’ve had collec vely moving the industry forward are built on trus ng rela onships between our car companies and dealers and vendors,” Stanton said. “It really takes all of us working together to focus on the customer and to get be er.”
S ll, Stanton said he realizes the coronavirus is unpredictable, making it impossible to know what the number of COVID-19 cases, safety protocols or restric ons will be like in seven months — or even seven weeks. In the mean me, he said, the associa on will do everything it can to plan for an event that is “safe and responsible.”
“As of now, we are 100 percent planning on being able to host the show in Las Vegas in person,” Stanton said. “But like always, we’ll monitor events leading up to the show ... and we’re just going to do the right thing, at the right me, based on the informa on that we have.”
NADA’s prepara ons for an in-person event come as COVID-19 cases are on the rise. A newer strain of the coronavirus — the more transmissible delta variant — now makes up the majority of cases in the U.S., according to es mates from the Centers for Disease Control and Preven on.
Virus watch
Last week, the CDC recommended vaccinated people return to wearing masks in public indoor se ngs in parts of the country with high COVID-19 transmission rates. Nevada adopted the CDC’s updated guidance on masks, ci ng areas such as Clark County — home of the Las Vegas Strip — as having “substan al or high transmission” of the virus. NADA will keep an eye on federal, state and local guidelines and default to whichever is safest, Stanton said. The associa on has no plans to require a endees to be fully vaccinated or to show vaccina on cards. “We’re going to let the data drive those decisions — the data and the exper se of the CDC,” Stanton said of mask mandates and other COVID-19 protocols. “I’m not a doctor, and we’re not scien sts, so we’re going to rely on their exper se to inform our decisions.”
NADA’s last in-person show was in February 2020 — not long before the coronavirus began to spread drama cally throughout the U.S. The show drew a crowd in the “mid-20,000s,” according to the associa on. Despite the unknowns and uncertain es amid the ongoing pandemic, Stanton said he hopes the 2022 event will be “bigger” than the 2020 show and expects total a endance around 25,000.
NADA did not disclose registra on totals from the all-virtual show. Stanton said the associa on now has a virtual show playbook in hand, if needed, and is more prepared for any coronavirus-related hiccups.
“You learn with every opportunity, and we certainly learned a lot,” Stanton said.
“Our team, I thought, did an amazing job with what they had to work with last year, and I’m confi dent that they’ll do an amazing job regardless of the circumstances that present themselves.”
