CEO’s Message

Are You Ready?

By Danny Langfield NMEDA CEO

This missive comes to you, dear reader, as I jet through the atmosphere on a mission of supreme importance, deadly secrecy and of course, grave personal danger. But, as they say, buy the ticket, take the ride…and so much for that gibberish. Any fool knows when you accept a gig like exec of a high-powered trade association run by Serious Businesspeople, there is bound to be an element of danger— but so what? Indeed, it comes with the territory, and I for one would have it no other way.

As mentioned, the deadly secret nature of this mission precludes me from revealing my ultimate destination, but I will be happy to share the purpose. I am meeting ADED’s own intrepid leader, Liz Green, for a reconnaissance mission to select a location for the muchballyhooed event of the decade: The co-location of the 2021 NMEDA and ADED conferences. So, with apologies for the cliff-hanger ending, I must get this column back on track and focused on my assigned topic: the 2020 NMEDA Annual Conference & Expo.

Most member complaints make me scowl and vow to make changes to do better. But there is one complaint that actually brings a smile to my face: “Danny, what the heck? There were too many good

education sessions I wanted to attend at the conference this year, and I couldn’t get to everything!” I nod sympathetically, waiting to see if the next comment will be the one I am hoping for (and the one that fits the master plan!)…”I’m just going to have to bring more people next year; there’s no way I want to miss this stuff again.”

Blam! More dealer attendance! Win – win – win. NMEDA gets a better event, our exhibitors get more traffic and new faces, and the dealers get— well, each other. The opportunity to network with the best operators in the business is arguably the single biggest benefit of the annual conference, and the more folks we bring, the more brains there are to pick. Win – win – win.

And speaking of education, we are loaded this year. I realize I am paid to say that, but the fact that a statement may be blatantly selfserving doesn’t make it false. You can see for yourself on pg. 35. Let’s take a look at the concurrent sessions in just one of the four time slots on the Learning Tracks. You’ve got our top-rated presenter, Aaron Gardner, on the Sales & Marketing track; a panel discussion featuring some of NMEDA’s top independent operators on the Dealership Management track; and an all-new, online wholesale vehicle auction presentation on the Innovation & Technology track.

What’s a dealer to do? None of those are to be missed, right? What’s that you say? Bring more people? Excellent answer; could not have said it better myself.

Looking for another huge reason to attend? I’m certain you are, and if so, you have come to the right column. Due to the agreement between the associations to co-locate in 2021, we will not have our next NMEDA conference until the Fall of 2021.

I am given to understand that certain people believe the deployment of words in all caps renders those words more important than proper punctuation, so please allow me to restate (emphatically):

IF YOU MISS THE 2020 CONFERENCE, IT WILL BE OVER 18 MONTHS UNTIL YOU SEE YOUR FRIENDS (AND CUSTOMERS) AGAIN! THAT’S A LONG TIME WITH NO FACE TIME…SO DO NOT MISS THE 2020 EVENT!

That’s exhausting; I don’t see how people do all caps with any regularity. BUT—hopefully, point made. We will see you in Daytona Beach in March… where maybe, just maybe, we will reveal the location of the 2021 colocation…are you ready?