The 2016 NADA Convention & Expo in Las Vegas is just around the corner, and attendees would be smart to review what’s on the docket before they arrive for the huge event that has a full agenda.  

The NADA event is scheduled for March 31 through April 3 this year at the Las Vegas Convention Center — although some of the activities will take place off site, as indicated at www.nadaconvention.org.

The event will kick off on Thursday, March 31 with registration starting at 9 a.m. On that first day, attendees will be privy to a presentation titled, “Connect with Car Buyers in a Mobile-First World,” as well as a series of concurrent workshops by NADA University Online.

And keep an eye out for workshops from The Exchange, which features roundtable discussions built on peer-to-peer learning. Thursday will also feature a workshop titled, “Stacking the Deck with Four Aces in “Your Used-Car Department,” which would be particularly relevant to dealers trying to grow used sales.

First thing Friday, the Expo Hall will open with a chance for attendees to check out the huge number on-site vendors, many of which are announcing new products at the event. There will also be a Dealer Franchise Meeting at 10:30 a.m. for Acura, Audi, FCA, Mazda and Nissan. The day’s schedule will end with the NADA Opening General Session, featuring Jeff Foxworthy, comedian and entertainer.

On Saturday, attendees might want to check out the workshop, titled, “Attract and Retain Top Employee Talent,” presented by Kathleen Korpita of Cox Automotive. And franchise meetings for the following groups will be held that day, as well: 8:30 a.m. for Buick-GMC and Chevrolet, Ford, Honda, MINI, Subaru and Volkswagen, and at 10:15 a.m. for BMW, Cadillac, Kia, Lincoln, Mercedes-Benz, smart and Volvo. The day will close with a NADA General Session, featuring Howard Dean, Karl Rove and Mike Allen of Politico.

Come the last day of the event, attendees are in for some exciting sessions, especially if they happen to be football fans. Peyton Manning, quarterback for the Super Bowl 50 winning team, the Denver Broncos, will give an inspirational talk at 9 a.m. on Sunday. A dealer franchise meeting will also be held for Hyundai, Infiniti, Lexus, Mitsubishi, Porsche and Toyota that day, which is on the schedule for 10:45 a.m. And make sure not to miss out on the 1 p.m. workshop on “Hacking in the Automotive Industry,” as protecting customer information on the Web has become more and more difficult. And at 2:30 the last workshop of the convention will focus on “The Future of Automotive Retail Sales and Your Dealership.”

There’s much more on tap for NADA, so for a full agenda and all the 411, check out www.nadaconvention.org. 

IARA-specific events at NAAA/CAR/IARA Conference

Meanwhile, next week is the NAAA/CAR Conference, which is also in Las Vegas. It includes a meeting of the International Automotive Remarketers Alliance, as well.

The IARA-specific material at the event  begins Tuesday with a day of IARA Certification testing, committee meetings and an IARA board of directors meeting to close the day.

Action on the next day (March 16) will begin with a State of the IARA Address from IARA president Jeannie Chiaromonte and IARA executive director Tony Long. 

That will be followed by the IARA Keynote Address from NAAA Hall-of-Famer Tony Moorby, titled “Back to the Future.”

Concurrent roundtable discussions will follow, and then repeat.

Those are titled:

— Navigating the Disruption Highway
— Making the Grade

After the morning sessions is the IARA Circle of Excellence Luncheon. The afternoon IARA sessions kick off with NAAA and IARA presenting the Ed Bobit Industry Icon Award.

Later that afternoon is a consignor-only group discussion and then a session on “First-Look: Centralized Automobile Data Repository System to Access Vehicle Build, Warranty, and Recall Data.”

There is also IARA certification testing from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. on March 18.