AAPEX Aftermarket Industry Week Game Plan

Welcome And Guest Introductions

Jacki Lutz 0:25

Welcome everybody to another Cardo Conversations where we talk about professional development skills that are driving the automotive aftermarket. Unfortunately, I have with me Mark Bogdansky. He's our vice president of Trade Shows and Community Engagement for the Autocare Association. And Ted Hughes, our senior director of community engagement and executive director of AWDA.

Ted Hughes 0:50

I was about to say so happy to be here. I'm not happy to talk to Ted at least.

Jacki Lutz 0:57

Don't make the audience try to feel bad for you guys. I was just harassed for 15 minutes straight.

Mark Bogdanski 1:02

No evidence.

Jacki Lutz 1:04

But I would love to give the audience uh kind of a glimpse of who you guys are. So can you guys just uh give us a little intro, Ted, can we start?

Ted Hughes 1:11

Sure. Happy to, Jeffy. Again, thank you. In all seriousness, thank you for for the opportunity to be here and to share. Um so a little about me. I I've been in this industry for my entire adult life. Um 26 years. So many people probably look at it on camera and think, his entire adult life's been 26 years? But um, uh in all seriousness, I started right out of college, entry-level marketing position. Uh, grew up on the supplier side, and um so very intimately involved with uh trade shows and and conferences and and yeah, how to make them successful and and what's great there. Uh and then after 22 years in in supplier world, uh I uh came over to Association World and uh had an incredible opportunity to take over as the degree director of AWDA and uh the Aftermarket Awardhouse Distributors Association and the ability to work with them has been absolutely uh one of the biggest blessings of of that long career. Uh so uh that's that's how I got here and uh and have a look at since because get the opportunity to work with some amazing people like Mark and and Bill and uh um Jackie. I had to uh I had to set it up for thank you for that.

Jacki Lutz 2:32

And I don't want to give you compliments either, but um I do think AWD is very lucky to have you. You uh a very good advocate for for Netcommunity. Thank you, Jack.

Mark Bogdanski 2:41

Anyway, Mark looked really sincere while you were saying too.

Jacki Lutz 2:45

Mark, would you like to tell us a little about you?

Mark Bogdanski 2:47

Sure. Uh I've been with AutoCare now for uh 10 years, been uh responsible for all of our trade shows, including Impact Station AEW. What we do at Connect. And about four years ago, I took on uh running the community engagement department we have, and the first thing I did was hire Ted to come in and run AWDA as well as oversee the uh our community engagement managers, and it's been fantastic. Love that love that end of the industry. Love being able to have that uh in with our members and and seeing them flourish, you know, within their different communities, which is great. And Apex is uh Apex is a lot of fun, isn't it? Change changes every year. We're doing a lot of new things this year. We changed it up last year, we're gonna keep changing it up this year, and uh really Yeah, and that's kind of what we're here to talk about.

Jacki Lutz 3:31

This feels like it's starting to become our annual Apex episode. We did this last year too, and it was very well viewed.

Mark Bogdanski 3:38

Yeah, but you've already told us you're not gonna let us back.

Jacki Lutz 3:40

I know, and then I lied to myself. I lied to the whole audience. Here

Last Year’s AAPEX Upgrades That Worked

Jacki Lutz 3:44

we are. Um let's start by talking about how last year went. Like what were our highlights? Um, you know, what changes did we make that went really well, all these things.

Mark Bogdanski 3:54

Yeah, yeah. Last year we implemented a bunch of changes. And change is scary, but I think coming out of it, everyone was pretty much very happy. You know, we heard from everybody. We segmented the floor last year for the first time. Our product categories, which was a major change to the show. It was the first time in something like 40-something years that the show had such a major uh adjustment. And everybody seems to want, you know, the attendees who we've been doing it for, we heard nothing but positive feedback. Even the exhibitors that were a little skeptical about it in that and is like, it's really worked well. Um, I've heard from exhibitors that said, you know what? We were really, really worried, but it turned out it went really well. We'd have to see people multiple times to be used on the old conversation with because we were able to be more efficient during uh during that experience, which is what this was all about. Uh so that went really well. Um, you know, some some fun things we brought into the show as well. You know, people always complained about how long it took to get lunch or how far away it was. Brought food trucks onto the show. Food trucks, food trucks. Everybody loved the food trucks, uh bringing those back, growing those again this year. Uh we had uh Wayne Gresty last year, which was you know a huge hit. Everybody loves him. Uh we had revamped our beers and gears reception, which brought in tattoos, which uh I will tell you would cause me a couple of sleepless months. But you know, it uh everybody loved him. It worked out really, really well.

Jacki Lutz 5:09

No one was forced into tech.

Mark Bogdanski 5:11

Nobody was into tech. Nobody was forced. No, but it was one of those things where, again, as we're trying to change and evolve the show and figure out what is gonna be of interest to the next generation of folks. It was really interesting because I talked to people about if I could bring in tattoos and half of half people in there, usually screwing a little bit older or my age or whatever, would be like, okay, that's the craziest thing I've ever heard.

Speaker 2 5:31

Yeah.

Mark Bogdanski 5:31

And then everybody under that was like, oh my god, that's the greatest thing I've ever heard. And honestly, they we had I think 24 or 28 slots. They were not sold out because we're in charge, but they were filled within the first five minutes of the event. Um, so we're actually gonna expand that a little bit this year. Really excited about it.

Jacki Lutz 5:46

And were they like auto-themed tattoos or yeah?

Mark Bogdanski 5:49

So we gave show. Yeah, we gave no no no. Nobody's getting the Mark 5th. Yeah, absolutely. No, no matter what, nobody's getting an Apex logo tattooed on that. Um, no, it was all automotive themed. So we actually worked with a local tattoo uh parlor, and you know, we said we're automotive. We gave it some inspiration, and they came with us with six different designs, which were incredible. Uh, they're doing it again this year. They're gonna be giving us some new new designs, uh, so people can get another one if they want or get a new one. And I've already had I've had several people here, several people over the course of the year just say to me, you know, we're bringing back tattoos, right? I didn't get one last year, I gotta get one this year.

Jacki Lutz 6:26

Uh you know what's funny is we used to collect swag like pins. Yeah. And now it's like we're gonna have a collection of tattoos.

Ted Hughes 6:34

When you started that, Mark, you started that sentence with I've had several. I thought you were gonna say you got you had several uh no, it's not my butt no, I mean people loved it.

Mark Bogdanski 6:44

You know, so again, it's it's just kind of showing how we're evolving, yeah, trying to evolve the show and keep

Food Trucks Tattoos And Student Competition

Mark Bogdanski 6:48

it fresh. Um, and then the other thing that we did in this year, last year, um, and really it was my favorite part of last year, was our student competition. So we brought in three different schools uh from around the country to take apart a small blocked v8 engine, put it back together. Um, our tool and equipment committee or tune equipment community was phenomenal as far as getting us prizes and getting everybody in gift bags. It was amazing. Uh it was so much fun. And it was uh Wednesday afternoon, generated a ton of buzzers and we're really excited about what it looks like.

Jacki Lutz 7:16

Uh, we did a whole episode about that. Stacey Miller did it on her traction control show. So people should go back and take a look at that because it was uh really cool to learn more about everything going on.

Mark Bogdanski 7:27

It's also really it was it was amazing, not just at the show. It was great at the show, but then the follow-up to that and seeing the impact that it had for not just the winners. I mean, the winners was a high school team out of Kansas City, but the other colleges that were there, you know, they all got incredible prizes, their schools got stuff, and just us being able to pay forward to these schools and make sure that that next furniture's getting stuff and the look on these kids' faces when they walked in and they had put together other than Instagram or TikTok, whatever that, you know, their look when they and the rest of their shop class came in and saw all the tools that the school wore, which is boss.

Speaker 2 8:04

Yeah.

Mark Bogdanski 8:04

So it was really a little whole. Yeah.

Ted Hughes 8:06

Yeah, I would uh for me last year. I mean, I obviously I would be remote, so I didn't say that the the week starting with the AWDA conference and and the general session, we're gonna talk more more about that later, but I think that um that the general session for me, which happened Sunday night at 6 o'clock, same every year, it's an annual meeting for for all AWD members and suppliers and etc. Um last year to me was was one of the best that we've had. And uh it's really a special time, because you know, we work together all year long. But when everybody comes together for one night in one big room and and listens to a lot of the stories that are told and a lot of the the messages delivered by people that are living it every single day, it's just it's kind of a surreal moment for for me to sit out and and just see how everything everything comes out. And so, yeah, the general session is always one of my favorites, and and last year was no different. And I think when you when you look at the show, Mark, for me, you mentioned the segmenting of the show floor, and again, where where my background is in the show world, I mean eventually it gets to a uh a rinse wash repeat. And and last year, the segmenting of the show floor, and you mentioned that there were there were some exhibitors that were skeptical about it, and and the follow-up after has been has been overwhelmingly good, but for me in the moment, maybe there was 30 seconds of damn it, I don't know. I don't know where they I know where they always have been, but I don't know where they are now. But you know what that means? That means now I am much more invigorated in the the layout of the shelf floor. And so, I mean not just the position of boost, but uh the or I'm sorry, not just the location of supplier boost, but the positioning and the way the whole floor was laid out. Uh I'm I'm embarrassed to say I actually got uh a a little turned around a couple different times, and that hasn't happened uh at Apex 3 in years and years, so so it it forced me to be more deliberate in in what I was looking at and what I was doing, and even to the point where, wow, now I'm seeing companies that I know had been here, but I but I have some before because I fell into my pattern.

Speaker 2 10:20

Yeah, sure.

Ted Hughes 10:21

You know, I would go see, I know their gear, their gear, their gear, I'm gonna go this way, this way, and this way, and and and do it that way. And last year, that didn't work, and it really was a refresher in in how broad and and just dynamic our industry is. I thought that was that was really great last year.

Mark Bogdanski 10:39

Yeah, it also gives attendees an opportunity to look up, okay, the booth that I thought we're gonna hear is it. But this too's got some really cool stuff that I wouldn't have thought about looking at. You know, I had to take a look at that. Maybe it's not a category I'm in, but I gotta tell my colleague, hey, you gotta go check this out. This is a category you manage, and this looks like some other stuff that we had said before. So it does give people an opportunity to see things that happen in the zero.

Jacki Lutz 10:58

I do think the traffic was spread around, right? It was just e the traffic was even, a little more even than it was to be, so it's a good change. Um, so let's talk about this year, uh

Why Floor Segmentation Changed Everything

Jacki Lutz 11:08

everything going on. So we're gonna kick off Apex Week or Industry Week, I should say, win AWDA. And we got in Mr. AWDA here, so why don't you tell us a little bit about what's going on?

Ted Hughes 11:17

Yeah, and and Jabby, if I if I can, I'll start start real quick with um something that's really always been at the core of AWDA's mention, and that's that's education and supporting education. And um so this year, on Saturday night, before AWA conference kicks off on Sunday morning, the University of the Aftermarket Foundation is hosting its 40th anniversary gallop, the Ruby Anniversary Gallup, on on Saturday night. And uh, and and you can just hit the the UAF Foundation site online to to buy tickets or to to learn more about it.

Jacki Lutz 11:52

We can have that link to those show notes.

Ted Hughes 11:53

But that's uh, you know, people don't necessarily realize that the University Aftermarket Foundation was started as AWDA University Foundation, because that's how the the lineage went. So so it's it's embedded in our heritage, and that's a a great reason why on Saturday night, uh we have the opportunity to really celebrate 40 years of mark mark a milestone. So that kicks everything off Saturday night, but then when you get into the business side Sunday morning, and the start of the conference, uh Sunday Monday it's the perfect lead in, I think to the Apex Show. You have over the two days Sunday Monday of 21 different one-on-one leads where every distributor can meet with every one of their major suppliers. And and to do that sequentially, over two days, I mean you talk about efficiency and and maximization of of time value, uh that that takes care of a lot right there. And um I think one one misconception though, is that all the business is done on Sunday and Monday. And that's not the case at all, and that's why I say it's the perfect leading, because it doesn't matter if you are a big distributor that sends multiple teams and still doesn't have uh enough meeting slots available to meet with everybody, you have the show on the on the backside of that. Or if you're uh a smaller or an up-and-coming distributor, you have the opportunity to uh engage with all of these suppliers that you want to do business with, and have that opportunity. But but generally, the Sunday-Munday one-on-one meetings are about business. They're existing distributors that are working with existing suppliers, and and it gives them a 45-minute opportunity to work through. And over the last 10 years, uh the quality of those meetings has has grown exponentially to the point where now you have spore cards, distributors, keep

AWDA Weekend Schedule And Purpose

Ted Hughes 13:48

suppliers that are holding accountable with sport cards, and vice versa. And so the the 45 minutes is much more productive, where in that one time it was 20 minutes of how's the family, how's kids, let's sell on this, and now it's it's it's past that, and and really the meetings are better than they've ever been. And that leads into the general session at Escol Gov where uh AWDA awards four of the of the most prestigious awards the industry has. Uh in the in the AWDA Outstanding Leadership Award for for an honor of Jack Kramer and the lifetime achievement for Mark Fron, and then uh and then the Pursuit of Excellence, and then the R Fisher Award for Excellence in Education. These are coveted awards, and to be able to be part of the presentation of those awards on Sunday night during the general session, as well as get the remarks from uh this year will be Fletcher Lord III, um you know, President Crow Burlingame and and uh PWI uh always brings tremendous insights to to the crowd there. So that's a can't even if you're not necessarily heavily involved on the AWDA side, if you're in town that general session Sunday night is a great way to get focused for the week, and then Monday have uh more meetings and leads right into the to the apex reception.

Jacki Lutz 15:01

Yes, and the apex reception is always very well attended. Great group, good reception ticket to if you're uh attending AWDA.

Mark Bogdanski 15:11

Yeah, but the only thing I would add to again, you have 20 great meetings, and like Ted said you can see all of us really gonna spend the rest of Apex either meeting with the folks you weren't able to meet with at AWDA or uh be able to just go around and see everything else you haven't had an opportunity to see, right? Because if I had spent 20, if you have to spend all the time for the 2021 meetings on the show floor, you're not gonna get a chance to see everything that's out there. And we know the number one people, one number one reason our attendance keep coming back to the show is to get the products. And so this really sets them up to get done some of the current business now, and then go hit all those new products.

Ted Hughes 15:46

Fine because it's like a it's like a scouting machine, yeah, in a way. I mean, to to your point, Mart, you have you have the 21 meetings and that's and that's well and good, but you talk about how the show has evolved because the industry is evolving, and it's I mean, it's not just about products now, it's about technology as well. And so, I mean, you can see it in the makeup of the show floor, and a lot of the exhibitors aren't parts suppliers or parts manufacturers anymore, they're technology suppliers because that is absolutely critical to doing business today. And so to think that Sunday and Monday that you wrap up your business and you can go home Tuesday, maybe catch the start of the show, uh, if you're doing a disservice and not maximizing the investment that you're making by getting that, because the show floor is filled with new technology, new products that are based on that technology, etc., that nobody has seen before. And so to have your eyes open to the opportunities that are out there, uh, that to me is is the full justification for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday stay in Las Vegas following the AWBA conference.

Jacki Lutz 16:51

Has um sign up ended for AWDA?

Ted Hughes 16:54

Uh the deadline is passed, and and you know, it's a it's kind of a harsh word to say the deadline because it's really a soft deadline. Because of the way it's it's laid out, um distributors register, suppliers

One On One Meetings Awards And Registration

Ted Hughes 17:08

register, because it's AWDA, the distributors get their first pick. So we we have to set a deadline there. And after that, deadline is when the distributors can go in and make their rankings of all the suppliers. See all the suppliers are registered and they rank who they want to have their readings with. It could be who they're having the most challenges with, it could just be their biggest, where relationship's good and everything's good. But we just because you're such a critical part of our inventory mix, uh, we we need to talk about some things. So there's a lot of different reasons for that. Um so so and then following that is when the suppliers get to go and rate their MDs. So to answer your question, people, companies can still register. You can register individually, you can register as a company still. Now, the problem is the the distributors and now even the suppliers have already started making their rankings. So typically that would come with a lot of phone calls to say, hey, you know, we whatever happened, we we just registered, can you reconsider the rankings and and look for a slot for us or mix mix us in at some point? But the team and and last thing I'll say is I would be remiss if I did not mention obviously the entire autocare team is is essential for pulling off both the AWA conference and and the Apex show. But specifically, uh Leah Jones and Ashley Vesper do an absolutely amazing job of courting, because we're talking about thousands of MIDI's. You know, 21 meeting slots over two days for hundreds of suppliers and hundreds of distributors, it's thousands of MIDI's and they do an amazing job. And so, if you're listening to this and you're gonna be in Las Vegas, uh, the end of October and beginning of November, you see Leah Jones, we see Ashivesgra, say thank you because it would not be anywhere near as smooth as it is if they didn't weren't as active in engaged as the crap.

Jacki Lutz 18:56

Absolutely. So let's move into Apex.

Why Staying For AAPEX Matters

Jacki Lutz 19:00

Sure. What's new this year?

Ted Hughes 19:02

No, so we're still gonna say single thing.

Jacki Lutz 19:05

Stop making changes.

Ted Hughes 19:06

Exactly. No, you know, Mark's giving Mark's kicking me under the table so that he can sign up because there is so much he doesn't want to run out of time. No, right. There's so much.

Mark Bogdanski 19:15

I usually don't have to have notes. I actually wrote everything down. I as I'm sitting here, I realized I forgot. So, um, you know, one of the things, like I said before, one of the things we're trying to do is make sure that the show is fresh and new and a reason for people to come back every year. One of the things that we've heard over and over again, primarily from the distributors and other attendees, is yes, Apex is very important. We'll come every other year, we'll come every three years because the show just feels the same. It feels whether it seems the same, it feels the same. And so we have taken steps. It started last year, it's continuing this year, and you see moving to the future. We are taking significant steps to make sure that Gilbert never saved it. The show from one year to the next feels. Um so last year, obviously, we made some changes. This year we've kept the show segmented. We've moved around where a bunch of the different segments are. So nobody is gonna be in the same booth location as they were last year, which depends people are gonna be looking at all over the place again. But everything will be clearly marked. We have an incredible uh wayfinding system. We actually are app this year, you're gonna have navigation in your app that'll be able to tell you exactly how to get from where you are to wherever you want to go, turn-by-turn navigation within the app, no matter which level you're on. So we're really excited about that as we're moving things around. And then, you know, the biggest thing that we keep hearing from the suppliers is that the attendees all find these to leave the floor. If they leave the floor, then I'll come back. And attendees are saying, well, we have to leave the floor to do this, that, or the other thing. So we are doing everything we can to keep attendees on the show floor so you have no reason to eat whatsoever. So we did the food trucks last year, but it's very successful. We're bringing that back. We're actually shipping, we're moving them. This year, they're gonna be in a rest area upstairs in the Venetian. We're gonna have food trucks over at the Apex Forum, which is just a bridge away. Um, we're also doing a bunch of activations all over the floor. So we, you know, as much as I would love to think that an attendee comes in, hits the floor at 9 a.m., maybe takes a half an hour break for lunch, and does business the other seven and a half hours a day, we know that's not the case, right? People need a moment to just catch themselves, get a break. So we are putting in activations all over. So whether you're in the Venetian or an Apex form, we have a ton of new activations this year. We have escape rooms where you can go in, they're like scheduled to be like seven to ten minutes. You know, we're not talking a full-hour escape room that you can only see or Jack and we think two hours. But we do the seven, we're doing seven to ten minute escape rooms on just joking. We're doing seven to ten minute escape rooms uh on the show floor. We have education stations throughout the show floor.

Jacki Lutz 21:38

We have is it an escape room like an actual, like you have to try to escape the room or more like a relaxed room?

Mark Bogdanski 21:43

No, no, no. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We have two different escape rooms. We have two, we have two rooms.

Jacki Lutz 21:48

I would never hear this room.

Mark Bogdanski 21:49

You've never heard of an escape room?

Jacki Lutz 21:50

No, I've heard of one, but I didn't know we were doing it.

Mark Bogdanski 21:52

Oh, yeah. No, we are doing, we are doing, we have two escape rooms this year. One is uh shop, let's say automotive car repair focused. Okay, and the other one is uh parts focused. It's just so we have two escape rooms on the show floor. We have a NASCAR simulator on the show floor where everybody will have an opportunity to win two uh two tickets to any NASCAR that they want. The best the best time each day gets to win, which would be cool.

Ted Hughes 22:48

Uh there is Is there a room? Uh is there a no-escape room for Janny?

Mark Bogdanski 22:53

Is there a room for the first floor?

What’s New On The Show Floor

Mark Bogdanski 22:58

Um, you know, we have we actually have a really cool um supply chain game. So people actually, when you go and you're gonna play this game, but you actually have to figure out how the supply chain works from manufacturer down to the shop. Give you an idea of just how different things can affect the supply chain from start to finish, you know, as you're thinking through. So we had different games. Again, the high scores were different prizes. Um, we're doing unbelievable giveaways over at the forum. We're giving away an F-150. We're giving away your you can choose between a multitude of prizes if you win. We have um, I think a luxury watch prize, we have a Super Bowl prize to win two tickets at a vacation at the Super Bowl this year. Uh, and you can pick any of these. We have a European football prize. Um, I think those are, you know, and I mean the idea is just to kind of keep people interested and going around the floor. Um, we've got stages all over the floor with education. Um, we actually have on two of the stages, we're gonna have artists drawing out what they're hearing on the show floor. So if you miss some of the stages, you can then walk through this hallway and see what the different sections talk about because it's being rendered in art. Uh we have an automotive art competition going on right in between, right near the bridge. It takes you from the Venetian to the forum. We're actually gonna have uh an automotive part art competition. We're gonna have a gallery there with some artwork, but then uh we have two artists who are gonna be taking spare parts or parts that they donated and gonna be making art out of it.

Speaker 2 24:24

Wow.

Mark Bogdanski 24:24

And then the idea is actually when it's done, we're gonna auction it off for UAF for it. So yes. Yeah, so we're really excited about that. Um we have rest areas in both the vation and the forum where people can come, like in food trucks. We have our roadside attractions rest area over at the forum where you're gonna be able to come and get drink. We have uh massages there that people can get, yeah, we kind of keep on the floor, keeping rejuvenated on the show floor. As Ted mentioned, we're bringing in celebrities every day. Um, so on Tuesday, we're gonna have Mark Walberg there. He's gonna do a stage session talking about uh what it, you know, his career and what it takes to, you know, everything that he does because he's involved in nine different things. Um and then he's gonna be doing some photo walks and autographs. On Wednesday to be Jimmy Johnson, who is one of the most successful race car drivers ever. Uh, and he'll be there. You know, he's done both NASCAR and Indy. He's done all kinds of really, really cool stuff. He'll be there, and then he's gonna walk the show for a little bit. You know, it's fun to bring in somebody who's actually very interested, but what they're gonna see a lot for. Uh so they're gonna walk around. Um then Thursday we have a panel of some sports hall of fingers. So we have Nia Ham and we have Randy Johnson, and we have uh Grant Hill, and then uh we have Barry Sanders.

Ted Hughes 25:40

And it's very exciting. And let me let me interject, Bart, to say that you already mentioned that you can win two tickets to the Super Bowl, correct? Uh at the show. And having Barry Sanders.

Mark Bogdanski 25:48

So should I just tell everybody from Detroit to pick a different prize if it's not gonna happen?

Ted Hughes 25:52

I just think I just think for Lions Nation out there, the fact that Barry Sanders is gonna be at the same place that they're giving two Super Bowl tickets away, that could only mean good things for the Lions. Exactly.

Jacki Lutz 26:03

That's right. Exactly. This is the line.

Mark Bogdanski 26:05

Um, we're bringing back our free buyer lunch. So if you're buying the show floor again, yeah, we have the food trucks, but we know how expensive they can be. Even the food trucks are not, you know, cheap. They're better than you could go off the floor. Uh, but we have a free buyer lunch every day, which we're really excited about. We're gonna have some fun uh celebrity cars, movie cars. Every day, again, if different cars you can come in and check out. I think right now we're finalizing having Kit from Night Rider there. Uh so you'd be able to come in and get a picture with Kit. Uh, we have so the Star Sand Hutch car. We have, I think, one of the Bardney Mobiles. I forget the nine cars we have. We've got a bunch of different cars coming in, which will be a lot of fun. Um, and then the last thing that I will mention, or two last things I'll mention. One is this year new, um, we have iFlex, which is run by the Preventative Automotive Maintenance Association. They are going to be coming in and actually being part of Apex, and they have their iPad iFlex been by, so they've been in a different trade show in the past.

Activations Games Giveaways And Celebrities

Mark Bogdanski 26:56

They're really focused on the quick reuse. And so that's a segment that Apex has not really had at the show in the past. So we're really excited about being able to close that through from an industry standpoint and bring in a whole new set of buyers that haven't been there before. Uh, so they'll be joining us this year, which we're very excited about. And then we are bringing back competition. Uh, last year we end up having three teams. This year we have nine, and I actually have a waiting list. Uh, so we're really excited about that. We've got nine teams that'll be going all day on Wednesday. Uh so you know, there's always gonna be something special.

Speaker 2 27:26

Just a few things.

Mark Bogdanski 27:27

Just a few things, you know, and that's aside from all of the great business that goes on, right? So the idea is that people can go around, and that's aside from all the great sessions we normally have. So experience coming back and doing their session, and we're having the automotive aftermarket 2027 Outlook session, and we have a new media panel this year, which is gonna talk about how the on-word aftermarket is portraying the media and what we can do to help with that. We have uh some great panelists on there. So the idea is that there's always something on the show floor, whether you're you know, just need a break from having meetings or you know, you have five minutes in your schedule. You know, when we go check out what's going on in the art installation, we'll go check out the DCA proof or whatever it is. Uh just again keep people there and give them a reason to keep coming back.

Jacki Lutz 28:09

Yeah. And really just makes me want to encourage people to leave a little buffer time in your schedule because there's certainly a lot of stuff happening on the show floor. The show floor is huge. Yeah. So give yourself some time to check out some of these amazing opportunities.

Mark Bogdanski 28:22

Yeah, as we've talked about in the past, you know, the most important thing, aside from wearing comfortable shoes, the most important thing you could do is plan ahead. Like I said, if you don't think about what you're gonna do at Apex till you get on the plane to go to Vegas, you're already putting yourself behind the eight ball. You've got to spend some time, whether it's scheduling meetings. I don't care whether you're on the supplier or buyer side, whether it's scheduling meetings or looking at what sessions you want to go to or whatever the case may be, you've got to plan out your day because those days fill up really fast. And when you plan those days, do not plan out eight hours. It's just not because you're not gonna give yourself time to do any of the things you want to do. Or you're gonna wind up cutting yourself short from things you know on board. Yeah, you plan out the days the best you can, but knowing you have to give yourself some buffer pattern there, do all these things that you might not even realize are there. We've sent out tons of materials, here's all the things to look at. Then you can't go, I didn't even realize our escape rooms. I missed that in the market. Okay, fine, but now I know I've got time to go game.

Jacki Lutz 29:16

Yeah. Yeah. So if you're looking for me, I'm either locked in an escape room, can't get out, or I'm at the massage chairs or the pizza food shop. That was really good last year.

Mark Bogdanski 29:25

So not the auto car in our booth that you actually have on the shelf over this year.

Jacki Lutz 29:29

I'll probably be in the studio that's right.

Mark Bogdanski 29:30

That was actually gonna be one of our escape rooms.

Jacki Lutz 29:34

That would be horrible because it's like a hamster cage and you can see inside.

Mark Bogdanski 29:38

But yeah, I you know, I just I think it's really important that people plan, you know, and again, with your partner, and I think being going to AWD is absolutely crucial. If you can. You have this meeting to schedule the rest of the weekend again, plan and give yourself as much time as you can for everything else. Don't pack everything into just Tuesday morning and while I can get it all done and get out. Trust me.

Ted Hughes 29:59

And from somebody that's been on the supplier side and and doing the plan, to your point, yes. Um, we one of the things back to the AWDA meetings, one of the things that we heard last year is that there's been a few suppliers that have really stepped up their room that they host and make it almost an immersive experience just from walking in, which is which is really cool, and that's a testament to how valuable the meetings are to both the distributors and the suppliers. But additionally from the Apex Show site itself, it's not just about meetings. If if you are a technology company or you're you're a parts company that has new technology or something to show off, don't plan for a canned a canned walkthrough. Use an immersive dynamic demo where you're showing in real time the technology that you're bringing. And to your point, Mark, next thing you know, if you're playing 30 minutes for that meeting now, everybody's involvement's gone 45 minutes or it's gone to an hour, or or you have that lunch meeting that you set up 45 minutes with uh with uh uh uh either a customer or a supplier, and and lo and behold, that turns into an hour 15, and it and it cuts back uh the the entire schedule from there.

Mark Bogdanski 31:10

So to your good news is the good news is the way the show is segmented now, you don't have to go running all the book forward to get from one boot to the other. So you know the irresponse for one category.

Speaker 2 31:19

Yeah.

Mark Bogdanski 31:20

That's where you're gonna be. You don't have to worry about running through fours right now. You can schedule the average, sir. I would also be remiss

Planning Tips Shoes Buffers And Follow Up

Mark Bogdanski 31:26

if I did not mention our keynote but so I apologize. Our opening, our opening keynote breakfast Tuesday morning with uh Coach K from Duke, which is gonna be incredible. The other thing I want to mention is we you guys talked about the opening reception, we're actually moving that over to the forum this year. So it's been at the Venetian for years, it was very successful. We're actually moving that over to the forum so everybody can actually see how easy it is to get there and everything that is going on. So we've got to spot yeah.

Jacki Lutz 31:51

Fantastic.

Ted Hughes 31:52

For me, as a jampe is a spell, shit.

Jacki Lutz 31:55

Oh, for goodness sakes. Um anyway, uh I do want to mention too the auto care.

Mark Bogdanski 32:01

You know what starts I just said his name.

Jacki Lutz 32:04

I okay I uh want to mention too the auto care booth. Yes, which is over. Yes, thank you.

Mark Bogdanski 32:12

Yeah, so uh the autocare booth will be over at the Apex Forum this year. And it's I mean, I've seen the designs. It is an incredible booth. We're showcasing everything we do from membership to communities to advocacy to technology, uh, and everything. We have meeting rooms there as well. And then we're keeping the autocare member center where it has always been. So if you go to the Auto Care Member Center and use that for an opportunity to meet with customers or coworkers or whatever it is, that'll be uh in the same location.

Jacki Lutz 32:37

And then um our Auto Care on Air studio will be and is it the media hub? Is that what we've got this year?

Mark Bogdanski 32:43

Yeah, one of the things that we've done is we've built a media hub in the middle of the show floor where we have uh all of our different media partners, and AutoCare on Air will have their podcast booths there. We have a few other podcast moves there, and we have some other podcasts that are a little bit more focused on the shops and finitions that'll be over in our uh podcast show over by Joe's Garage.

Speaker 2 33:03

So love.

Mark Bogdanski 33:04

Bringing back Joe's bringing back Joe's Garage or bringing by the Secret Service are coming back. They were thrilled with the show. Just tons and tons to see.

Jacki Lutz 33:10

I am so excited about all the changes you just mentioned. When we did our pre-meeting, we kind of got to what's new, and you're like, I'll have to list that out, and now I see why.

Mark Bogdanski 33:18

And I clearly seem to have forgotten things that we're gonna be.

Jacki Lutz 33:22

Well, that leaves a little bit of mystery for them to like check things up in the summer. So um just is there are there any other tips and tricks? So we mentioned plan.

Mark Bogdanski 33:31

Yeah. To me, the two the two biggest things, and again, it doesn't matter which side you're on, is plan, wear comfortable shoes. And then if you already supplied me talking about this last year, please follow up with the people that you talked to at the show. There is no excuse. These are people you're having meetings with, even if they come to your booth and just go, hey, I have no idea who you are. I've torn to another meeting, but I'd love to learn it. Follow up. It is, I actually heard the number has gotten better. Last year I heard it was E389, I just heard his dad. 73% of these aren't followed up on.

Jacki Lutz 34:01

Still work.

Mark Bogdanski 34:02

But that means that three out of every four people who have come to your booth and expressed an interest in your product, you are not following along. And that is, you know, every salesperson who says, you know, I had a bad show or I didn't get me leaves, or you're not following up on literally three floors. And so that's gotta be the other thing is if you are on the supplier side, please follow up. I mean, I would even say if you're on the buyer side and you haven't heard from money, I know you don't want to make that extra step. I know you're gonna say, well, why do I have to take the extra step? Because it could be a really cool product in a lucky business. It's worth making the extra phone call. It's worth saying, hey, you know, I came by, I was expecting a follow-up. For whatever reason I didn't get it, but I'd love to learn more. Uh I think the follow-up after the show is absolutely critical. You know, those three days or five days of you with Lid AWA are great, are a great foundation. I warned.

Speaker 2 34:48

I think you did that back side.

Mark Bogdanski 34:49

I'm sorry, Did I warn, I talk with my hands, I move around. But those five days are a great foundation for what you and your business need. I don't care where you are in the ecosystem or what your business does, it's a great foundation. But that's not, you know, if you're only trying to do business those five days, then you're not gonna be successful. You've got to follow up and continue all year long with what you've seen and we've met multiple.

Ted Hughes 35:13

I would agree that the two most important and two most underutilized words are follow-up. That's that's I could I can't add anything to it, Mark. Your your spot on. I mean, companies we um we know the cost of participation is high. We we know this, and the fact that, and this isn't done at the sea level, this is done at the street level. And the fact that meant a three out of four leads people that have expressed interest aren't being reached out to or follow up with. Uh, that is um yeah, that that's low-hanging fruit.

Jacki Lutz 35:51

Literally, that's literally like it's so inexcusable now because now they have AI programs of things that really help automate some of this and really help you kick suck this.

Mark Bogdanski 35:59

Yeah, and every we, you know, you get if you have the leader tubular, you use the app or whatever, you know, it scrolls right through a spreadsheet. Like you said, there are AI tools that'll draft the email, so that email right away. As soon as you scan, email goes out. So it's a follow-up. Or it calls you, you know, a week later, make sure you follow up, whatever it is. There's a million different tools. There's no excuse. All you're doing is lose it rather than lose up.

Jacki Lutz 36:19

Well, thank you guys. So the last kind of thing I wanted to make sure we touched on are some of the networking opportunities at the show,

Community Events RSVPs And Networking Rules

Jacki Lutz 36:26

outside of the receptions and the and the the breakfast. Um, there's a lot of community, autocare community stuff going on. So why don't we list some of those?

Ted Hughes 36:34

Yeah, it's the the community. Uh you mentioned the autocare communities. I mean, that really is a a show place for them to be on display outside of Auto Care Connect in May. Uh the communities are really on display uh during industry week. And and you know, I mentioned the the the UAF Gala, Ruby Gala uh reception on Saturday night.

Jacki Lutz 36:54

They're still looking for donors for that. So the link in the show notes.

Ted Hughes 36:57

Absolutely. And then and then Sunday I talked about at length about the general session. Immediately following the general session is the AWGA reception. And uh that's always uh a cantoness every year. And then I'll I'll turn it over to you, Mark, because uh the apex reception is really uh what what gets things going.

Mark Bogdanski 37:15

Yeah, we've got a number of receptions, and we have the apex reception, like I said, Monday night on the over at the forum. Uh we have other receptions going under the show at Beers and Gears reception. We have a reman reception on Wednesday. We have fabulous networking reception. Yeah, we have different things all over. We have a boot call every day all over the show. Um, but then outside of like you were saying, our different communities, so many of our communities are now doing things.

Speaker 2 37:35

Yeah.

Mark Bogdanski 37:35

So, you know, our baby community has their fabulous networking reception. They have their luncheon. Can't miss events if you're in that. If you're in that segment, you absolutely should be at both of those. Um, our the newest route, ACC, the automotive communications council, they're gonna be doing their yearly program Thursday evening after the show closes, which we're very excited about.

Ted Hughes 37:53

The Wednesday is still Women at Auto Care Wednesday.

Jacki Lutz 37:56

They have a breakfast, selling tickets, they'll sell out, so make sure you get your ticket.

Mark Bogdanski 38:00

And then they have a receptional Wednesday night. Uh Yang is going to be doing something again this year, like they've been doing. I think it's Tuesday night. Uh ACPN is having the meetup. So if you're part of any community at all, reach out, find out, guarantee your team is going to deal with something there.

Jacki Lutz 38:14

And if you're signed up as a member for those, you should be getting email communications about what exactly this community is doing.

Ted Hughes 38:19

And pay attention because a lot of times it's uh just kind of uh uh and also or a throw in the RSVP. But but there are times where RSVPs are important. Yeah. Yeah, you mentioned the Yang reception. You know, if if you have the opportunity to RSVP and you think you're gonna be going to this reception, then RSVP to it because the yang reception was so popular last year that actually had to had to limit it to to no walk-ups halfway through because the RSVPs filled it up. Yeah. And uh and so they've they've they've expanded this year to make that a little bit bigger, but don't miss the opportunity to register for things that you you can register for.

Jacki Lutz 38:57

Just another way to take advantage of the investment your company's made to get you here, uh, and and more you can accomplish while you're at the show.

Ted Hughes 39:04

So your own personal networking. Bandit's network and growing your own community and everything else. I know you're trying to wrap up, Jackie, but I got one more thing from the from the from the the the sort of tip and trick side. If you're if you happen to be from a company, whether you're uh uh on the buyer side or the supplier side, if you're s if you send five people, ten people, forty people to represent your company, don't talk to each other exceptions. Means if if you've if if you have five people that are all wearing the same shirt, talking in in a circle, talking to each other, then business is not getting done. Right. And and again, when you talk about from a company standpoint, we're investing in this. We take advantage of every opportunity we can. Talking to each other or or EEO entertain each other, that that should be absolutely teddy.

Jacki Lutz 39:55

I agree, I think it's a it's not a good look for companies, you know.

Mark Bogdanski 39:58

Along those same lines, if you're bringing multiple people, one thing that I think is really important is to say, okay, everybody can make it back to the office. Everybody has to bring in X number of things to share with the group. So this way, if five different people have five different experiences, but everybody gets the year, whether it's new products or something they heard or you know, some new technology they saw, whatever the case is, uh making sure that everybody's sharing with everybody else what you're saying and sharing with people who weren't there. You know, not everybody gets to go. If you have ten people in your office on the way to get to go, make sure those two people tell the other eight people what there is that they got to see and experience, because you want everybody in your company to be able to gain from their experience.

Jacki Lutz 40:37

It goes with that planning, right? Like look at all of the opportunities and look at your team that's going and be like, okay, you two go to Yang.

Ted Hughes 40:43

You two, the marketers, get to ACC, you know, and make sure everybody knows and you I know you've done couple conversations in the past about the the introvert extrovert side. I mean, it's it's really easy to be an introvert, you know. But if you are in if you are working the show floor, if you're in a booth and a buyer, if you've got exhibitor on your badge and a buyer walks in and you or nobody else engages with them, that's even worse than uh the three out of four not followed up leads because that that could be a lead that you didn't even didn't even talk to or touch because you didn't want to go up and if they're walking in there, maybe there's a small chance they want to see what kind of giveaways you got. Maybe there's a small chance they want to, you know, meet PC Young or something.

Speaker 2 41:27

Yeah.

Ted Hughes 41:28

But if they're in there and they're looking at products, that means they're intrigued. And that's the the perfect opportunity to to break that wall down and engage with them because you never know what what kind of business that might be coming to.

Mark Bogdanski 41:40

Most boots definitely have you say this, but I will say it do not you should have chairs, beans. If you're a company, you should not have chairs, just lose it. Unless I know it is, unless it's in a meeting. No, but I mean it's seriously because what it does is it makes your people who are working stand, walk around, and engage.

Jacki Lutz 41:56

Yeah, and get the get the padded uh the next one. Oh, bring it up.

Mark Bogdanski 42:00

Spend the extra little money, get the padded carpet, get the padded from underneath the carpet. It's a good padding, absolutely. And no, and no chairs. No chairs, no schools, and different shoes. And different shoes that we get. And if you need more shoes, Jack, I'll let them.

Jacki Lutz 42:13

I know we're comfortable though. I think this is my 13th Apex, and I have yet to really listen to that.

Ted Hughes 42:20

But like you look at us like it's our fault.

Jacki Lutz 42:26

That's mine. Well, thank you guys so much for this. This has been really helpful, and I learned a lot. So I'm sure that the audience is too. So I appreciate the time.

Ted Hughes 42:33

Absolutely. Thank you, Jim. Always happy to enjoy the winning at this bag. Yes.

Jacki Lutz 42:38

It's been a pleasure. Thanks

Booth Behavior Team Learning And Closing

Jacki Lutz 42:41

for tuning in to another episode of Auto Care on Air. Make sure to subscribe to our podcast so that you never miss an episode. And don't forget to leave us a rating and review. It helps others discover our show. Auto Care on Air is proud to be a production of the Auto Care Association dedicated to advancing the autocare industry and supporting professionals like you. To learn more about the association and its initiatives, visit autocare.org.