We come a small town, so this is exciting for us, and we take that excitement back with us to our stores. We get a great deal from the workshops—especially those that cover regulatory requirements and sales skills. We like visiting the computer vendors, and while we can’t afford to buy at the moment, we get to look ahead at what we will have in a few years.

Glenn Mears III, Parkway Nissan/Mercury/Honda/Suzuki, Dover, Ohio 

We always enjoy our time at the convention. The meetings with the manufacturers are important, and we like to cover the expo floor, looking for whatever’s new.

Fred Moffitt, Moffitt VW/Porsche/Audi/Mazda, Bossier City, La. 

I have found an amazing amount of items of interest on the show floor. I signed us up for CallCommand, and we are looking at additional CRM systems. We’ve asked for more information about used-vehicle marketing tools. We like some new service drive items, and we’re going to install a fast-lube system from one of the vendors. It's been a great show for us.

 Larry Brown, Ottawa Ford/Lincoln Mercury/Kia, Ottawa, Ill.

We had a great franchise meeting, and we were honored that Tom Purves, who leads BMW in the U.S., was a convention keynote speaker. We also found two extremely helpful workshops: the role of the controller in a dealership environment, about being more than a watchdog, and the business development workshop, which will immediately help us in our dealership.

Tim Smith, Bob Smith BMW/Mini, Calabassas, Calif.