Not long after attending the CADA Summit early this year in February, I was in an unfortunate accident that left my left leg broken in five places — so you can imagine my trepidation a few months later when it was suggested I attend the Automotive Conference & Expo (ACE) in Niagara Falls, Ontario, at the Fallsview Casino.
After a lengthy recovery and much physiotherapy, I entered the grand hall of ACE with a slight limp but renewed enthusiasm for coming together with like-minded people in automotive retail.
I was initially taken aback by the number of suppliers present. Everyone from banks to wheel alignment specialists, DMS providers, and even movie theatres had shown up to bring their best to dealers. Immediately you could see the camaraderie among these people, all enjoying the common task of vying for dealership spending.
As I walked around and started speaking with old friends, all while making new ones, the ache in my leg subsided just in time for the kickoff presentation from Dr. Helen Papagiannis on Artificial Intelligence. She is billed as one of the world’s leading experts on AI and immersive tech, and the author of Augmented Human.
Now, AI seems to have dealers in a tizzy lately, with some thinking it is the next big lift, and many not entirely sure where it will land in terms of usefulness. Dr. Papagiannis reminded us that AI is advancing at an incredible pace, while reinforcing that it will increasingly be used to sell goods and services, despite some remaining creepiness.
After the mind-bending AI trip, I made my way to hear Finn Engsig, president of Finds Results Training, lecture on the finer points of managing workshop productivity and efficiency. These concepts were not foreign to me or many other dealers in the room. But it was enlightening to hear Finn go into some of the details to look for when tuning shop output.
Particularly eye-opening were his simple calculations for determining the revenue potential of a service bay, and what an hour of lost productivity can mean in dollars over the course of a year. I can tell you that every dealer who attended Finn’s presentation will go back to their stores with a better idea of how to preload the shop with work for the next day.
I made my way back to the main hall to catch Niel Hiscox, publisher of Canadian auto dealer, conduct a great fireside chat with three engaging leaders in the dealer landscape, including incoming CADA Chair Michael Croxon and recent CADA Laureate Award winner Brent Ravelle.
I was so impacted by Brent’s discussion on hiring the next generation of technicians that I sought him out for a side chat at one of the later breaks. He convinced me that we, as dealers, should be doing more to inspire school-age children to look at a path to the trades as they grow up.
Todd Bourgon, MVRO’s CEO and event host, also joined Hiscox for a chat about dealer issues — including the real prospect of Chinese OEMs eventually selling vehicles in Canada, and the association’s efforts to locate and assess foreign service technicians for Ontario dealers.
If Dr. Papagiannis melted our minds with her AI projections, it was Darrell Bricker who gave dealers plenty to think about with his candid presentation on what may be next for Canada in terms of demographics and societal change.
Among the many trends Bricker identified, the ones that stuck out for me included Canada’s aging population and the migration of people further west from Quebec and the Maritimes. It’s definitely worth checking out his upcoming book Breaking Point: The New Shifts Putting Canada at Risk for more insights.
The afternoon continued with the Women Driven awards, sponsored by Scotiabank, where women from the auto retail industry were recognized in various categories for their leadership and career achievements.
Then moderator, CADA’s Public Affairs representative Huw Williams, led a candid fireside chat with political correspondent and respected journalist Rob Russo, who now writes for The Economist. In the span of 40 minutes, Russo took us inside the mind of our new Prime Minister Mark Carney and some of those in his inner circle. He offered his take on what the Conservative Party’s strategy might be going forward after its defeat this past spring.
The day’s closing keynote address was from Paul Smith, Commander and Commanding Officer of HMCS York. He took the crowd through his ascent to senior leadership roles, the importance of mentoring along the way, and the challenges the military still faces in creating a more representative force. Smith is the first Black officer to command a Royal Canadian Navy warship.
After ten thousand steps (a first for my daily count since the accident), I threw in the towel and decided against attending that evening’s entertainment at Margaritaville featuring the Tragically Hip cover band Road Apples. From what I heard, it was an amazing time — and with a Blue Jays victory that night — everyone was in a great mood for day two on Friday morning.
Waking up refreshed, I headed back to the ACE Grand Hall and enjoyed several insightful workshops, including those on CRM utilization (in combination with AI), as well as statistical insights from AutoTrader on dealer inventory and turn rate.
All told, my first experience at the Automotive Conference & Expo was a heartening look at the combined power of all those who contribute to our highly complex and evolving industry, and the positive effects that can happen when Canadian dealers get in the same room together with their eyes on change and improvement. Gaining the added leg strength was a worthwhile bonus.
Congrats to MVRO for another great event helping educate and inform dealers and giving their suppliers a chance to connect.
