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Page 1 of 2 NACE organizers have made official what has been rumored for months now: Starting in 2004, the collision repair convention will be held in early November each year in Las Vegas during Automotive Aftermarket Industry Week.
"We think one of the benefits that accrues from this is that the entire industry will now be in Las Vegas during one week," said Ron Pyle, president of the Automotive Service Association (ASA), sponsor of the International Autobody Congress and Exposition (NACE). "For NACE to be part of that is very significant." The Mandalay Bay Casino and Convention Center is pretty happy about it, too. It turns out that body shop owners are "pretty significant high rollers," according to Galen Poss, president of the trade show company that manages NACE. "The city [Las Vegas] tracks these things carefully, and that's one of the reasons we're able to hold weekend dates [at reduced room rates]," explained Poss, who noted that a Realtors convention, a group often thought of as real risk takers, couldn't get weekend dates for their meeting. "Insurers only" sessions? During a mid-June Las Vegas press conference announcing the change, event organizers also fielded questions about this year's NACE, being held December 4-7 in Orlando, Florida. In particular, they were asked about an "insurers only" educational track announced in May. Some shop owners have expressed concern that an educational program at the autobody industry event will be closed to repairers, whereas all programs in the past have been open to shops, insurers and vendors. Pyle said the goal is to attract more insurers to the event. "We believe that NACE is inclusive of the entire industry and has to have representation from the entire industry to be considered an industry show," Pyle said. "But some exhibitors, in particular the information service companies, felt the lack of insurer activity at NACE did not give them the opportunity to interface with insurers." "There's been some fairly strong positions that have been taken from the podium during NACE and those positions have left the insurance folks feeling somewhat alienated at NACE," Poss said. "And that's not in anyone's best interest." Poss appeared to believe the insurer sessions would be open to all NACE attendees. No padlocks on the doors "I don't think we're padlocking the door and you've got to have a badge to get in that says 'insurer' on it," Poss said at the press conference. "I don't think that's the intent. Again, the whole purpose here is to allow the insurance companies an opportunity to get together and talk about the issues they want to talk about in a forum that they create, as opposed to going into a session with collision repair professionals and talking about joint issues. Just as shop owners can get together at various sessions and talk about issues that are important to them. It's a matter of providing an open opportunity and forum for the industry as a whole." But Pyle confirmed that a May 29 NACE press release said a lunch and education program on Thursday, December 4, is "only available to credentialed insurance personnel." He said the session, however would be monitored - perhaps even by himself. "We don't perceive anything at NACE really being closed in terms of not having people there who will at least have some kind of oversight and governance," Pyle said. Both Poss and Pyle said the insurer sessions should be open to the trade press. "I can't imagine that they'd object to the press being there," Poss said.
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