Mike Morgan of Mike’s Paint and Body in Crawfordville, FL also approves of the new location. He last attended NACE in 2003 with his son, but in prior years, he took his employees and their families when the expo was held closer to home, such as Orlando, New Orleans and Atlanta, because it “was a great morale booster for the shop.” Now, he hopes SEMA will follow NACE’s example of alternating locations.
Shawn H. Moody also finds SEMA fascinating to attend when it runs concurrently with NACE, but he feels NACE has made a wise decision by not competing with SEMA because “we need to keep our industry focused”. He is currently completing his newest facility and needs to “tool up”. He is particularly anticipating the exhibits about frame machines, CCC, measuring and resistance welders.
Kathleen Moyer also prefers the separation of the two events, and she is eager to see the new products in the industry, particularly in the computer line, as she likes to keep her shop thoroughly stocked and up-to-date with the newest and most effective technology.
Audra Fordin of Great Bear Auto in Flushing, NY will be attending NACE for the first time this October. She is excited to see what new technology is available or will be soon to “make the auto body shop run more smoothly with less footprint on the environment and to work on an auto body program with the Girl Scouts of America”.
When discussing what NACE could do to attract new attendees, Shawn H. Moody believes NACE has made two critical decisions that, if continued, will have a positive effect on attendance: “having NACE the first week of October is perfect timing…November is too late” as well as no longer competing with SEMA. He does suggest “if you really want to restore attendance, you need to lower exhibitor costs and also bring the paint manufacturers back.”
Mike Morgan contributes “there should be a national discussion on how to fairly set labor rates by some independent entity agreed upon by all”.
Overall, most auto body shop owners that do not plan to attend cite distance and cost as a reason, as well as the implicit cost of time away from their business. Domenico Nigro of Nigro’s Auto Body in Philadelphia, PA states “I think NACE would be a wonderful and worthwhile trip for my body shop business. Unfortunately, I just cannot get away from my shop for that length of time, nor do I have anyone that I can spare. This pains me because I know how helpful NACE could be.”
The NACE expo is a portion of Automotive Service and Repair Week (ASRW) which includes the International Autobody Congress and Exposition (NACE) and the Congress of Automotive Repair and Service (CARS). ASRW is widely considered the industry’s leading event. In 2011, it will include over eighty educational sessions as well as exhibits showcasing products, services and on-floor competitions. The ASA Marketplace will showcase current car technology. Participants in NACE include BASF, DuPont and many other well-known brands.
Kathleen Moyer plans to attend the expo with two employees in 2011. She has been in the auto body industry for 37 years and has attended NACE every year since the expo began.
Moyer finds NACE extremely educational and claims “I’m going to try to attend as many years as I can.” Shawn H. Moody’s opinion is “We’re in the Collision Repair business so for us, the choice is clear, and it’s NACE. The educational component of NACE alone make it worth attending.”
