The Marine Retailers Association of the Americas has announced the educational lineup for its inaugural Dealer Week Conference and Expo. Experts from within and outside of the marine industry will include a mix of professional educators, expert consultants and marine retailers. Dealer Week will take place December 8-11 at the Tampa Convention Center in Tampa, Fla.
“At the MRAA, everything we do is motivated by our vision statement, which calls for ‘A thriving marine industry, driven by dealer success,” Matt Gruhn, MRAA president, said in a statement. “Dealer Week is a big part of our strategy to make that vision a reality. The education presented at the conference was developed in direct response to the biggest challenges that dealers have told us they are facing today.”
Dealer Week will begin with a keynote presentation from bestselling author and Olympic competitor Vice Poscente before the conference breaks out into three “Education Pathways” that will focus on three central tops, The Dealership, The Customer and The Employee.
Poscente will discuss how marine dealership owners, managers and their teams can succeed in an unpredictable landscape. He will share the formula that he used to transform himself from a recreational skier to an Olympic athlete.
“The dealers on the MRAA Education Committee raved about Vince,” Liz Walz, MRAA vice president said in the statement. “What stood out to them were his unique combination of abilities as both a wildly entertaining storyteller and a highly effective coach. Given what’s happening in the market right now, they saw how powerful it could be to learn new strategies for thriving in fast-changing and often unpredictable conditions.”
The Dealership Pathway will feature presentations by Tony Gonzalez and DJ Stringer of Garage Composites, David Spader of Spader Business Management, David Foco from A World of Training and Rich DeLancey of Dealership Toolkit.
For the Customer Pathway, presenters will include Sam Dantzler of Wheelhouse College, Kevin Zoodsma of Action Water Sports, VRZ Consulting’s Valerie Ziebron, Carrie Stacey from Carrie Stacey & Co., MRAA lead certification consultant Bob McCann, Graham Anderson, co-founder of Kenect, Stringer, and Theresa Syer from the Syer Hospitality Group Inc.
Finally, the Employee Pathway will include sessions with Richard Fenton and Andrea Waltz from Courage Crafters, education host Jim Million of Million Learning, Eric Smith from Colorado Boat Center, Samantha Cunningham Zawilinski from Portratz Partners Advertising, Allison Chaney from Boot Camp Digital, Art Hill of the University of Minnesota and Million.
