Going deeper — impactful marine-specific education
By Liz Walz, MRAA Director of Learning Vision & Impact
As a marine dealer, your time is precious, and your challenges are complex. You’re not looking for theory — you’re looking for training that delivers real results, tailored to your team and your business. That’s exactly what Dealer Week education is built to do.
Each year, the Marine Retailers Association of the Americas (MRAA) evolves Dealer Week education to meet the needs of today’s marine retailers. Whether you’re focused on improving service operations, building stronger teams, fine-tuning your sales and marketing tactics, or adapting to industry shifts, the education is designed to help you go beyond ideas to action. You will leave the event’s educational sessions with implementable tools you can install almost immediately to make a lasting impact on your dealership.
Learning That Starts with Listening
No two dealerships are the same. That’s why our sessions are created to serve a wide variety of team members — from department managers, general managers and dealer principals to service advisors, salespeople, finance & insurance professionals and marketing leaders. Each session includes takeaways that offer value no matter your role or level of experience.
When a dealer tells us past education didn’t hit the mark, we dig deeper, asking them to tell us more: “What does hitting the mark mean to you?” We seek to deliver education to create real impact in all our attendees’ businesses. That feedback drives how we build the next generation of Dealer Week education.
Deeper, Practical Learning in 2025
Advanced Education
This year’s lineup delivers advanced education. For instance, the Best Ideas Roundtable with Valerie Ziebron lets you tap into the experience of top service & parts leaders in the industry. Additionally, Dan Gingiss will take a similar approach with his customer experience workshop, designed to extract best practices from across the marine business’ highest performing dealerships. Sam Dantzler’s Join the Top 10% will provide strategies to win now and in the year ahead. And Bob McCann’s Selling More Boats panel will dig deep into case studies from three sales and marketing innovators.
Cutting Edge
If cutting edge strategies are your focus, check out Marcus Sheridan’s AI-focused workshops. They will explore what’s now and what’s next for dealership marketing and operations.
Looking for hands-on tactics? Grab a front row seat for Bernie DeGraw’s service budgeting session, which offers actionable tools built from years in dealership trenches. You’ll also want to make time on your calendar for two from Max Materne: One on service department workforce and another on service & parts marketing. Not only does he provide fresh approaches, but also the tools he supplies can be put to work immediately to increase your department’s productivity and profits.
Leadership
If upping your leadership is a priority, make sure you don’t miss first-time Dealer Week educator Pete Smith. Moreover, he’ll help you see your business with fresh eyes, then arm you for real change.
Then, consider Dave Newell’s 7 Levers session and Max Materne’s Dealership Operations session. They will elevate your understanding of what’s working and not working in your dealership today — and guide you in using that knowledge to strengthen your performance. These are not surface-level conversations. They’re high-impact education that will help you and your team prepare for what’s next.
The Future of Dealership Education
The formula for dealership success is changing. Dealer Week 2025 will get you ready to become the Dealership of the Future. Ultimately, you’ll examine how consumer expectations, workforce trends and technology are reshaping retail marine businesses. The goal: to help you adapt, evolve and lead your dealership forward.
Let’s Talk
Your insights help shape Dealer Week and all of the MRAA’s educational programming. Furthermore, if you want something more or different from the education we offer, I’d love to hear from you. Reach out to me directly at liz@mraa.com. With your help, our education can do more to guide your dealership forward than ever before.
About the Author
Liz Walz, MRAA Director of Learning Vision & Impact, joined the Marine Retailers Association of the Americas (MRAA) in 2012, after more than a decade in the boat business as an award-winning marine journalist and industry advocate. Now Liz leverages more than 25 years of experience to design and deliver first-class online and in-person training and educational programming to the marine dealer community, including Dealer Week, MRAA’s Certification programs, the MRAA Resource Center and more.
