MINNEAPOLIS – Dealer registrations for the 2013 Marine Dealer Conference & Expo set a new record during the early-bird registration period and are currently tracking nearly 25 percent ahead of last year’s record registrations.
A total of 473 dealers have registered for the MDCE to date — up from 379 last year at the early-bird cutoff — with nearly two months to go until the event begins. In all, more than 655 people are currently registered for the MDCE.
See who is registered: https://mraa.com/events/RSVPlist.aspx?id=208006
“The response to this year’s MDCE has been absolutely incredible,” says Liz Walz, Director of Membership & Education. “With all the new opportunities we’ve built into the program and the enhanced educational agenda, we are thrilled to see such a positive response.”
Dealer attendance at the MDCE has grown every year since 2007, and 2013 will be no exception. With 512 total dealers in attendance in 2012, early bird registrations remain just 39 registrations away from reaching a record number. Of the 473 dealers that are currently registered, 125, or 26.5 percent are attending for the first time, and they represent a total of more than 475 dealership locations.
“The 2013 MDCE will offer opportunities never before available at this event,” says Jonathan Sweet, Editor-in-Chief of Boating Industry. “With our new in-depth workshops in addition to the significant investment we’ve made in speakers like Jeffrey Gitomer and John Spence, we are very much looking forward to bringing this event to life.”
The MDCE offers nearly 30 educational sessions, broken down into three tracks and a series of pre-conference workshops and special presentations, to help dealers gather ideas and best practices for improving their businesses. The workshops are a new introduction for the 2013 MDCE, and the total number of educational sessions is up from just 20 in 2012.
Learn more at the MDCE Video Channel: https://mraa.com/?page=MDCE_Video_Channel
Last year, the MDCE attracted more than 1,000 industry professionals, and this year, more than 650 have already registered. The excitement over this year’s event has been created by the additional sessions, in addition to the signing of world-renowned sales and leadership expert Jeffrey Gitomer as the keynote speaker. And the additions of authors and speakers like John Spence and David Avrin, as well as a number of industry-specific experts has bolstered the educational line-up like never before.
And for those dealers that want to dig even deeper into the factors that will most impact their businesses in the year ahead, the newly added MDCE Pre-Conference Workshops to be held Monday, Nov. 18th, will enable them to construct a plan in areas like dealership management, boat show sales, service menus, search engine marketing, and the customer experience. Over the following days, individual sessions in the MDCE’s three educational tracks will help attendees enhance their plans for 2014.
The MDCE is scheduled for Nov. 17-20, 2013, at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Fla. It has attracted an increasing number of dealers every year since 2007, and in addition to the record number of pre-September dealer registrations, this year’s event also attracted more than 250 registrants prior to May 1, also record for the event. The most registrants MDCE had ever accumulated prior to May 1 was 92 in 2012.
About the Marine Dealer Conference & Expo
The Marine Dealer Conference & Expo is the Marine Retailers Association of the Americas’ annual conference and member meeting. As the marine industry’s only dealer-specific educational conference, the MDCE features an in-depth line-up of educational topics, a full-featured expo hall, and a series of fixed networking opportunities, all of which are designed to help marine dealers connect with and learn from others who can foster their success. The MDCE is co-produced by the MRAA and Boating Industry, and it offers pre-conference workshops, a keynote presentation, three tracks of educational content, and more than 20 sessions in all. It will be held Nov. 17-20 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Fla. Learn more at www.mraa.com/event/MDCE.