MINNEAPOLIS – The Marine Dealer Conference & Expo announced today that it will kick off the 2013 MDCE on Nov. 17th with a pool-side networking reception that features a Mexican Fiesta theme.
Sponsored by Boat Trader, the MDCE Opening Night Reception will be held at the Rosen Plaza Hotel, the event’s host hotel, which is just next door to the Orange County Convention Center hall where the MDCE will be held. The event will begin at 6 p.m. on Nov. 17th and is free to all MDCE registrants.
“This pool-side event is the perfect way to open up the MDCE and to welcome this year’s MDCE attendees to Orlando,” says Courtney Chalmers, Director of Marketing for Boat Trader. “With a relaxed atmosphere, music and a networking opportunity like no other, we are excited to partner with the MDCE to make this evening possible.”
The MDCE’s opening night networking reception will feature a mariachi band, as well as Tex-Mex hors d’oeuvres, and a hosted beer, wine and margarita bar. It will be the first of three networking receptions that will take place at this year’s MDCE and it will be the only event to be held on the pool deck.
“The networking component of the MDCE is one of three critical benefits that this event offers,” explains Amy Collins, publisher of Boating Industry, which produces the MDCE with the Marine Retailers Association of the Americas. “The relaxed atmosphere that this pool-side venue offers was a huge hit for us at the 2010 MDCE, and we’re looking forward to hosting a pool deck full of marine industry professionals once again.”
The MDCE offers more than 20 core educational sessions to help dealers gather ideas and best practices for improving their businesses. 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 on Monday morning 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 this year, the event attracted more than 250 registrants prior to the May 1, a 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 offers 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 features 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.