What To Expect from Digital Dealer Las Vegas 2022
Jeremy Louisos, Senior VP of Preowned Auto Logistics, talks with Jennifer Allen, Marketing Manager of Digital Dealer, about the Las Vegas 2022 automotive industry conference (Oct 11-13, 2022) to find out more about the conference, what attendees can expect, and how they can get the most out of their experience.
Jeremy Louisos: Hi, my name is Jeremy Louisos, and I’m here today with Jennifer Allen, Marketing Manager at Digital Dealer. Our topic today is Digital Dealer Las Vegas 2022, an event that brings together the automotive industry’s leading minds in technology to accelerate business and professional growth. Welcome Jennifer.
Jennifer Allen: Hey, thank you so much for having me.
Jeremy: Thanks for coming back. We had a great conversation around Tampa back in April and we were very much looking forward to having you back for this event.
Jennifer: Yeah, we’re excited to be back on the show, and we’re excited to have you guys back in Las Vegas too.
Who Attends Digital Dealer and What Makes It Special?
Jeremy: Yeah, that’s awesome. So just starting off and setting the stage here, who attends Digital Dealer and why?
Jennifer: So, at Digital Dealer, the main attendees are dealership professionals and OEM, so anyone from a GM in a leadership role; we have a lot of marketing, marketing managers, marketing directors; and then we also have sales teams as well, sales directors, sales professionals, that come to the show, and it’s anyone looking to get the latest and greatest in technology to enhance their operations at their dealerships.
Jeremy: What makes Digital Dealer such a special event?
Jennifer: I think one of the things that really makes it special — and I’m still fairly new to the show, I’ve been here a year – and to me it’s just amazing to see the camaraderie and the bonding and the networking that goes on at the show. I feel like every time I go it’s a reunion. Same thing how we met, and then we met in Tampa, and now we’re going to Las Vegas. Everyone goes and they’re excited to see each other. If you’re new, everyone’s so open and welcoming that you don’t even feel like you’re new after a day of being there, or even an hour. So, I love the networking and how much passion everybody has, to share knowledge with each other. If it’s through the sessions with the speakers, they just want to share knowledge because they want to help each other. If it’s networking people, I hear them say, “Let me know how I can help you.” Or vice versa. And so, it’s really cool just to see the whole industry come together to really help each other grow.
Jeremy: Yeah, I would co-sign all of that. I’m newer to the event myself. This will be my third Digital Dealer.
Jennifer: Mine too.
Jeremy: Yeah, that’s awesome. So, it’s been going on for quite some time before we were involved and I’ve found it to be very welcoming, just like what you said. And everyone’s willing to help. People were going out of their way to ask, “Hey, do you have everything you need? Do you have any feedback from the event?” It really seems like the folks, you and the rest of the team, really care about the event that you put out. And yeah, so I very much appreciate it on this side and I’m looking for that reunion as well, to connect with everybody, because you get to see these folks just a few times a year.
Jennifer: Exactly. That’s great. And we also added this year, we just did a first-time attendee orientation the other day, and we had a lot of people show up, so it was really cool. We did a Zoom training and we’re going to send that out to everybody. So, even if you’re not new, sometimes there’s good stuff to learn about going to the show. We’ve had a group of women that want to mentor other women coming into the industry or coming to the show and they want to hold a pre-conference Zoom to network and meet each other. So, when you do show up, you already know some people virtually and then they want to have a meeting at lunch. So, it’s really cool. Just like I said, everyone just wants to help each other and meet each other and network and help each other grow.
What’s New About Digital Dealer Las Vegas in 2022?
Jeremy: Well, that segues nicely into my next question. Is there anything new and exciting aside from what you just mentioned about this latest Digital Dealer event?
Jennifer: There are a couple of things. One of the newest things we’ve added to this show, we have what’s called the activation quest, and basically it is attendees, dealership and OEM attendees, have the opportunity to win $10,000. And to win this $10,000, there’s a number of things they can do to earn points and then there are thresholds with those points. So obviously the grand prize is $10,000, and you have to get a minimum number of points to be entered to win that. There are also other points after day one and day two. There’s a leader board, whoever has the most points, the top three of those days get a $50 gift card. And then also if you get past a certain threshold after day one and after day two you can be entered to win a pass to a 2023 Digital Dealer event. So, I think that’s going to be fun and exciting.
And ways you can earn points — there are 12 booths that if you go visit them, they’ll flash you their QR code and you scan it, get points. One of those booths is our Digital Dealer 360 photo booth. I don’t know if you’ve seen lately at weddings or sometimes at sports games or whatever they have the cameras that move around you in a circle, 360. They’re really fun. They’re really cool videos. So, we’ve added that, and if you post it to your social media, you get points that way. Even if you don’t post it and you don’t want to get the points, it’s still really fun and cool to have that video.
And then you can also get points by going to the opening keynote and other sessions that are listed on there as well. So that’s something new we’re doing. We think it’s going to be very interactive, very fun, get people moving around the floor. So that’s something new. We’re going to have a show pin, which we’ve never had in the past to give attendees. And we’re also giving attendees an electronic business card, which no one really knows about that yet, so that’s going to be fun and exciting. And it’s our way, our thank you gift, to our attendees for coming and hopefully using this electronic business card to help them with their business and networking and everything. So those are just a couple things that are going to be new.
Jeremy: I’m really glad I asked that question. So, there are games and adventures to be had. There are prizes to be won. We get one of those really cool pins I see everyone…they might have the car pin or these different certifications, so we can add that to our lapels or wherever. And then, yeah, it sounds like we’re breaking news here on the card.
Jennifer: The E-card and the show pin hasn’t really been announced. It’s okay if it’s out there. It’s more of a when you show up, “Here you go. This is a gift from us to you.”
What Are You Looking Forward to at Digital Dealer?
Jeremy: Very cool. That’s awesome. And so, making it a little personal to you, Jennifer, what are you most looking forward to out of this event?
Jennifer: As a marketer and this being my third show, and I came in about a month before the show last year, so it was kind of just get stuff done, and now that I’ve actually been through an entire cycle and I’ve been planning this one since day one from ground zero, it’s been really cool to see a lot of different ideas flourish and come to fruition. And for me it’ll be exciting to see the buzz on the expo hall, the full sessions and everything, to know that I helped generate all these people to come to the event and see some ideas that I’ve had come to action. So, it’ll just be really cool to see everything together. And then of course, networking. As we’ve mentioned, same thing, now I’m excited to see you when we go to the event because we’ve met and there’s a lot more people that I’ve met along the way too, so it’ll be a lot of fun to catch up with people.
Advice for Digital Dealer Attendees
Jeremy: That’s awesome. And a question that I always love to close with here, what advice would you give to attendees looking to get the most out of this experience?
Jennifer: So, to get the most out of the experience — once you register, you will be emailed a link to the app and the matchmaking platform. I would get in there, explore, learn how to use it. You can use it to match make before you even go to the show and start networking. Then you can go through and look at all the sessions that there are going to be, and you can sort them based on your interests, if you’re marketing, sales, general manager, and then also on a level of advanced or new in the area, and start making your schedule. Plan out before you get there so that when you’re there, you’re ready to go. There’s a lot of people, a lot of sessions, a lot of exhibitors, so try to plan that out before you go so you don’t miss anything.
Jeremy: I think that’s sage advice. It’s advice that we often receive some version of; make sure you plan ahead. The amount of work that you put in upfront, obviously you’re putting in a ton of work setting this event up, but for the attendees the more work that we do trying to game plan, strategize, understand who’s there, set up those meetings — that work up front, I think, goes a long way. Jennifer, this has been great. Thank you so much for bringing us through all of this. How can people connect with you and Digital Dealer?
Connect with Digital Dealer
Jennifer: So, I’m glad you asked, but when you register, you can go to digitaldealer.com. Use promo code EMPROMO6 and get $200 off registration. And that’s E as in elephant, M as in money, promo 6, and get $200 off your registration. And you can go to digitaldealer.com and find the registration there.
Jeremy: Thank you again, Jennifer. That is great stuff. And you can catch the PAL team at Digital Dealer Las Vegas 2022 at Booth 522, and anytime at preownedautologistics.com. Thank you for listening.
