What to Expect from Digital Dealer Tampa 2022
Jeremy Louisos, Senior VP of Preowned Auto Logistics, talks with Jennifer Allen, Marketing Manager of Digital Dealer, about the Tampa 2022 automotive industry conference 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 Tampa 2022, an event where thousands of professionals from leading dealerships in all facets of the automotive industry come together to learn and grow. Welcome, Jennifer.
Jennifer Allen: Hey, thank you so much.
What Is Digital Dealer All About?
Jeremy: Great. For those new to Digital Dealer, what is this event all about?
Jennifer: So, as you mentioned, we bring together dealerships, automotive dealers, OEMs, thought leaders, auto retail solution providers from all over the nation, to come together, share knowledge, help each other grow. We’ve got really great keynote speakers. The event’s also known for networking, top digital experts in the industry. So really just coming together, trying to educate each other, and help each other grow in the industry.
What’s Difference From Previous Years?
Jeremy: Well, that’s awesome. For those returning, what may be different this year than in previous years?
Jennifer: We have a new app this year. It’s an AI-powered matchmaking app. So you open up that app, you answer a couple questions, you kind of say what you’re looking for. If you’re an exhibitor, what type of clients you’re looking for. And if you’re going there as an attendee, you put what you’re looking to achieve when you get to the event and it’ll match you with people who are within your interest. So it will help you make those matches a little bit easier for your networking to help your business. That will be new.
For people that have been before, also we have keynote speakers from Google, Amazon. We have a panel of dealers, that’s “Ask the Dealer”. They’re just going to fire away and ask them a bunch of questions, get their knowledge. And then we also have speakers from NetApp and from Pinterest, and also from TikTok as well. So getting some of those different perspectives. And then sessions are always up-to-date, they’re always different. They’re the latest technology in the industry. So it’s always something new that you can learn in that space.
Jeremy: That’s awesome. I’ve had the opportunity to use some of these apps recently at other conferences and they’re hugely helpful. How would folks find this app or what would be the best way to prepare themselves as far as the app goes heading into the conference?
Jennifer: Once they register for the event, they will receive an email with information on how to log into their platform, which they can do from their desktop, from their laptop or their computer. Set up their profile and then there will also be a link and you’ll get an email on how to download or where to find that app in your App Store.
It is “Digital Dealer Conference” is what you would search for. That is not currently ready yet, but it’ll be rolled out very soon. But you can get your platform ready right away and you’ll get an email about that as soon as you register for the event.
Who Attends Digital Dealer?
Jeremy: Wow. That’s awesome. And the guest list sounds very exciting. What type of folks typically attend Digital Dealer?
Jennifer: We have dealerships from all over the nation. I was looking at the list, every dealership you can imagine. We have owners from dealerships. We’ve got a lot of marketing people from different dealerships that come to help their marketing departments, sales departments, operations, we have OEMs. Those are the typical attendees that come to our events. And then sometimes we have exhibitors as well that come to network with the attendees. So everybody comes together to meet and help each other out.
Jeremy: And from your perspective, what would you say you’re looking forward to the most?
Jennifer: As a marketer, starting from the very beginning of this event and strategizing how to get people to it and what we want them to get out of it, and marketing that to the people and getting in front of our dealers and OEMs that we want to help flourish from coming to this event, seeing all of them come and walking through an expo hall full of people, full of buzz and talking. Seeing expo halls full of people there for the keynote speakers, seeing people network and smiling and just having a great time. That’s what I look forward to is seeing all of my hard work from the very beginning, coming to flourish, to bring all these people together in the industry.
Jeremy: That is awesome. And how many folks typically would attend an event like this?
Jennifer: Typically, we have about a thousand attendees.
Advice for Digital Dealer Attendees
Jeremy: Yeah. Wow. That’s awesome. And with so much going on and so much look forward to, what advice would you give attendees looking to get the most out of this experience?
Jennifer: So, the first thing I would tell them to do is look through the sessions. They are set up by different pillars. So we have a sales track, we have a marketing track, and then we have a leadership track. So find out which one you want to be part of, look at what sessions we have to offer in those areas. Of course, you can go to other ones if you want to cross over.
But look through the sessions, read the descriptions, make your schedule, figure out which ones you want to go to. I would also recommend visiting all the exhibitors, explore all the different innovative solutions that we’ve brought together. And ask questions, learn from your peers and network. That’s the biggest thing I can recommend. Build solid connections that you can reach out to when you go back to your dealership.
I know I was reading through the testimonials and one person said, “I couldn’t get enough. I just was asking all these questions in different rooms, different panels, and just hearing people in the audience asking questions or giving answers.” There’s some roundtable discussions where the person that’s running it will ask questions and they’re trying to get answers back from the attendees in the room so that they can share knowledge and experience with each other.
So I would recommend if somebody says something you really like, go up to them afterwards and introduce yourself, talk to them, network, get their information and then keep in touch and reach out to them when you get back to your dealership.
Jeremy: That’s awesome. That’s great advice. We’ll be sure to ask lots of questions when we’re at Digital Dealer Tampa. But for right now, I just have one more question for you, Jennifer, if I may. This has really been great and thank you so much for bringing us through all this. How can people connect with you and Digital Dealer?
Jennifer: So, you can register on DigitalDealer.com. There’s a registration button on there. And we do have a special promo code for this audience. You can get $200 off your registration by using promo code EM200WEB. Again, that’s EM200WEB. So use that promo code EM200WEB and you can get $200 off your registration. Again, go to DigitalDealer.com.
Jeremy: That is awesome. We’ll be sure to include that in our notes. And you can catch the PAL team at Digital Dealer Tampa 2022 booth 533 and anytime at PreownedAutoLogistics.com. Thanks for listening.
