I’ve just caught my breathe. The event is over. 12 months of planning is complete.
And now it’s time to sit back and hear some feedback.
Conferences are a lot more work than they look like, let me tell you. This blog post will highlight the day itself and a brief summary on the speakers.
Karbaum wins an Apple TV
**Disclaimer – This is a friggin long post.
After the inaugural DealerTalk conference last March I really thought it would be almost impossible to “one up” the event this time.
First off there was no Grant Cardone this year.
I received many tweets, emails, and phone calls saying we had to have Grant back.
“That’s the only reason we went” – was some of the common feedback from dealers.
Now I love me some Grant Cardone, but I really wanted to put a fresh line up in place and expose Canadian dealers to some fresh faces. Grant Cardone 2015?? Who knows?
Last summer…….
Yes you heard me right. The summer of 2013 is when I started hashing out what this year’s conference might look like.
Who would speak? How much would we charge? Where would we hold the event? These were the questions that filled the whiteboard.
At the time it seemed crazy to me that we were worrying about this 10 months prior to DealerTalk 2014 but it paid off in a big way. Check out some video highlights below.
DealerTalk, March 4, 2014 from Kijiji Autos on Vimeo.
New Website please
One thing that we did agree on was that DealerTalk needed a new website.
If DealerTalk was going to be a brand that we would continue to build on for years to come, we needed step up our image, and fast.
The original DealerTalk site was functional. You landed on it. You signed up. Or you didn’t. In the words of Forrest Gump, “that’s all I have to say about that”.
I’m happy with how the website turned out but I do want to add a blog/news component that will allow us to publish updates, video coverage, DealerTalk webinars, and other cool dealer stuff.
More to come on that…..
Location, Location, Location
We ended up using The Four Seasons last year by a complete fluke.
Were you aware of that??? The original DealerTalk was supposed to take place at the Sony Centre. Hey, it was our first one and we were shooting for the stars.
Have you been to the Sony Centre?
Let’s just put it this way, there would probably be a few empty seats. The Sony Centre is usually reserved for Jerry Seinfeld doing standup or Broadway shows.
Anyway, we were in a bind and the wonderful crew at FFAM (agency that helps put this show together) came up with a few spots.
Royal York? Nah too old.
Westin Harborfront? Have you seen the traffic on Queens Quay (pronounced “Key”)? No thanks.
Best Western in Mississauga, come on this is DealerTalk!!
What about the new Four Seasons???
Scott (my boss and partner in crime on this conference) and I agreed this could be a good possibility. I was concerned it wouldn’t be large enough to accommodate 250-300 guests, maybe I was still smoking the Sony Centre pipe, who knows.
