Regina, Saksatchewan — The Saskatchewan Association of Automotive Repairers (SAAR) is already gearing up for its annual spring conference, which will be held on Friday, Mar. 13 and Saturday, Mar. 14 in Regina.
The two-day conference will kick off with featured speaker Mike Anderson, CEO of Collision Advice.
In his Friday seminar, which will discuss the latest collision repair industry trends, Anderson is also expected to share his own insights and new information on what the industry-level key performance indicators (KPIs) mean for business owners.
This is Mike’s second visit to SAAR; he spoke two years ago in Moose Jaw at SAAR’s Spring Conference and had people buzzing for months afterwards.
On Friday evening Frank Terlep, automotive industry executive, entrepreneur, author and self-proclaimed disruptor will also deliver a presentation. Terlep, current role, has spent his career looking into the future of the industry and filling in the blanks to discover what the industry needs to do to get there.
Terlep will give a brief overview of his new book, Auto Industry Disruption: Who and What is Being Disrupted and What to Do About It. He will explain how the entire automotive industry is changing before our eyes—in ways that are more profound than ever before.
On Saturday morning, SGI will take the stage to give an update on the ongoing accreditation program, while simultaneously highlighting new offerings and KPIs that will help shops differentiate from one another.
Scott Nolin from Saskatchewan Apprenticeship and Trades will also be in attendance to share some of the changes posed for the auto body training curriculum given rapidly advancing technology in the industry.
The folks from Saskatchewan Polytechnic will also introduce some new training opportunities planned for the collision sector this year.
Larry Wells, the director of the Canada-Saskatchewan Job Grant unit will share some information on how his organization can assist body shops with upcoming training costs.
Mike Gilliland from AutoHouse Technologies will bring shops up to date on the KPI study that his company is doing for the Western provinces and where Saskatchewan fits into that picture.
Tom Julius will be giving shops an update on the Car-Part Pro program that SGI has adopted.
Dave Flockhart will be on hand to report on the recent and upcoming Betag Advanced Metal repair training being done in cooperation with Sask Polytechnic.
“The key to staying relevant in the collision industry today is knowledge,” Tom Bissonnette, executive director for SAAR. “Knowing what is going on and why is critical for today’s body shop owner. SAAR is committed to helping our members get the information they need to not only survive but in fact thrive in the fast-changing collision repair industry.”
Registration for the conference has not yet opened—but keep an eye out! According to SAAR, registration info should be available by the end of this week.
