Toronto, Ontario — April 17, 2019 — Niagara Falls was a magnetic attraction last week as more than 800 new car dealer personnel gathered to the Casino Niagara conference hall for the second annual Automotive Conference and Exposition (ACE).
The Trillium Auto Dealers Association (TADA) and Consolidated Dealers succeeded in putting this event together with a dual purpose, to inspire and motivate.
April 8, was a housekeeping day for the TADA and Consolidated Dealers as they both held their respective annual general meetings and board of directors’ meetings. The next day saw new car dealers’ delegates gather on the conference room floor where more than 80 auto industry vendors were showcasing what is new in the automotive dealership industry.
Inspiration was in the making as the main hall was filled to capacity when our first keynote speaker of the conference took to the stage. Rick Hansen, the “man in motion” told his story of courage, determination and beating the odds. The crowd was fixated on his every word and you could feel the energy and inspiration from Hansen radiating throughout the theatre. Immediately after his dynamic presentation, the group moved to the official kick-off welcome event on the main floor. Guests had a chance to get a photo from two Maple Leaf greats, Doug Gilmour and Al Iafrate, along with Boston Bruin great, Ray Bourkue and Daniel Nestor, one of Canada’s great tennis champions.
After the kick-off event patrons headed over to Margaritaville where all the dealer staff enjoyed a toe-tapping good time courtesy of Juno award-winning band, Honeymoon Suite. This native Niagara Falls rock band played all their hits and kept the energy going until close to 11 p.m.
Day two allowed more time for all the attendees to take in one or two customer experience sessions and to tour the tradeshow floor filled with vendors such as platinum sponsors, Cox Automotive, TradeRev, and Adesa. Our second featured keynote speaker took the stage after lunch in the main hall, the masses were entertained by none other than NHL All-Star Mark Messier. He spoke to the crowd about his love of hockey and his path taken on his way to six Stanley Cups as an Edmonton Oil and New York Ranger. He spoke that a good team has to trust all of their components to succeed. He also stated that the art of leadership is to find out what a person’s limitations are and then help them overcome the limitations so they can be the best they can be. In closing, Messier reminded the group that the three traits of a good leader are transparency, authenticity, and honesty. He then challenged the attendees to go back to their dealership and work on those three qualities to their teams.
Stay tuned for information about ACE 2020.
