Meeting Minute With Marilu

PHEW! It’s official. Auto Remarketing’s largest event of the year, Used Car Week (three conferences rolled into one week) is DONE! Technically, if you keep up with the blog then you know…an event is never really “done”. There are still post conference surveys to send, attendee lists to release, next year’s event details to share, etc.. But, I digress. Like i said, for now UCW 2012 is done.

Of course I have a biased opinion, but I think the week went pretty well! The Phoenician is a beautiful property with newly renovated conference space and meeting staff that is bar none. Camelback mountain offered a stunning backdrop, and Arizona’s sunny 70 degree weather didn’t hurt either. Most importantly, sponsors, exhibitors, speakers and attendees really seemed to enjoy themselves. At the very least I can personally assure you that everyone was well fed throughout the day and offered a cold beverage after a long day of conferencing.

As with every year and every event, we continuously find opportunities to make the next event run a little bit smoother. A quick sampling of  things we picked up on this year:

1. Placing the help desk right next to the restroom is not a good idea.
2. Make sure to check your directional signage daily. I can’t imagine why, but apparently, two directionals side-by-side and pointing at each other can be confusing. Doesn’t everyone have the hotel layout memorized?
3. Don’t worry about saving power point files with corresponding names to sessions for AV techs. Just numerical order and room assignments will do.

As usual, it was great to catch up with some old faces, make some new friends, experience a new property and get one more year with the Auto Remarketing conference group under my belt. You guys are a riot, and a handful, all at once.

At my post-conference meeting with the hotel they just looked at me and said “Wow, that is a fun group of attendees.”

I simply smiled back and said “I know.”