By Jason Catullo

The last day for exhibitors to receive the advance rate for lead-retrieval rentals is September 19.

Here are the 2016 SEMA Show exhibitor deadlines that are approaching in September. Key deadlines include the opportunity to receive a discount on lead-retrieval rentals, and the application for companies that plan to display a vehicle in their booth. For more information about the 2016 SEMA Show, visit www.SEMAShow.com.

• September 2: Show Directory Advertising Materials Due
• September 7: Exhibit Design Notification (Required for exhibits 20x20-ft. or larger)
• September 9: Hanging Sign Design Notification Form to Show Management
• September 16: Booth Vehicle Display Application (Vehicles displayed in booths)
• September 19: Lead Retrieval Rental (Advance Rate) — CompuSystems
• September 22: Freight – Freeman Warehouse – First day to accept advance freight   
• September 30: Student Program (Interns)
• September 30: Fabric Solutions – Freeman
• September 30: Target Move-in Date Changes – Freeman

To view a complete list of SEMA Show exhibitor deadlines, use the Exhibitor Deadlines Checklist.

By SEMA Editors

The SEMA Show annually includes Education Days—a complete lineup of educational sessions covering topics ranging from customer service and marketing, to cash flow and industry trends. Conducted by industry leaders and business experts from across the globe, the seminars are designed to help attendees sell more, be more productive, and prepare for emerging trends and opportunities.

SEMA Education will include SEMA Biz Tips weekly in SEMA eNews. Many of the experts featured in SEMA Biz Tips videos conducted seminars at the 2015 SEMA Show. This week, Mike Brown of the The Brainzooming Group discusses how businesses that focus on periodically asking the question “what are we trying to achieve?” can lead to better feedback and more innovative thinking companywide.

The 2016 SEMA Show will be held November 1–4, 2016, in Las Vegas. Exhibitors: buy a booth now!

To learn more about SEMA’s education resources, visit www.sema.org/education. Additional Biz Tips videos are available to view at www.sema.org/biz-tips.

By SEMA Editors

The SEMA Show annually includes Education Days—a complete lineup of educational sessions covering topics ranging from customer service and marketing, to cash flow and industry trends. Conducted by industry leaders and business experts from across the globe, the seminars are designed to help attendees sell more, be more productive, and prepare for emerging trends and opportunities.

SEMA Education will include SEMA Biz Tips weekly in SEMA eNews. Many of the experts featured in SEMA Biz Tips videos conducted seminars at the 2015 SEMA Show. This week, Mike Brown of the The Brainzooming Group discusses how businesses that focus on periodically asking the question “what are we trying to achieve?” can lead to better feedback and more innovative thinking companywide.

The 2016 SEMA Show will be held November 1–4, 2016, in Las Vegas. Exhibitors: buy a booth now!

To learn more about SEMA’s education resources, visit www.sema.org/education. Additional Biz Tips videos are available to view at www.sema.org/biz-tips.

By SEMA Editors

The SEMA Show annually includes Education Days—a complete lineup of educational sessions covering topics ranging from customer service and marketing, to cash flow and industry trends. Conducted by industry leaders and business experts from across the globe, the seminars are designed to help attendees sell more, be more productive, and prepare for emerging trends and opportunities.

SEMA Education will include SEMA Biz Tips weekly in SEMA eNews. Many of the experts featured in SEMA Biz Tips videos conducted seminars at the 2015 SEMA Show. This week, Mike Brown of the The Brainzooming Group discusses how businesses that focus on periodically asking the question “what are we trying to achieve?” can lead to better feedback and more innovative thinking companywide.

The 2016 SEMA Show will be held November 1–4, 2016, in Las Vegas. Exhibitors: buy a booth now!

To learn more about SEMA’s education resources, visit www.sema.org/education. Additional Biz Tips videos are available to view at www.sema.org/biz-tips.

By SEMA Editors

The SEMA Show annually includes Education Days—a complete lineup of educational sessions covering topics ranging from customer service and marketing, to cash flow and industry trends. Conducted by industry leaders and business experts from across the globe, the seminars are designed to help attendees sell more, be more productive, and prepare for emerging trends and opportunities.

SEMA Education will include SEMA Biz Tips weekly in SEMA eNews. Many of the experts featured in SEMA Biz Tips videos conducted seminars at the 2015 SEMA Show. This week, Mike Brown of the The Brainzooming Group discusses how businesses that focus on periodically asking the question “what are we trying to achieve?” can lead to better feedback and more innovative thinking companywide.

The 2016 SEMA Show will be held November 1–4, 2016, in Las Vegas. Exhibitors: buy a booth now!

To learn more about SEMA’s education resources, visit www.sema.org/education. Additional Biz Tips videos are available to view at www.sema.org/biz-tips.

By Michael Hart

Rick Hogan

Rick Hogan has spent his entire career in the automotive aftermarket industry, and has enjoyed every minute of it. As national sales manager for E3 Spark Plugs, he took the company from launch to a multi-million-dollar business in just seven years.

But then, in a freak accident in 2011, Hogan fell from the roof of his home in Orlando, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down. With severe limitations on his ability to travel, Hogan, 59, has found it hard to keep his career on track.

The Automotive Aftermarket Charitable Foundation (AACF) is assisting Hogan and his wife Cindy. The AACF was founded in 1959 to help automotive aftermarket industry members and families who, due to catastrophic illness or accident, have exhausted all other available financial resources.

“They’ve helped us with a lot of the rehab and treatments that insurance traditionally won’t pay for,” Hogan said.

And the SEMA Career Center is pitching in to help him get his career back on track. Over the next weeks and months, the Career Center will help Hogan create a job profile, update his résumé, optimize his LinkedIn profile, create a cover letter and help him find his next opportunity.

“This is about using the resources available through the SEMA Career Center to connect Rick to the right company, and a position for him to excel in,” said Zane Clark, SEMA’s senior director of education. “Rick has a wealth of knowledge and a vast industry network that could be a real benefit,” Clark added.   

Hogan, who began working in the automotive industry during his high-school years, has devoted decades to industry sales and marketing, but he’s willing to be creative in the future about how he can best serve the business that means so much to him.

“I’ve spent my whole life in this industry, and I really don’t want to leave it,” he said. “I’ll do anything I can think of to stick with it.”

Visit the SEMA Career Center to find qualified employees like Rick Hogan.

For questions, contact Zane Clark.

By Michael Hart

Rick Hogan

Rick Hogan has spent his entire career in the automotive aftermarket industry, and has enjoyed every minute of it. As national sales manager for E3 Spark Plugs, he took the company from launch to a multi-million-dollar business in just seven years.

But then, in a freak accident in 2011, Hogan fell from the roof of his home in Orlando, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down. With severe limitations on his ability to travel, Hogan, 59, has found it hard to keep his career on track.

The Automotive Aftermarket Charitable Foundation (AACF) is assisting Hogan and his wife Cindy. The AACF was founded in 1959 to help automotive aftermarket industry members and families who, due to catastrophic illness or accident, have exhausted all other available financial resources.

“They’ve helped us with a lot of the rehab and treatments that insurance traditionally won’t pay for,” Hogan said.

And the SEMA Career Center is pitching in to help him get his career back on track. Over the next weeks and months, the Career Center will help Hogan create a job profile, update his résumé, optimize his LinkedIn profile, create a cover letter and help him find his next opportunity.

“This is about using the resources available through the SEMA Career Center to connect Rick to the right company, and a position for him to excel in,” said Zane Clark, SEMA’s senior director of education. “Rick has a wealth of knowledge and a vast industry network that could be a real benefit,” Clark added.   

Hogan, who began working in the automotive industry during his high-school years, has devoted decades to industry sales and marketing, but he’s willing to be creative in the future about how he can best serve the business that means so much to him.

“I’ve spent my whole life in this industry, and I really don’t want to leave it,” he said. “I’ll do anything I can think of to stick with it.”

Visit the SEMA Career Center to find qualified employees like Rick Hogan.

For questions, contact Zane Clark.

By Michael Hart

The 2016 SEMA Show education session entitled “Working with YouTube and Facebook Stars to Reach the Next Generation of Automotive Enthusiasts” will show attendees how they can turn social media into money in their pockets.

By now, everyone should be marketing their businesses on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. Guys such as ChrisFix, EricTheCarGuy and Jason Fenske are “influencers” in the automotive aftermarket industry who sometimes reach millions of people with a single YouTube video.

The 2016 SEMA Show education session entitled “Working with YouTube and Facebook Stars to Reach the Next Generation of Automotive Enthusiasts,” Wednesday, November 2, at 9:00 a.m., will show attendees how they can turn the strange new world of social media into money in their pockets.

“Social media is a marketing channel you can use,” said Joe Franzetta who, along with Steven Kuo, runs Garage Monkey, a company that connects social-media influencers—a.k.a. YouTube and Facebook stars—with aftermarket companies that can benefit from being associated with them.

“We’re going to break down the barriers and help you figure out how to harness this new phenomenon,” Franzetta said of the conference session. “This is social-media content marketing 101. If you don’t know what an influencer is, you’ll learn.”

Franzetta and Kuo will also have with them at the session some of the biggest stars of the aftermarket social media world. Among others, attendees will hear from ChrisFix, whose YouTube channel has 1 million subscribers, and Jason Fenske of Engineering Explained, who aired a video he produced at the Montreal Formula 1 race and got 1.5 million views in the first week. Add Matt Myrick of BustedKnuckleVideo and Matt Maranowski of SubaruWRXFan, and these influencers get 35 million views per month on YouTube and Facebook.

Franzetta, Kuo and the social-media stars will show attendees how to take advantage of social media to reach customers in a way traditional media no longer can.

“This is the magazine of the 21st century,” Franzetta said.

They will answer important questions, including:

• Why is social media even important to me?
• How can I get one of these guys to put my product in front of their audience?
• How much will it cost? And what’s the return for me?

For complete information on all the 2016 SEMA Show education tracks, visit SEMA Show Education.

By Michael Hart

The 2016 SEMA Show education session entitled “Working with YouTube and Facebook Stars to Reach the Next Generation of Automotive Enthusiasts” will show attendees how they can turn social media into money in their pockets.

By now, everyone should be marketing their businesses on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. Guys such as ChrisFix, EricTheCarGuy and Jason Fenske are “influencers” in the automotive aftermarket industry who sometimes reach millions of people with a single YouTube video.

The 2016 SEMA Show education session entitled “Working with YouTube and Facebook Stars to Reach the Next Generation of Automotive Enthusiasts,” Wednesday, November 2, at 9:00 a.m., will show attendees how they can turn the strange new world of social media into money in their pockets.

“Social media is a marketing channel you can use,” said Joe Franzetta who, along with Steven Kuo, runs Garage Monkey, a company that connects social-media influencers—a.k.a. YouTube and Facebook stars—with aftermarket companies that can benefit from being associated with them.

“We’re going to break down the barriers and help you figure out how to harness this new phenomenon,” Franzetta said of the conference session. “This is social-media content marketing 101. If you don’t know what an influencer is, you’ll learn.”

Franzetta and Kuo will also have with them at the session some of the biggest stars of the aftermarket social media world. Among others, attendees will hear from ChrisFix, whose YouTube channel has 1 million subscribers, and Jason Fenske of Engineering Explained, who aired a video he produced at the Montreal Formula 1 race and got 1.5 million views in the first week. Add Matt Myrick of BustedKnuckleVideo and Matt Maranowski of SubaruWRXFan, and these influencers get 35 million views per month on YouTube and Facebook.

Franzetta, Kuo and the social-media stars will show attendees how to take advantage of social media to reach customers in a way traditional media no longer can.

“This is the magazine of the 21st century,” Franzetta said.

They will answer important questions, including:

• Why is social media even important to me?
• How can I get one of these guys to put my product in front of their audience?
• How much will it cost? And what’s the return for me?

For complete information on all the 2016 SEMA Show education tracks, visit SEMA Show Education.

By Michael Hart

The 2016 SEMA Show education session entitled “Working with YouTube and Facebook Stars to Reach the Next Generation of Automotive Enthusiasts” will show attendees how they can turn social media into money in their pockets.

By now, everyone should be marketing their businesses on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. Guys such as ChrisFix, EricTheCarGuy and Jason Fenske are “influencers” in the automotive aftermarket industry who sometimes reach millions of people with a single YouTube video.

The 2016 SEMA Show education session entitled “Working with YouTube and Facebook Stars to Reach the Next Generation of Automotive Enthusiasts,” Wednesday, November 2, at 9:00 a.m., will show attendees how they can turn the strange new world of social media into money in their pockets.

“Social media is a marketing channel you can use,” said Joe Franzetta who, along with Steven Kuo, runs Garage Monkey, a company that connects social-media influencers—a.k.a. YouTube and Facebook stars—with aftermarket companies that can benefit from being associated with them.

“We’re going to break down the barriers and help you figure out how to harness this new phenomenon,” Franzetta said of the conference session. “This is social-media content marketing 101. If you don’t know what an influencer is, you’ll learn.”

Franzetta and Kuo will also have with them at the session some of the biggest stars of the aftermarket social media world. Among others, attendees will hear from ChrisFix, whose YouTube channel has 1 million subscribers, and Jason Fenske of Engineering Explained, who aired a video he produced at the Montreal Formula 1 race and got 1.5 million views in the first week. Add Matt Myrick of BustedKnuckleVideo and Matt Maranowski of SubaruWRXFan, and these influencers get 35 million views per month on YouTube and Facebook.

Franzetta, Kuo and the social-media stars will show attendees how to take advantage of social media to reach customers in a way traditional media no longer can.

“This is the magazine of the 21st century,” Franzetta said.

They will answer important questions, including:

• Why is social media even important to me?
• How can I get one of these guys to put my product in front of their audience?
• How much will it cost? And what’s the return for me?

For complete information on all the 2016 SEMA Show education tracks, visit SEMA Show Education.