The SEMA Industry Awards Banquet is the automotive specialty-equipment market’s premier awards ceremony where industry excellence and achievements are celebrated. Held annually on Thursday evening during the week of the SEMA Show, the event is the industry’s single largest gala attended by nearly 3,000 automotive icons, professionals, supporters and celebrities.

Tickets are available to SEMA Showgoers and include a formal sit-down dinner. The program also includes the announcement of the SEMA Person of the Year, Manufacturer of the Year, WD of the Year, Manufacturers’ Rep of the Year, Gen III of the Year and tributes to this year’s SEMA Hall of Fame inductees: Matt Agosta, Chip Foose and Gary Hooker.

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. In this weeks’s video, Peter Sweatman from the University of Michigan discusses the opportunities for specialty-equipment companies through M-City, a unique facility that tests automated vehicle enhancements in an environment that mimics real-world conditions.

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. In this weeks’s video, Peter Sweatman from the University of Michigan discusses the opportunities for specialty-equipment companies through M-City, a unique facility that tests automated vehicle enhancements in an environment that mimics real-world conditions.

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. In this weeks’s video, Peter Sweatman from the University of Michigan discusses the opportunities for specialty-equipment companies through M-City, a unique facility that tests automated vehicle enhancements in an environment that mimics real-world conditions.

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. In this weeks’s video, Peter Sweatman from the University of Michigan discusses the opportunities for specialty-equipment companies through M-City, a unique facility that tests automated vehicle enhancements in an environment that mimics real-world conditions.

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 Carr Winn

There is no easier way to get the attention of more buyers than placing your latest innovations and signature products in the SEMA Show’s New Product Showcase.

For exhibitors, one of the main goals of the SEMA Show is to get their new products in front of buyers. One of the most powerful ways to accomplish this ambition is to enter a new product in the SEMA Show’s New Product Showcase.

Open one hour before the main halls of the Las Vegas Convention Center, and one hour after, the Showcase is the premiere destination for buyers and media to make decisions about which exhibitors to place on their personal can’t-miss list. In fact, research shows that 70% of buyers review products in the Showcase, and their visit to the Showcase influences more than half of these buyers to go see an exhibitor’s booth.

According to SEMA Show Operations Manager Brendan Gillespie, the New Products Showcase allows buyers the opportunity to actually scan the barcodes associated with individual products, similar to a wedding registry, and then print their list of favorites.

“When you’re done with the scanner, you return it to one of the scanner desks and you can get a printout of all the products that you scanned,” explained Gillespie. “It makes it much easier to navigate to exhibitors’ booths.”

Registering a product in the New Products Showcase actually increases your footprint as an exhibitor. Beyond just the physical location of your booth, it places your products in one of the most prominent display areas in the Las Vegas Convention Center. As added value for all exhibitors, the Showcase includes a Featured Products section for previously-introduced products, providing companies the opportunity to highlight a signature product to buyers who are new to the Show.

More questions? Additional information on the New Product Showcase is available online or you can contact Brendan Gillespie at brendang@sema.org.

By Carr Winn

There is no easier way to get the attention of more buyers than placing your latest innovations and signature products in the SEMA Show’s New Product Showcase.

For exhibitors, one of the main goals of the SEMA Show is to get their new products in front of buyers. One of the most powerful ways to accomplish this ambition is to enter a new product in the SEMA Show’s New Product Showcase.

Open one hour before the main halls of the Las Vegas Convention Center, and one hour after, the Showcase is the premiere destination for buyers and media to make decisions about which exhibitors to place on their personal can’t-miss list. In fact, research shows that 70% of buyers review products in the Showcase, and their visit to the Showcase influences more than half of these buyers to go see an exhibitor’s booth.

According to SEMA Show Operations Manager Brendan Gillespie, the New Products Showcase allows buyers the opportunity to actually scan the barcodes associated with individual products, similar to a wedding registry, and then print their list of favorites.

“When you’re done with the scanner, you return it to one of the scanner desks and you can get a printout of all the products that you scanned,” explained Gillespie. “It makes it much easier to navigate to exhibitors’ booths.”

Registering a product in the New Products Showcase actually increases your footprint as an exhibitor. Beyond just the physical location of your booth, it places your products in one of the most prominent display areas in the Las Vegas Convention Center. As added value for all exhibitors, the Showcase includes a Featured Products section for previously-introduced products, providing companies the opportunity to highlight a signature product to buyers who are new to the Show.

More questions? Additional information on the New Product Showcase is available online or you can contact Brendan Gillespie at brendang@sema.org.

By Carr Winn

There is no easier way to get the attention of more buyers than placing your latest innovations and signature products in the SEMA Show’s New Product Showcase.

For exhibitors, one of the main goals of the SEMA Show is to get their new products in front of buyers. One of the most powerful ways to accomplish this ambition is to enter a new product in the SEMA Show’s New Product Showcase.

Open one hour before the main halls of the Las Vegas Convention Center, and one hour after, the Showcase is the premiere destination for buyers and media to make decisions about which exhibitors to place on their personal can’t-miss list. In fact, research shows that 70% of buyers review products in the Showcase, and their visit to the Showcase influences more than half of these buyers to go see an exhibitor’s booth.

According to SEMA Show Operations Manager Brendan Gillespie, the New Products Showcase allows buyers the opportunity to actually scan the barcodes associated with individual products, similar to a wedding registry, and then print their list of favorites.

“When you’re done with the scanner, you return it to one of the scanner desks and you can get a printout of all the products that you scanned,” explained Gillespie. “It makes it much easier to navigate to exhibitors’ booths.”

Registering a product in the New Products Showcase actually increases your footprint as an exhibitor. Beyond just the physical location of your booth, it places your products in one of the most prominent display areas in the Las Vegas Convention Center. As added value for all exhibitors, the Showcase includes a Featured Products section for previously-introduced products, providing companies the opportunity to highlight a signature product to buyers who are new to the Show.

More questions? Additional information on the New Product Showcase is available online or you can contact Brendan Gillespie at brendang@sema.org.

Your first entry in the New Products Showcase is free. All additional entries are $75 per product category if received by Friday, October 7, $150 thereafter. Entries submitted on-site will be accepted on a space-available basis.

More About the New Products Showcase

Location and Check-in System—The 2016 New Products Showcase will be located on the Skybridge of the Las Vegas Convention Center, between Central and South Halls. The location allows organizers to streamline the product check-in/-out system, resulting in a faster and easier process for exhibitors.

Option to Ship Products—Exhibitors can have their product(s) shipped to the Showcase in advance. Once on-site, they will need to visit the Showcase prior to Monday, October 31, at 3:00 p.m., to unpack and check-in the product(s), but the product(s) will already be waiting in the Showcase area. At the end of the Show, exhibitors also can skip product check-out and choose to have UPS package and ship the product(s) on their behalf.

Exposure for Your Existing Products—The “Featured Products” category provides an avenue to allow for products that do not meet the criteria for “new” to be included. A little more than 20% of all Show buyers will attend the Show for the first time in 2016, so the Featured Product category is valuable for promoting an existing line to new customers.

For more information on the New Products Showcase, Featured Products, or to enter a product, click here.

Your first entry in the New Products Showcase is free. All additional entries are $75 per product category if received by Friday, October 7, $150 thereafter. Entries submitted on-site will be accepted on a space-available basis.

More About the New Products Showcase

Location and Check-in System—The 2016 New Products Showcase will be located on the Skybridge of the Las Vegas Convention Center, between Central and South Halls. The location allows organizers to streamline the product check-in/-out system, resulting in a faster and easier process for exhibitors.

Option to Ship Products—Exhibitors can have their product(s) shipped to the Showcase in advance. Once on-site, they will need to visit the Showcase prior to Monday, October 31, at 3:00 p.m., to unpack and check-in the product(s), but the product(s) will already be waiting in the Showcase area. At the end of the Show, exhibitors also can skip product check-out and choose to have UPS package and ship the product(s) on their behalf.

Exposure for Your Existing Products—The “Featured Products” category provides an avenue to allow for products that do not meet the criteria for “new” to be included. A little more than 20% of all Show buyers will attend the Show for the first time in 2016, so the Featured Product category is valuable for promoting an existing line to new customers.

For more information on the New Products Showcase, Featured Products, or to enter a product, click here.