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SEMA has worked with various Las Vegas hotels to accommodate attendees of the 2008 SEMA Show with their trailer and rig parking requirements.

Attendees will be able to park their trailers and rigs at the following hotels and travel stations:

• Alexis Park Resort Hotel
• Gold Coast Hotel and Casino 
• Imperial Palace ($100/day)
• Las Vegas Hilton 
• Planet Hollywood 
• Rio ($100/day)
• Station Casinos 
• Westin
• Wild Wild West Gambling Hall and Hotel ($100/day)
• Flying J Travel Plaza
  

For more questions regarding trailer and rig parking during the SEMA Show, contact ConvExx show management at 702/450-7762.

To learn more details about the SEMA Show, visit www.SEMAShow.com.

Customer satisfaction has always been the bottom line of any successful business. Understanding your customers’ opinions on your company’s products and services can help you edge ahead of your competition. Tune into the following webinar to discover a disciplined approach for using customer satisfaction measurements to unleash future sales for your business. 

Title: “Listen to Your Customers, Their Opinions Really Do Matter”
Date: Thursday, September 18, 2008, 10:00-a.m.-11:00 a.m. (PDT)
Presenter: Joe Bates and Charles Colby of Rockbridge Associates

Click here to register.

SEMA's Webinar Program: The SEMA webinar program brings the world-class business seminars featured during the SEMA Show right to your desktop. Different business-building sessions are constantly added to the program, offering members the latest insight and practices from today’s leading speakers.

All SEMA webinars are conducted live and are open to all employees of SEMA-member companies free of charge. To participate, all you need is a computer with Internet access and a telephone. All previous SEMA webinars are available for download by clicking here. To view upcoming presentations that you can attend via telephone and Internet, click here.

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To assist members that are apprehensive about how to maintain their business in the months to come, SEMA hosted the “Little Things to do to Make 2009 Turn Out Fine” webinar, presented by small business consultant Tom Shay of Profits Plus.

“In this session, Tom teaches us how making small changes to your current day-to-day business operations can increase your profits in 2009 and also focus on the things you need to do, what not to do and the things you should stop doing,” said Nathan Ridnouer, SEMA senior director of member services.

Shay presented the following 10 tips to help protect and grow your business:

1. Change your attitude about what you see, what you hear and what you read. The media is telling us different things. Don’t read the daily newspaper. Read something that will help make your business better and more profitable - business and management books.
2. Take business away from those willing to lose. You will win big by taking business from those that are hesitant and unwilling to move forward.
3. Never forget a customer and never let a customer forget you. Get existing customers to spend more money with you.
4. Don’t stop advertising. Keeping the stone rolling is easier than getting it rolling again. 
5. Think twice before you change your target customer or before you go for an item and price. It isn’t easy to go back once the market improves – it’s often a one-way street. 
6. Make up your mind to act decidedly and take the consequences. Challenging times require radical thinking and actions.
7. If it’s not working, get rid of it and stop doing it. Don’t be persistent with something that isn’t successful. 
8. Listen to your instincts. What’s not working in your business? What are your employees telling you? Are you asking them?
9. Look for every expense possible to eliminate. Try zero-based budgeting.
10. You have to understand the financials, create a budget and utilize a projectionary cashflow plan. Don’t rely on your accountant to watch your business for you.
    

For an audio or PDF download of this webinar, click here.

Also, don’t miss the following upcoming webinars (all times PDT):
Thursday, September 18—“Listen to Your Customers: Their Opinions Really Do Matter” 10:00 a.m.
Thursday, October 2—“U.S. and the World Economy: Will They Shift Forward?” 10:00 a.m.

Also, take advantage of more than 60 FREE educational seminars that will be presented at the 2008 SEMA Show. For a full list of the seminars, click here.

Prototypes of the so-called "Baby Rolls" are busy testing, wearing much less camouflage than ever before, according to spy shooter Brenda Priddy. The new and slightly less formal Rolls-Royce will likely ride on BMW’s long-wheelbase 7 Series platform, and pricing will start in the low $300,000 range. Production is now expected to begin in 2010, with an annual run of 800 vehicles. Although that sounds low, Priddy says this should double Rolls-Royce’s annual sales.

Why lose market share to counterfeit or knockoff products?

SEMA has assembled an all-star cast of experts to help you learn how to protect your intellectual property through patents, trademarks, and copyrights. This invaluable seminar, scheduled Monday, November 3, a day before the 2008 SEMA Show begins, will allow you to focus on this important topic without worrying about lost Show sales.

Expert panelists with first-hand knowledge of the specialty-equipment market will cover the basics, from deciding what kind of IP needs protection, registering your IP with the proper government authorities, and developing a plan to enforce your IP rights.

The panelists will also share valuable tips on working with United States Customs and other agencies to help stop the importation of counterfeit or infringing products.

SEMA Show Attendees: Click here to register now (log-in required)!

What: "From Registration to Litigation: How to Safeguard Your Company Against Illegal Knockoffs and Counterfeits."
When: Monday, November 3, 2008, 8:30 a.m.—10:00 a.m.
Where: Las Vegas Convention Center N255-257
Who:

• Stuart Gosswein, SEMA (moderator)
• Merritt R. Blakeslee, deKieffer & Horgan
• Steven D. Lustig, Dickinson Wright
• Christopher Robertson, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (invited)
• Robert J. Roby, Knobbe Martens Olson & Bear
  

For more information, contact Stuart Gosswein: stuartg@sema.org.

THE CHAMP: Despite losing the race to Helio Castroneves in a photo finish Sunday at Chicagoland Speedway, Scott Dixon wrapped up his second IRL IndyCar Series championship.

RIDE SWAPS: Dario Franchitti, the 2007 IndyCar Series and Indy 500 champion, will return to the series full-time next season. Franchitti, who tried his hand at NASCAR stock-car racing this season, will replace Dan Wheldon in the second Target Chip Ganassi Racing entry. Wheldon has signed with Panther Racing, the team with which he began his IndyCar Series career, leaving Vitor Meira among the drivers shopping for a ride for the 2009 season.

TOP ROOKIE: Hideki Mutoh won the IndyCar Series Bombardier Learjet Rookie of the Year award.

BIG MONEY: Jac Haudenschild earned $50,000 for his third Gold Cup Race of Champions sprint-car triumph at Silver Dollar Speedway in California. Meanwhile, Shane Clanton picked up $41,000 for winning the World 100 dirt-late-model event at Ohio’s Eldora Speedway.

CHANGES: Kansas Speedway is going to build a permanent infield road course at the 1.5-mile superspeedway located in Kansas City, Kan.

A CHIEF: Darian Grubb has officially been named crew chief for Tony Stewart next season at Stewart Haas Racing.

POWER RANKINGS: NHRA Top Fuel point leader Tony Schumacher remained at the top of the National Speed Sport News Power Rankings heading into the inaugural Carolina Nationals at zMAX Dragway in Concord, N.C., this weekend. The National Speed Sport News Power Rankings, which are published weekly in the 74-year-old motorsports publication

SUBSCRIBE: National Speed Sport News has been published weekly since 1934. To subscribe to National Speed Sport News, click on the following link for a special industry rate: www.nationalspeedsportnews.com/subscribe.html?pid=NQ%2BVfhkepT4%3D