SEMA News—July 2020

BUSINESS

(Re)Open For Business

Three Brand-Management Strategies to Survive COVID-19 and Come Out Stronger

By Douglas McColloch

Consumers expect the business community to assume a leadership role in the fight against COVID-19, so proactive support for community initiatives outside the traditional business scope can be a big help to promote and expand your brand in the short term.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused many companies to scale back production or reduce operating hours, and it’s clear that consumers are looking for greater safety and security in their lives as the industry moves toward recovery. Based on information gathered from a variety of sources, the consensus is that the companies that are best positioned to deliver those attributes while still reliably delivering the products and services their customers depend on will have a unique opportunity to build upon and even expand their brand awareness in the coming years.

That will require many companies to make adjustments—some minor, others substantial—to their current business models and develop marketing communications initiatives that offer assurance and affirmation as well as motivation and engagement.

One data point, a market-research survey of 2,200 adult Americans conducted in late March and published by global technology company Morning Consult suggested that large majorities of consumers are forgiving of businesses in the face of the virus, with 87% expressing appreciation for companies that have remained open for business. But they also expect the business community to take a leadership role in combatting the pandemic, with 68% expressing the belief that company CEOs bear some responsibility for helping Americans during
the crisis.

With so many potential customers quarantined, there has never been a better time for companies to expand their online presence with aggressive use of social media. Facebook, Instagram and YouTube are all efficient and economical ways to stay in touch with your customers when they can’t interact with you.

Tip: Take Note of Consumer Preferences and Tailor Your Business Accordingly

According to the Morning Consult survey, consumers show a strong preference to buy from companies that provide a “clean and safe” store environment (88%). This is one action point that many companies have already begun to ramp up in their workplaces by accelerating daily and hourly cleaning schedules, making hand sanitizer and related cleaning products more widely available to customers and employees, and by offering curbside service where in-store shopping has been curtailed or is not advisable.

As an example, Pep Boys recently rolled out a new repair and installation protocol where customers can book appointments online, drop off their vehicles, pay for services via smartphone and pick up their vehicles, all without the need for any close human contact. 4 Wheel Parts, among others, has recently introduced curbside service at its retail locations. Additionally, environmental service companies such as U.S. Ecology (www.usecology.com) are among those becoming more visible to provide cleaning and decontamination instructions to aftermarket companies looking to optimize workplace sanitation.

The survey also showed a strong consumer preference for companies that treat their employees with “flexibility and empathy” (84%). This is another area where many aftermarket companies have been proactive, expanding work-from-home policies and creating greater safeguards in the workplace. Summit Racing, to name one, announced recently that it will begin requiring masks to be worn at its facilities, in addition to implementing greater physical spacing between work stations, and many aftermarket companies such as Derive Systems and Painless Performance have instituted telecommuting protocols.

Tom Shay, an author and small-business consultant, encouraged companies to reconsider how they engage with their customers.

“It’s a different game now,” he said. “The old item-and-price advertising with the list of ‘here’s our weekly specials’ isn’t going to work because that’s not what people are interested in. People are buying things that help them feel normal. They’re feeling out of control, and some of the panic buying we’re seeing is a reflection of that. There’s a great opportunity to connect with people, to help them feel good about your business and to keep your name in front of them so that you’ll be remembered when the world comes back to normal.”

By contrast, he said, “the people who went to shut-down mode to a large degree have got to start all over with building their name from ground zero.”

As more sales are generated online, it’s a good idea for companies to be flexible in offering multiple payment options for consumers. PayPal, Apple Pay and Amazon Pay should be considered as essential going forward in addition to traditional credit and debit cards.

Tip: Consider the Future Consequences of Decisions Made Today

This can be a difficult subject, particularly in a business climate in which layoffs, furloughs or reduced business hours may be unavoidable. While consumers are overwhelmingly sympathetic as companies adjust their operations, actions such as layoffs, besides being disruptive, can lead to poor business outcomes. Nearly half of all Americans surveyed by Morning Consult said that they were less likely to patronize a business that had imposed layoffs, so how companies respond to this negative public perception can make a considerable difference not only to the minds of consumers but also to the bottom line.

According to the Morning Consult survey, among the actions that companies can take to strengthen consumer loyalty are pledges to rehire workers after business improves (64% responded favorably), announcing salary reductions for the executive management team (63%), and issuing public statements explaining the reasons behind the layoffs while expressing continued support for laid-off employees (62%). Shay advised against layoffs if at all possible.

“As an employer, if you’ve got the money, you have to look at how much time you invested in that employee to teach them what they know about the automotive industry,” he said. “If you simply toss them out the door and say, ‘I’m sorry, but I have to lay you off at this point,’ how do you think you build that experience back into your business?”

Shay instead advised companies to consider taking advantage of new federal relief initiatives such as the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), a Small Business Administration (SBA) program that guarantees loans for small businesses up to 250% of a company’s monthly payroll (up to $10 million), which can be used to cover payroll, mortgage, rent and other specified expenses. PPP loans offer favorable terms (1% interest), and the SBA will forgive portions of the loan used to cover payroll, mortgage interest, rent and utilities for the first eight weeks if small businesses retain their employees and payroll levels.

Shay also pointed out that programs such as PPP provide companies with an opportunity to leverage their workforce to perform valuable community service.

“You don’t have to have your employees actually working; you just have to keep them on the payroll,” he noted. “So if you don’t have anything for your employees to do, you could assign them to volunteer at a local charity such as a food bank that’s feeding low-income children: ‘I don’t have anything for you to do here, so this is where I’m assigning you today.’”

To that end, many companies have responded by launching community-service programs, and consumers have noticed, according to the Morning Consult survey. As an example, 38% of Americans said that they would be more likely to patronize Wal-Mart after the company announced it would conduct drive-through coronavirus testing at some of its locations. A similar percentage said they would be more likely to purchase products from Apple after the company announced it was donating nine million face masks to support hospital relief efforts; 36% said they were more likely to purchase from Anheuser-Busch after the brewer announced it was shifting production lines to make hand sanitizer; and 45% said they’d be more likely to buy from Kraft-Heinz after the company announced that it was donating $12 million in cash and products to virus-impacted communities.

In a similar vein, numerous SEMA-member companies have retooled their operations or partnered with other companies to provide goods and services outside their core competencies to address the coronavirus pandemic—and discovered potential new revenue streams in so doing.

Case in point is Graffiti Shield, a company based in Anaheim, California, that manufactures graffiti-proof protective film products. The company saw a steep decline in business in the weeks following the initial COVID-19 outbreak, but then it was approached by a local hospital that was having trouble sourcing clear face shields for its medical staff. Within a matter of hours, the company had devised the means to design and cut shields that could be secured to the wearer’s head with Velcro straps.

“The main reason we took the project on—besides helping the hospital—was that we didn’t want to furlough any of our people,” said company CEO Jeff Green.

The company initially produced 1,000 shields a day, but production was soon tripled as new orders came in, and additional workers have been hired to meet
the demand.

Shay summed it up: “In the short term, the questions you need to be asking are: What can you do for your employees? What can you do to stay in touch with your customers? And what can you do to help your community?”

Tip: Invest in Quality Service and Acknowledge Customer Support

It’s one thing to make those changes in the workplace, but it’s equally important to communicate those facts in ways that will resonate with the public. According to Morning Consult, consumers respond most favorably to messaging that shows (a) what companies are doing to help stop the spread of the coronavirus and (b) what companies are doing to improve their customers’ safety and overall
well-being.

“It’s all about customer service,” Shay said. “A good message for employers is to emphasize customer service at this point more than ever.”

But customer service requires more than a nod and a wave at the door. It requires an educated workforce and a company willing to provide ongoing education.

“When I’m speaking at the SEMA Show,” Shay explained. “I’ll ask this question with a show of hands: ‘How many of you believe that you give great customer service?’ And the majority of hands go up. Okay, so I ask a second question: ‘How many of you have an ongoing program where you teach people how to engage with customers, how to sell merchandise, and where you teach about the products and the differences between various products?’ Very few hands go up. My question then is, ‘How do you expect me to believe your first answer when I’ve heard your second answer?’”

Shay also advised companies to consider expanding payment methods to provide greater flexibility to customers. In the short term, he said, “You’re going to find people who don’t want to touch cash, so I’d ask every businessperson: ‘How many different ways can I pay you? Visa, MasterCard, is that it?’ For a lot of folks, the answer is yes. But you also need to look at American Express and Discover. Then look at Apple Pay, Amazon Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay. You’ve got to open up.”

In the end, Shay said, customer service begins with keeping customers engaged. When so many are quarantined, social-media sites such as Facebook, YouTube and Instagram are ideal messaging tools to reach them as well as express empathy and gratitude for their support.

“You have an opportunity right now to try your wildest and craziest ideas of how to market to people,” he said. “They’ll be easily forgotten or forgiven if you do it wrong. Just keep trying. Find ways to connect with customers.

“Most of us have a database of information in which we have names, addresses and phone numbers. If you have to shut down your business, sit down with a telephone and start calling people just to say, ‘Hello, I’m thinking about you, and I just want to know how you’re doing.’”

The COVID-19 pandemic caused many companies to scale back production or reduce operating hours, and it’s clear that consumers are looking for greater safety and security in their lives as the industry moves toward recovery. Based on information gathered from a variety of sources, the consensus is that the companies that are best positioned to deliver those attributes while still reliably delivering the products and services their customers depend on will have a unique opportunity to build upon and even expand their brand awareness in the coming years.

SEMA News—July 2020

BUSINESS

By Douglas McColloch

Restyling and Car-Care Market Trends

New Parts, Products and Applications for a Growing Marketplace

Each November, North Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center at the annual SEMA Show is ground zero for the car-care and restyling industries. Show attendees can see the latest restyling products, learn about the newest car-care technologies, meet their favorite celebrities and observe product demonstrations.

For most builder-enthusiasts, car-care and restyling products are among the most indispensable tools for customizing a vehicle. They can provide added measures of protection for paint, glass and chrome. They can lend upgrades to interior comfort and optimize exterior shine. Many of the most popular products can be purchased without breaking the bank. They’re available nearly everywhere that auto parts are sold—and even some places they’re not, such as in neighborhood car washes or convenience stores.

It’s no surprise that these products are found at so many retail points of sale. According to the 2019 “SEMA Market Report,” fully two-thirds of car-care products are still purchased at traditional brick-and-mortar retail stores.

Altogether, the disparate products of the car-care aftermarket comprise a $1.8 billion segment in annual sales, and the market is poised to expand worldwide in the coming decade. Global market value is estimated to rise from $11.8 billion in 2019 to $16.8 billion by 2027, according to a recent survey published by market-research firm Research and Markets.

For this report, we contacted a number of experts in the car-care products industry representing manufacturers of car-care treatments and related products. The following is a compilation of their insights and observations on the current state of the market and its outlook going forward.

Vinyl wraps have long been popular with enthusiasts in that they allow the owner to personalized a vehicle with minimal shop time and at comparatively low expense versus the cost of a custom paint job, plus they have an average shelf live of five to 10 years.

Products and Processes: What’s Moving the Market

Two of the strongest consumer preferences that were mentioned by a number of our sources can be summed up by the phrases “quick and easy” and “all in one.” Bo Kessing, senior brand manager for Rust-Oleum, said that consumers want “a quick, easy and inexpensive way to transform their vehicles with premium, high-gloss finishes.”

A number of our industry sources pointed to paint-protection film (PPF) and related products as future market drivers.

“We still see a lot of traditional restyling products—leather interior, heated seats, remote start,” said Auto Additions Vice President Josh Poulson, “but the film business—window tint, clear matte protection and vinyl wrapping—has really started taking off. Blackout packages are also huge, where you maybe just wrap the roof of the car or the hood of an SUV more in the form of ‘accent’ wrapping rather than a whole body.”

For restylers, the ascendance of overlanding presents an opportunity to expand into a new market niche, as ICD Design President and CEO Paul Ghany explained.

“The SUV market is a good one for us because of the new push to make these vehicles more rugged and oriented toward outdoor adventure with more of an ‘off-road’ look,” he said. “That’s the direction everyone’s going right now, especially for SUVs. Everyone’s looking for camping gear and products for the outdoor lifestyle market.

“Advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) are a growing part of the business,” Poulson adds, “but they’re not going gangbusters the way everyone was predicting. A lot of that is because we work on newer vehicles, and a lot of those models are coming with that stuff. But we still do ADAS installations on a daily basis, whereas a year or two ago we were doing it on a weekly basis.”

Car-care and cleaning products—creams, coatings, polishes, waxes and accessories with numerous interior and exterior applications—comprise a $1.8 billion market, according to the 2019 “SEMA Market Report.”

Into the Future: Challenges and Opportunities

One challenge facing the restyling industry in particular is the proliferation of ADAS on original-equipment vehicle platforms and the need to maintain compliance after modifications are made.

“We constantly have to think about, ‘Are you covering up a sensor that now can’t function properly, or are you lifting a truck so that now the sensors don’t work?’” Poulson noted. “The learning curve is steep, and a lot of it comes down to in-house testing on our end because the manufacturers haven’t always been able to get the R&D out to installers.”

On the other hand, Poulson noted that improvements in aftermarket product quality allow for greater amounts of freedom for installers.

“Manufacturers have done a great job of making products that we can do more with,” he said. “We might wrap a chrome bumper now, whereas we would never attempt that for warranty reasons years ago. The product has gotten better, installation has gotten a little easier, and it’s allowed us the opportunity to do more creative things.”

Poulson also sees continued growth in the PPF sector—in particular, new products that provide protection for increasingly large original-equipment infotainment screens.

“We protect our cell phones, but we’re not protecting this $5,000 screen that can easily get scratched or damaged over time,” he said. “There’s the opportunity now for dealerships to do a lot of preloading and install them ahead of time.”

More than one source felt that ceramic coatings and other paint-protection products would continue to gain strength in the marketplace, with Poulson forecasting that “a lot more ‘protective’ restyling products like those are going to be big over the next three to five years.”

The continued popularity of the truck/off-road market, the perceived increase in consumer demand of electric vehicles, and the continued proliferation of ADAS systems all hold opportunities for future growth among restylers.

“For the future, we are looking at the electric vehicle market—in particular, the electric pickup trucks that are coming,” Ghany said. “More truck models give companies like ours more opportunity to expand into that market. We’re also looking at technology. Everybody wants everything in the car computerized now, so we are looking at new products for that market as well.”

“The rapid escalation in ride sharing and self-driving vehicles illustrates consumers’ desires to simplify their lives as it relates to automobiles,” Kessing concluded. “That leads to the need for easier-to-apply, longer-lasting products.”

SEMA News—July 2020

BUSINESS

By Douglas McColloch

Restyling and Car-Care Market Trends

New Parts, Products and Applications for a Growing Marketplace

Each November, North Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center at the annual SEMA Show is ground zero for the car-care and restyling industries. Show attendees can see the latest restyling products, learn about the newest car-care technologies, meet their favorite celebrities and observe product demonstrations.

For most builder-enthusiasts, car-care and restyling products are among the most indispensable tools for customizing a vehicle. They can provide added measures of protection for paint, glass and chrome. They can lend upgrades to interior comfort and optimize exterior shine. Many of the most popular products can be purchased without breaking the bank. They’re available nearly everywhere that auto parts are sold—and even some places they’re not, such as in neighborhood car washes or convenience stores.

It’s no surprise that these products are found at so many retail points of sale. According to the 2019 “SEMA Market Report,” fully two-thirds of car-care products are still purchased at traditional brick-and-mortar retail stores.

Altogether, the disparate products of the car-care aftermarket comprise a $1.8 billion segment in annual sales, and the market is poised to expand worldwide in the coming decade. Global market value is estimated to rise from $11.8 billion in 2019 to $16.8 billion by 2027, according to a recent survey published by market-research firm Research and Markets.

For this report, we contacted a number of experts in the car-care products industry representing manufacturers of car-care treatments and related products. The following is a compilation of their insights and observations on the current state of the market and its outlook going forward.

Vinyl wraps have long been popular with enthusiasts in that they allow the owner to personalized a vehicle with minimal shop time and at comparatively low expense versus the cost of a custom paint job, plus they have an average shelf live of five to 10 years.

Products and Processes: What’s Moving the Market

Two of the strongest consumer preferences that were mentioned by a number of our sources can be summed up by the phrases “quick and easy” and “all in one.” Bo Kessing, senior brand manager for Rust-Oleum, said that consumers want “a quick, easy and inexpensive way to transform their vehicles with premium, high-gloss finishes.”

A number of our industry sources pointed to paint-protection film (PPF) and related products as future market drivers.

“We still see a lot of traditional restyling products—leather interior, heated seats, remote start,” said Auto Additions Vice President Josh Poulson, “but the film business—window tint, clear matte protection and vinyl wrapping—has really started taking off. Blackout packages are also huge, where you maybe just wrap the roof of the car or the hood of an SUV more in the form of ‘accent’ wrapping rather than a whole body.”

For restylers, the ascendance of overlanding presents an opportunity to expand into a new market niche, as ICD Design President and CEO Paul Ghany explained.

“The SUV market is a good one for us because of the new push to make these vehicles more rugged and oriented toward outdoor adventure with more of an ‘off-road’ look,” he said. “That’s the direction everyone’s going right now, especially for SUVs. Everyone’s looking for camping gear and products for the outdoor lifestyle market.

“Advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) are a growing part of the business,” Poulson adds, “but they’re not going gangbusters the way everyone was predicting. A lot of that is because we work on newer vehicles, and a lot of those models are coming with that stuff. But we still do ADAS installations on a daily basis, whereas a year or two ago we were doing it on a weekly basis.”

Car-care and cleaning products—creams, coatings, polishes, waxes and accessories with numerous interior and exterior applications—comprise a $1.8 billion market, according to the 2019 “SEMA Market Report.”

Into the Future: Challenges and Opportunities

One challenge facing the restyling industry in particular is the proliferation of ADAS on original-equipment vehicle platforms and the need to maintain compliance after modifications are made.

“We constantly have to think about, ‘Are you covering up a sensor that now can’t function properly, or are you lifting a truck so that now the sensors don’t work?’” Poulson noted. “The learning curve is steep, and a lot of it comes down to in-house testing on our end because the manufacturers haven’t always been able to get the R&D out to installers.”

On the other hand, Poulson noted that improvements in aftermarket product quality allow for greater amounts of freedom for installers.

“Manufacturers have done a great job of making products that we can do more with,” he said. “We might wrap a chrome bumper now, whereas we would never attempt that for warranty reasons years ago. The product has gotten better, installation has gotten a little easier, and it’s allowed us the opportunity to do more creative things.”

Poulson also sees continued growth in the PPF sector—in particular, new products that provide protection for increasingly large original-equipment infotainment screens.

“We protect our cell phones, but we’re not protecting this $5,000 screen that can easily get scratched or damaged over time,” he said. “There’s the opportunity now for dealerships to do a lot of preloading and install them ahead of time.”

More than one source felt that ceramic coatings and other paint-protection products would continue to gain strength in the marketplace, with Poulson forecasting that “a lot more ‘protective’ restyling products like those are going to be big over the next three to five years.”

The continued popularity of the truck/off-road market, the perceived increase in consumer demand of electric vehicles, and the continued proliferation of ADAS systems all hold opportunities for future growth among restylers.

“For the future, we are looking at the electric vehicle market—in particular, the electric pickup trucks that are coming,” Ghany said. “More truck models give companies like ours more opportunity to expand into that market. We’re also looking at technology. Everybody wants everything in the car computerized now, so we are looking at new products for that market as well.”

“The rapid escalation in ride sharing and self-driving vehicles illustrates consumers’ desires to simplify their lives as it relates to automobiles,” Kessing concluded. “That leads to the need for easier-to-apply, longer-lasting products.”

SEMA News—July 2020

INDUSTRY NEWS

By Douglas McColloch

The SEMA Garage offers a number of member services that can help companies continue to develop new products even when “shelter-at-home” orders are in place.

How Manufacturers Can Continue to Develop New Products While Sheltering at Home

Aftermarket manufacturers seeking to develop products can take advantage of several exclusive SEMA-member benefits that lend themselves to physical distancing. Available throughout the year, these benefits may prove even more valuable given the prospect of current or future “shelter-at-home” orders. These benefits include:

Vehicles in Operations (VIO): The SEMA-member VIO program helps companies make informed decisions by understanding the number of targeted vehicles currently on the road for any make or model. This is key to helping members identify the vehicle platforms that have the greatest available opportunities, and target their marketing.

Tech Transfer/CAD Data: CAD data from automakers is available exclusively to SEMA-member manufacturers to assist with developing products. Through the program, members may be able to eliminate the need to source and digitally create CAD models.

Rapid Prototyping/3-D Printing: When members have completed their product designs, they may want to create a low-cost prototype pre-production, and SEMA’s 3-D printing is available. Use of the machine and labor are available free of charge, and members simply pay for the cost of materials.

CARB EO Preparation/Advocacy Services: The SEMA Compliance Center can assist members with performance products that may impact a vehicle’s emissions and are in need of an Executive Order (EO) from the California Air Resources Board (CARB).

To learn more about how manufacturers can tap into resources to help with product development and other benefits, visit www.sema.org.

The Las Vegas Convention Center is undergoing expansion for 2021, but all operations, halls, exhibit spaces and sections will remain unchanged for the 2020 SEMA Show.

Las Vegas Construction Update: No Changes for 2020 SEMA Show

SEMA Show management has announced that the Las Vegas Convention Center’s (LVCC) operations, exhibit space, halls and sections for the 2020 SEMA Show will remain the same as last year (2019).

The LVCC is currently in Phase II of its planned expansion, which is scheduled to be complete by January 2021; the newly expanded hall, located adjacent to the LVCC, will contain 600,000 sq. ft. of new exhibit space.

For more information about the 2020 SEMA Show, taking place Tuesday–Friday, November 3–6, visit www.SEMAShow.com. To exhibit, visit www.SEMAShow.com/buyabooth.

The Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino is among several hotels located within one mile of the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Book Your Rooms Now—Closest Hotels to the SEMA Show

SEMA Show attendees are encouraged to make reservations at these hotels near the Las Vegas Convention Center while rooms are still available. With a quick look on the SEMA Show homepage
(www.SEMAShow.com), Showgoers can see a list of hotels available, along with the rate per night, the distance from the Las Vegas Convention Center, and the hotel star rating. Here are four hotels that are close to the SEMA Show:

• Encore at Wynn Las Vegas, 1.4 miles
• Hilton Grand Vacations—Las Vegas Convention Center, 0.7 miles
• Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino, 0.2 miles

Showgoers booking through the SEMA Show housing partner receive guaranteed low rates on a wide range of hotel properties at locations on and off the Strip.

When making your hotel reservations through the SEMA Show website, you are receiving the most affordable and convenient hotel options through the association’s partnership with onPeak, the only official hotel provider for the 2019 SEMA Show. All negotiated rates provided by onPeak include resort fees and will allow you to change or cancel your reservation without any financial penalties.

More information about the 2020 SEMA Show, to be held Tuesday–Friday, November 3–6, is available at www.SEMAShow.com.

SEMA has partnered with Stratasys to produce 3-D-printed visors, which will attach to face shields to assist doctors, nurses and other health-care workers.

SEMA Garage Turns on 3-D Printers to Battle COVID-19

Manufacturers and service providers worldwide are responding to the global COVID-19 pandemic. The SEMA Garage is proud to announce that it will assist Stratasys (www.stratasys.com) by providing 3-D-printed visors, which will attach to face shields and assist those who are working in healthcare facilities.

While SEMA Garage services continue to be designated to aid the automotive aftermarket with product development, times like these call for assistance to those in need and making a difference in the community. Stratasys has designed and publicly shared the CAD model of its visor as well as the specifics for the face shield for any additional suppliers to join and be a part of this initiative. That information is available at go.stratasys.com/lp-face-shield.html. If you have the capability to provide 3-D-printed visors or protective shields, or if you are in need of any of those items, register through this link: go.stratasys.com/lp-stratasys-helps.html.

To see what other SEMA-member companies are doing to help in the fight against COVID-19, visit SEMA eNews at www.sema.org/sema-enews.

SEMA Member News July 2020

By Ellen McKoy

Youth Engagement: Planting a Seed

Young children learn their ABCs most often through fun activities and songs. Next come the Three Rs—Reading, wRiting and aRithmetic—a phrase first attributed to an article that appeared in an 1818 edition of The Lady’s Magazine. Flash forward 200 years and the talk among today’s educators is all about STEM.

An acronym for science, technology, engineering and mathematics, STEM is aimed at helping students acquire skills related to those four fields of study. Curriculum not only focuses on subject-specific learning but also on refining various skill sets, such as engaging in logical reasoning, working collaboratively as a team, and applying problem-solving strategies—proficiencies that will serve students well as they prepare for future careers.

From SEMA and the industry’s perspective, it’s vitally important to cultivate and inspire a future workforce, but with fewer than 20% of high-school students expressing interest in STEM careers, according the U.S. Department of Education, what could the aftermarket industry do to plant seeds and encourage youngsters to engage in the industry?

The SEMA Memorial Scholarship Fund has long provided tuition assistance and loan forgiveness to eligible students and graduates pursuing automotive careers. More recently, SEMA and member companies have collaborated with high schools on student-led custom-vehicle builds designed to strengthen pupils’ skills and interest in pursuing automotive career pathways.

Another leg of SEMA’s youth-engagement outreach was centered on introducing middle-school students to the aftermarket industry. The SEMA CuSTEM program—geared to children in the sixth through eighth grades—was focused on engaging the youngsters through firsthand and hands-on educational experiences at car shows and other industry events.

In putting the program together, SEMA partnered two years ago with two outside groups: Championship Auto Shows, producer of Autorama and World of Wheels, and Ten80 Education, an organization devoted to inspiring youngsters to engage in innovative thinking.

“There are a lot of natural applications with STEM and cars, and SEMA recognized that Ten80 is an expert in STEM education with an automotive focus,” said Katie Hurst, SEMA’s youth engagement program manager. “SEMA partnered with both organizations to help produce events for middle-school students. We worked very closely with Ten80 to help them understand our goals and develop curriculum for the events. We wanted to spark interest and have the students walk away from our events understanding what the aftermarket is and what could be done to a car to either serve a purpose or come up with something new and creative.”

Connecting Cars and Kids

From January through mid-March, SEMA hosted six CuSTEM programs around the country in conjunction with Championship Auto Shows and Ten80. The events were attended by more than 2,400 middle-school students, plus faculty. A seventh event was cancelled in the fallout from the COVID-19 epidemic.

In describing Ten80’s approach to education, company President Terri Stripling said, “We call it project-based learning. Our specialty is not just STEM—it is math modeling and data fluency, which is something that employers are identifying as the one skill set they wish more college students would have.”

When developing grade-appropriate approaches, one of Ten80’s techniques relied on using radio-controlled cars to encourage problem solving.

“Through a grant from the National Science Foundation, we discovered that using radio-controlled cars was a tool that allowed us to bring students together on a project,” Stripling said.

“Cars and racing work for a lot of reasons. Every kid has been in a car, and our research showed that most students want a car. It’s not abstract. There’s a tangible, personal connection to the subject matter, so we have developed a lot of our educational programming around the theme of racing, automotive development and entrepreneurship.”

Aligning Education and Industry

Most youngsters relish the prospect of a field trip—a chance to break free of the classroom and experience something new—but while a car show on its own can be fun, both SEMA and Ten80 recognized that the events had to include an educational element.

“In working with Ten80, our goal was to engage middle-school-age children by bringing them out for a car experience,” Hurst said. “At the same time, we had to have a formalized event that incorporated STEM education as a way to get the schools to approve a field trip to a car show.”

From Ten80’s perspective, it was also important to secure parents’ buy-in.

“Parents always ask why they should send their kids to a car show, so we educate them on the fact that it’s a STEM event hosted within a car show,” Stripling said. “That’s when they know that the kids are going to benefit from the experience.”

Ten80 developed a program that allowed students to experience car culture up close while engaging in interactive activities. For instance, at previous CuSTEM events, SEMA provided the kids with laptops to create their custom cars.

“We used the event to introduce Excel spreadsheets,” Stripling said. “That was a big takeaway, and the teachers loved it. This year, we gave students a quick orientation and engaged them with SEMA- and car-related trivia. Then they went onto the show floor to look for inspiration, talk with owners, and learn about different ways cars are customized.”

To encourage collaboration and creative thinking, students were paired in teams of three. Each team was responsible for modifying a 2-D balsawood car into a 3-D custom creation and presenting the finished concept along with a price tag. SEMA staff and member volunteers were on hand to assist in facilitating the activity.

“I felt like an ambassador for our industry,” said Josh Poulson, owner of Auto Additions, who attended the event in Cincinnati. “Even though the kids may not have understood what I do on a day-to-day basis, they knew I work with cars and were intrigued by that idea. Most of the students did very well on the activity and showed a lot of creativity.”

Fellow volunteer Amy Fitzgerald agreed. Fitzgerald is a co-owner of Cool Hand Customs.

“I was excited about the CuSTEM program and thrilled to attend the Pittsburgh event,” she said. “The kids were excited to be there and eager to participate in hands-on activities. I was empowered by the interest the kids showed in basic automotive engineering principles.”

“The industry volunteers played an integral role in communicating what they do—owned a small business, customized cars or sold parts,” Stripling noted. “Through aligning the goals of education and industry, we were able to show the kids a variety of career paths and help them realize that STEM is relevant to their lives while also getting them excited about cars.”

“When we got into this space, we aimed to create a spark of interest,” Hurst added. “Because the next step in their school career is high school, if their school offers an auto shop program, we hoped they would remember they had a good experience at the SEMA event and would take their own steps to move toward a really cool pathway.

“As I’ve walked around and talked to students over the last two years, it’s been fun to see the collaboration and teamwork. The students didn’t have any preconceived notions about cars. To see them use terminologies that we put in front of them and apply what they learned on the car-show floor was very rewarding. The students really enjoyed working hands-on, and I’m proud that we were able to provide those experiences.”

SEMA Member News July 2020

By Ellen McKoy

Youth Engagement: Planting a Seed

Young children learn their ABCs most often through fun activities and songs. Next come the Three Rs—Reading, wRiting and aRithmetic—a phrase first attributed to an article that appeared in an 1818 edition of The Lady’s Magazine. Flash forward 200 years and the talk among today’s educators is all about STEM.

An acronym for science, technology, engineering and mathematics, STEM is aimed at helping students acquire skills related to those four fields of study. Curriculum not only focuses on subject-specific learning but also on refining various skill sets, such as engaging in logical reasoning, working collaboratively as a team, and applying problem-solving strategies—proficiencies that will serve students well as they prepare for future careers.

From SEMA and the industry’s perspective, it’s vitally important to cultivate and inspire a future workforce, but with fewer than 20% of high-school students expressing interest in STEM careers, according the U.S. Department of Education, what could the aftermarket industry do to plant seeds and encourage youngsters to engage in the industry?

The SEMA Memorial Scholarship Fund has long provided tuition assistance and loan forgiveness to eligible students and graduates pursuing automotive careers. More recently, SEMA and member companies have collaborated with high schools on student-led custom-vehicle builds designed to strengthen pupils’ skills and interest in pursuing automotive career pathways.

Another leg of SEMA’s youth-engagement outreach was centered on introducing middle-school students to the aftermarket industry. The SEMA CuSTEM program—geared to children in the sixth through eighth grades—was focused on engaging the youngsters through firsthand and hands-on educational experiences at car shows and other industry events.

In putting the program together, SEMA partnered two years ago with two outside groups: Championship Auto Shows, producer of Autorama and World of Wheels, and Ten80 Education, an organization devoted to inspiring youngsters to engage in innovative thinking.

“There are a lot of natural applications with STEM and cars, and SEMA recognized that Ten80 is an expert in STEM education with an automotive focus,” said Katie Hurst, SEMA’s youth engagement program manager. “SEMA partnered with both organizations to help produce events for middle-school students. We worked very closely with Ten80 to help them understand our goals and develop curriculum for the events. We wanted to spark interest and have the students walk away from our events understanding what the aftermarket is and what could be done to a car to either serve a purpose or come up with something new and creative.”

Connecting Cars and Kids

From January through mid-March, SEMA hosted six CuSTEM programs around the country in conjunction with Championship Auto Shows and Ten80. The events were attended by more than 2,400 middle-school students, plus faculty. A seventh event was cancelled in the fallout from the COVID-19 epidemic.

In describing Ten80’s approach to education, company President Terri Stripling said, “We call it project-based learning. Our specialty is not just STEM—it is math modeling and data fluency, which is something that employers are identifying as the one skill set they wish more college students would have.”

When developing grade-appropriate approaches, one of Ten80’s techniques relied on using radio-controlled cars to encourage problem solving.

“Through a grant from the National Science Foundation, we discovered that using radio-controlled cars was a tool that allowed us to bring students together on a project,” Stripling said.

“Cars and racing work for a lot of reasons. Every kid has been in a car, and our research showed that most students want a car. It’s not abstract. There’s a tangible, personal connection to the subject matter, so we have developed a lot of our educational programming around the theme of racing, automotive development and entrepreneurship.”

Aligning Education and Industry

Most youngsters relish the prospect of a field trip—a chance to break free of the classroom and experience something new—but while a car show on its own can be fun, both SEMA and Ten80 recognized that the events had to include an educational element.

“In working with Ten80, our goal was to engage middle-school-age children by bringing them out for a car experience,” Hurst said. “At the same time, we had to have a formalized event that incorporated STEM education as a way to get the schools to approve a field trip to a car show.”

From Ten80’s perspective, it was also important to secure parents’ buy-in.

“Parents always ask why they should send their kids to a car show, so we educate them on the fact that it’s a STEM event hosted within a car show,” Stripling said. “That’s when they know that the kids are going to benefit from the experience.”

Ten80 developed a program that allowed students to experience car culture up close while engaging in interactive activities. For instance, at previous CuSTEM events, SEMA provided the kids with laptops to create their custom cars.

“We used the event to introduce Excel spreadsheets,” Stripling said. “That was a big takeaway, and the teachers loved it. This year, we gave students a quick orientation and engaged them with SEMA- and car-related trivia. Then they went onto the show floor to look for inspiration, talk with owners, and learn about different ways cars are customized.”

To encourage collaboration and creative thinking, students were paired in teams of three. Each team was responsible for modifying a 2-D balsawood car into a 3-D custom creation and presenting the finished concept along with a price tag. SEMA staff and member volunteers were on hand to assist in facilitating the activity.

“I felt like an ambassador for our industry,” said Josh Poulson, owner of Auto Additions, who attended the event in Cincinnati. “Even though the kids may not have understood what I do on a day-to-day basis, they knew I work with cars and were intrigued by that idea. Most of the students did very well on the activity and showed a lot of creativity.”

Fellow volunteer Amy Fitzgerald agreed. Fitzgerald is a co-owner of Cool Hand Customs.

“I was excited about the CuSTEM program and thrilled to attend the Pittsburgh event,” she said. “The kids were excited to be there and eager to participate in hands-on activities. I was empowered by the interest the kids showed in basic automotive engineering principles.”

“The industry volunteers played an integral role in communicating what they do—owned a small business, customized cars or sold parts,” Stripling noted. “Through aligning the goals of education and industry, we were able to show the kids a variety of career paths and help them realize that STEM is relevant to their lives while also getting them excited about cars.”

“When we got into this space, we aimed to create a spark of interest,” Hurst added. “Because the next step in their school career is high school, if their school offers an auto shop program, we hoped they would remember they had a good experience at the SEMA event and would take their own steps to move toward a really cool pathway.

“As I’ve walked around and talked to students over the last two years, it’s been fun to see the collaboration and teamwork. The students didn’t have any preconceived notions about cars. To see them use terminologies that we put in front of them and apply what they learned on the car-show floor was very rewarding. The students really enjoyed working hands-on, and I’m proud that we were able to provide those experiences.”

SEMA Member News July 2020

By Ellen McKoy

YEN Leverages Technology to Deliver Learning Experiences

YEN select committee member Jeremy Headlee of Icon Vehicle Dynamics.

With more than 1,000 members—all younger than 40—who work and reside across the United States and beyond, the Young Executives Network (YEN) strives to deliver resources to help young professionals sharpen skills and advance their careers.

From regional meets-ups and Lunch and Learn events to the SEMA Launch Pad competition presented by YEN at the SEMA Show and the annual awards networking reception, also held at the Show, there are various ways in which network members can stay connected and expand their knowledge throughout the year. One resource in particular has proven especially beneficial: YEN’s Live Chats with industry notables.

Using the Power of Technology

Young people in general and Millennials in particular often lead the way in adopting and using technology and in being able to use technology for work wherever and whenever. So it’s not surprising that YENsters, as they are known, would be the first group within SEMA to have utilized technology in the form of Facebook Live Chats to deliver information and inspiration.

“The Live Chats are a way for our network to leverage Facebook’s live video-chat technology to invite industry icons and industry standouts to share their knowledge, insights and experience with our general membership,” said Jeremy Headlee, who heads up YEN’s social-media and Live Chat initiatives. “Our members are all over the country, so this is our opportunity to bring some very experienced folks in front of our audience and allow them to share their stories with everybody, because we don’t get to see or talk to each other outside of the SEMA Show and a couple of other events throughout the year.”

When the Live Chats were first launched, each interactive session was limited to 20 minutes. More recently, YEN expanded the window.

“When we started the Live Chats, we put on a cap of 15 to 20 minutes,” Headlee said. “Since I’ve been involved, the select committee has seen the value in letting them run longer. But we also try to be cognizant of our audience. Most people watching are young professionals on their lunch break, so 20 minutes to an hour is our sweet spot.”

Prior to each Live Chat, the members of the select committee put their heads together to craft questions for the scheduled guest presenter.

“We’ll come up with a handful of questions to help get the talent comfortable and get the conversation rolling,” Headlee said. “We’ve had great success with the audience accelerating the conversation from there.”

Delivering Value With Every Session

From the outset, YEN has attracted some standout talent. Early guests included Wes Buck, editor-in-chief of Drag Illustrated; Matt Beenan of BuiltRight Industries, who won the 2018 SEMA Launch Pad competition; Formula Drift driver Vaughn Gittin Jr.; and members of the SEMA staff.

Episode topics vary depending on the industry talent’s background and expertise. Some sessions center on general business and career advice, others on the SEMA Show and member benefits.

“We’ve also talked about how to improve brand awareness, especially with social media and new technologies,” Headlee noted.

During his time in the spotlight, drift driver Gittin Jr. talked about sponsorships and partnerships between companies and racers or enthusiasts. Beenan, on the other hand, shared advice for entrepreneurs trying to get a business off the ground.

“We got more and more successful with the first few Live Chats that we did,” Headlee said.

To build on YEN’s early success, the select committee has expanded the program.

“We decided to do one Live Chat each month in 2020, and we’ve been successful so far,” he said.

This year’s lineup reads like a veritable who’s who. Performance industry legend Gale Banks was the headliner for the January Live Chat. The February session spotlighted time-attack driver Sally McNulty, who drives a modified Subaru STi for Snail Performance and also races for Honda Performance Development. In March, Tate Morgan, founder of the Gambler 500 Rally, provided what Headlee described as “a very interesting Live Chat” on the unique and environmentally friendly off-road rally. The April session featured YEN member Joe Opperman, director of public affairs and marketing for the IOLA Car Show and Swap Meet, whose chat sparked conversation on engaging youth to help perpetuate the aftermarket industry.

Going forward, YEN has lined up YouTube sensation and car guru TJ Hunt for the May broadcast. The select committee is also preparing for future Live Chats beyond that, and Headlee expects that members will continue to derive value from every episode.

“Seeing the success of the Live Chats we’ve done and the ability to talk to a large group of people across the country at one time, I think we’ve just scratched the surface,” he said. “Live Chats will continue to be polished, evolve and get better and better.

“In my opinion, the topics we cover—whether it’s business advice, technology or how to navigate SEMA as a whole and take advantage of some programs and benefits—offer great advice for the YEN membership. The ability to put industry standouts on our Live Chats to share their knowledge is amazing. The advice, insights and experience-sharing of some very successful people in our industry is infinitely beneficial to our members.”

SEMA Member News July 2020

By Ellen McKoy

YEN Leverages Technology to Deliver Learning Experiences

YEN select committee member Jeremy Headlee of Icon Vehicle Dynamics.

With more than 1,000 members—all younger than 40—who work and reside across the United States and beyond, the Young Executives Network (YEN) strives to deliver resources to help young professionals sharpen skills and advance their careers.

From regional meets-ups and Lunch and Learn events to the SEMA Launch Pad competition presented by YEN at the SEMA Show and the annual awards networking reception, also held at the Show, there are various ways in which network members can stay connected and expand their knowledge throughout the year. One resource in particular has proven especially beneficial: YEN’s Live Chats with industry notables.

Using the Power of Technology

Young people in general and Millennials in particular often lead the way in adopting and using technology and in being able to use technology for work wherever and whenever. So it’s not surprising that YENsters, as they are known, would be the first group within SEMA to have utilized technology in the form of Facebook Live Chats to deliver information and inspiration.

“The Live Chats are a way for our network to leverage Facebook’s live video-chat technology to invite industry icons and industry standouts to share their knowledge, insights and experience with our general membership,” said Jeremy Headlee, who heads up YEN’s social-media and Live Chat initiatives. “Our members are all over the country, so this is our opportunity to bring some very experienced folks in front of our audience and allow them to share their stories with everybody, because we don’t get to see or talk to each other outside of the SEMA Show and a couple of other events throughout the year.”

When the Live Chats were first launched, each interactive session was limited to 20 minutes. More recently, YEN expanded the window.

“When we started the Live Chats, we put on a cap of 15 to 20 minutes,” Headlee said. “Since I’ve been involved, the select committee has seen the value in letting them run longer. But we also try to be cognizant of our audience. Most people watching are young professionals on their lunch break, so 20 minutes to an hour is our sweet spot.”

Prior to each Live Chat, the members of the select committee put their heads together to craft questions for the scheduled guest presenter.

“We’ll come up with a handful of questions to help get the talent comfortable and get the conversation rolling,” Headlee said. “We’ve had great success with the audience accelerating the conversation from there.”

Delivering Value With Every Session

From the outset, YEN has attracted some standout talent. Early guests included Wes Buck, editor-in-chief of Drag Illustrated; Matt Beenan of BuiltRight Industries, who won the 2018 SEMA Launch Pad competition; Formula Drift driver Vaughn Gittin Jr.; and members of the SEMA staff.

Episode topics vary depending on the industry talent’s background and expertise. Some sessions center on general business and career advice, others on the SEMA Show and member benefits.

“We’ve also talked about how to improve brand awareness, especially with social media and new technologies,” Headlee noted.

During his time in the spotlight, drift driver Gittin Jr. talked about sponsorships and partnerships between companies and racers or enthusiasts. Beenan, on the other hand, shared advice for entrepreneurs trying to get a business off the ground.

“We got more and more successful with the first few Live Chats that we did,” Headlee said.

To build on YEN’s early success, the select committee has expanded the program.

“We decided to do one Live Chat each month in 2020, and we’ve been successful so far,” he said.

This year’s lineup reads like a veritable who’s who. Performance industry legend Gale Banks was the headliner for the January Live Chat. The February session spotlighted time-attack driver Sally McNulty, who drives a modified Subaru STi for Snail Performance and also races for Honda Performance Development. In March, Tate Morgan, founder of the Gambler 500 Rally, provided what Headlee described as “a very interesting Live Chat” on the unique and environmentally friendly off-road rally. The April session featured YEN member Joe Opperman, director of public affairs and marketing for the IOLA Car Show and Swap Meet, whose chat sparked conversation on engaging youth to help perpetuate the aftermarket industry.

Going forward, YEN has lined up YouTube sensation and car guru TJ Hunt for the May broadcast. The select committee is also preparing for future Live Chats beyond that, and Headlee expects that members will continue to derive value from every episode.

“Seeing the success of the Live Chats we’ve done and the ability to talk to a large group of people across the country at one time, I think we’ve just scratched the surface,” he said. “Live Chats will continue to be polished, evolve and get better and better.

“In my opinion, the topics we cover—whether it’s business advice, technology or how to navigate SEMA as a whole and take advantage of some programs and benefits—offer great advice for the YEN membership. The ability to put industry standouts on our Live Chats to share their knowledge is amazing. The advice, insights and experience-sharing of some very successful people in our industry is infinitely beneficial to our members.”

SEMA News—July 2020

INTERNET

By Joe Dysart

Shame Police

Google Toys With Penalizing Slow Websites

Google may begin warning web surfers about slow-loading websites.

Essentially, a “Usually Loads Slow” splash screen served up by Google would pretty much be the kiss of death to any website, encouraging a web surfer to move along to an alternative site with better performance.

“Internet users are less tolerant of slow websites than they’ve ever been,” said Marcus Taylor, founder of Venture Harbour
(www.ventureharbour.com), a digital marketing firm. “And the shift toward internet-enabled mobile devices means that you’re not going to be seen if you’re not fast.”

While Google was careful to word its shame-police intentions as a possibility rather than an inevitably, it’s no secret that the search giant has been campaigning hard for a faster web for decades. Moreover, the search titan has demonstrated that it has no qualms about stepping in as the officer on the beat when it comes to exposing poorly performing sites.

Indeed, since summer 2018, Google has been branding websites exhibiting poor security by displaying an “Insecure Website” icon in a browser’s address bar. (Secure sites are rewarded with a green padlock icon—the sign of a correctly secured website.)

No one asked Google to do that, and more than a few website owners have been vexed by the branding. But like it or not, Google set itself up as the arbiter of website security, and now it’s looking to expand that role to include rating the speed performance of specific websites.

Bottom line: Many Google watchers see the Google post on shaming slow websites as a trial balloon—a probe to see if there is significant backlash to the idea or widespread acceptance. Either way, the prudent move is to up your game on your website’s download speed now. As many of us have learned over the years, what Google wants, Google gets more often than not.

Here’s a game plan for protecting your site from the splash screen of death:

Get a quick look at how fast your website downloads: Given that Google has a vested interest in a fast web seeded with its advertising, it’s no wonder that it offers free tools you can use to quickly assess the speed of your website. Simply type in your site’s web address at Google’s Page Speed Insights (https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights) and you’ll see in a matter of seconds how fast your website’s home page downloads.

Besides offering you an instant rating, Page Speed Insights also offers you extremely detailed, specific suggestions for speeding up your site, such as changing the format of your images or eliminating unnecessary coding. Similar tools you can use to quickly analyze the speed of your site include Lighthouse (https://developers.google.com/web/tools/lighthouse), Yslow (http://yslow.org) and Google Analytics Site Speed Page Timings (https://tinyurl.com/analytics-answer).

Pay extra for faster hosting: Investing in premium web hosting is one of the easiest ways to speed up a large website. While smaller websites may be able to get away with cheap hosting, larger sites often benefit from premium hosting on a virtual private server or dedicated server.

Unlike cheap hosting, which houses numerous websites on a single server, a virtual private server solution actually uses multiple servers to distribute your site content across the web. For the highest priced, potentially most powerful alternative, consider a dedicated server that features a single website on a server that is maintained by a dedicated system administrator.

Ask your web host for help: Web hosts have a number of simple, free solutions that they can use to speed up a website, such as clearing the site’s cache. Plus, they can advise you on a number of actions you can take to increase download speed in other ways.

Chances are, your web host will also try to pitch you on additional services and options that cost money. But it’s worth calling and sorting through what’s free, what costs and what makes sense for you.

Use low-resolution images wherever possible: Bloated, extremely high-resolution images are one of the major causes of slow-loading sites, and they’re completely unnecessary in most cases. Generally, low-resolution versions of images look exactly the same on the web as high-resolution versions of the same images.

“One of the biggest drains on your site’s resources is its images,” said Ellice Soliven, content and social marketing manager for Dreamhost (www.dreamhost.com), a web hosting company. “They’re great for making your site look amazing and for supplementing your text content, but they also require server space and bandwidth. That is especially true if your site contains high-quality images, such as in a portfolio, gallery or online store.”

You can use a photo editor such as Adobe Photoshop (www.adobe.com/products/photoshop.html) or Adobe Photoshop Elements (www.adobe.com/products/photoshop-premiere-elements.html) to change an image from high resolution to low resolution with one click.

Or you can use other tools such as TinyPNG (https://tinypng.com), Microsoft Paint (https://tinyurl.com/supportmicrosoft-help-windows), Microsoft Picture Manager (https://tinyurl.com/experts-exchange-com-articles), Pixlr (www.pixlr.com), Shrink Pictures (www.shrinkpictures.com) and Smush for Wordpress (www.wordpress.org/plugins/wp-smushit).

Host your company videos on YouTube: Hosting your business’s videos on YouTube enables you to offload all the heavy lifting involved when someone clicks a video link on your site to view a video. Why draw resources from your own web server (which may be hosting hundreds of other websites) when you can have YouTube’s ridiculously fast servers handle the same job?

To use YouTube as your free video hosting provider, the easiest solution is to simply post a link at the appropriate spot of your website to your company video. Or you can embed a YouTube player (www.youtubevideoembed.com) in your website that will display your video on your website while YouTube’s servers handle all the processing.

Consider using a caching plugin: Websites based on PHP code (e.g., Wordpress) need to convert that programming to HTML before displaying a webpage in a browser. A caching plugin eliminates that conversion wait by generating an HTML version of each page of your website ahead of time in a cache so that it’s there for your visitor’s browsers to access as soon as he/she arrives.

There are risks to using a caching plugin: Some plugins you’re already using on your website may not be compatible with a caching plugin. That can lead to less-than-desirable performance or a complete crash of your website.

Caching plugins are also sometimes vulnerable to hackers, and caching plugins can sometimes store older versions of your website pages longer than you’d like. In those cases, someone visiting your site might not see the latest updates you’ve made. (That problem can be solved by simply clearing your website’s cache.) Even so, caching plugins can speed up your website considerably, so they may be worth
the risk.

For more info, search for “caching plugin” along with the name of your content-management system (such as Wordpress, Drupal, etc.).

Minimize your use of plugins: While extremely handy, any plugin you add to your website to perform a specific function (such as analyzing your websites data, creating a firewall for your website and the like) represents a drain on your system’s resources.

Expertly coded plugins generally mute speed loss, but some less-than-artfully coded plugins are written so inefficiently that they really slow down your site.

Rule of thumb: Take a few minutes to inventory all of the plug-ins on your website and completely delete any plugin that is not crucial or truly beneficial to your site’s operation.

Compress your site’s files with Gzip: “Gzip works by compressing your files into a zip file, which is faster for the user’s browser to load,” said Venture Harbor’s Taylor. “The user’s browser then unzips the file and shows the content. That method of transmitting content from the server to the browser is far more efficient and saves a lot of time.”

Use a premium Domain Name System (DNS) provider: Basically speaking, DNS providers help computer browsers quickly navigate to website addresses. Premium DNS providers offer faster connections.

For large sites, consider a Content Delivery Network (CDN): If you have a lot of content to move around the web—especially to distant points on the globe—a CDN will help speed up your site significantly. CDNs essentially store copies of your website on various servers around the world. The result is that someone from Hong Kong typing in your website address will be served your site’s content directly from a server in Hong Kong, for example, rather than waiting for the same content to be served from, say, Milwaukee.

“Using a CDN can help you create a consistent and faster experience for visitors, regardless of their geographic location,” said Dreamhost’s Soliven.

Consider using Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP): Heavily promoted by Google, AMPs are near replicas of regular website pages that are specially designed to download quickly on mobile devices. Essentially, you create a page for your website and then you create an extremely mobile-friendly, near replica of that webpage in AMP format.

The result is that when people visit your website with mobile devices, their smartphones or similar mobiles are served faster-loading AMP pages.

Many popular content-management systems such as Wordpress (https://wordpress.org/plugins/amp) and Drupal (www.drupal.org/project/amp) offer plugins to help easily create AMPs. For a complete rundown on how AMPs work and how to get started with them, check out Google’s free tutorial on AMP (https://developers.google.com/search/docs/guides/enhance-amp).

Check out still other techniques: There are scores of other ways to speed up your website. Type “website speed optimization” into any search engine for more ideas.

Search goliath Google is toying with the idea of shaming slow-loading websites by displaying a “Usually Loads Slow” splash screen in place of a homepage when someone is trying to visit the website. The move, which Google detailed in a recent blog post (https://tinyurl.com/movingtowards2019), would have a chilling effect on any website Google deems slow-loading.

Joe Dysart is an internet speaker and business consultant based in Manhattan.

646-233-4089

joe@joedysart.com

www.joedysart.com

SEMA Member News July 2020

By Ellen McKoy

Undaunted by Challenges, SBN Works on Keeping Members Engaged

SBN Chair Lana Chrisman.

“The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry,” wrote the Scottish poet Robert Burns, which aptly describes many of the plans the SEMA Businesswomen’s Network (SBN) had put in place for 2020 but which came to an abrupt halt as a consequence of the COVID-19 epidemic. First to go was an SBN Meet Up set for the Keystone Big Show. Plans for four regional Lunch and Learn events for mid-level female employees were also put on hold, and two CEO retreats for executive-level women and business owners, originally slated for summer and fall, may have to be rescheduled.

Despite the setbacks, though, the SBN remains focused and, in fact, is working diligently to keep its members informed and connected.

“While face-to-face events are on hold right now, we’re trying to fill in with some online activities,” said SBN Chair Lana Chrisman.

Ideas in the works at press time included replacing in-person Lunch and Learn activities with interactive webinars on a variety of career-development and other topics. The SBN was also working with SEMA staff to develop Tip of the Day postings on the network’s social-media platforms. Postings will likely touch on ways to cope with pandemic-related professional and personal concerns as well as inspirational ideas on leadership and moving forward in times of stress and uncertainty.

The SBN has also expanded its popular SheIsSEMA online profiles to biweekly instead of monthly. The network also recently held a successful general membership meeting via teleconference to further help members stay connected.

“I’m really excited that our select committee is dialing in on what our members need,” Chrisman said. “We are still in the process of figuring out how we can do virtual events successfully through our social-media presence. Our goal is to help our members stay engaged and informed.”

Maintaining Momentum

Industry women at the annual women-only Gear-Up Girl networking mixer.

With some activities still in flux, the SBN is moving ahead with its event lineup for the SEMA Show to be held in Las Vegas November 3–6. In keeping with tradition, the annual women-only Gear-Up Girl networking mixer will kick off the week Monday, November 2, the day before the Show opens.

The event, part of the SEMA Education Student Program at the Show, is designed to connect female students with industry-leading professional women. Now in its 10th year, Gear-Up Girl has continued to grow in popularity, last year drawing a standing-room crowd of more than 600 industry women and
female students.

According to Chrisman, the select committee is exploring ways in which to enhance engagement and spark conversation among attendees. One idea on the table is speed-dating-style roundtables facilitated by female industry leaders and influencers. Two awards will also be presented: the Jessi Combs Rising Star Award recognizing SBN’s scholarship winner, and the all-new SheIsSEMA Award, with the honoree to be chosen from among this year’s SheIsSEMA profiles.

On Tuesday, November 3, both men and women are encouraged to attend “Earning Her Business,” powered by the SBN. The interactive and informative session, to be presented by experience expert Katie Brand, will explore the impact women have on purchasing decisions and how men and women can use the information to change the way they deliver consumer brand experiences to positively influence customer satisfaction metrics, increase retention and improve a company’s bottom line.

To wrap up the event schedule, the annual SBN reception is on tap for Wednesday evening, November 4. The popular reception, also open to men and women, will afford guests an opportunity to connect with members of the SBN select committee as well as hobnob and network with other industry leaders.

“We have a lot to focus on between now and the Show,” Chrisman said. “But with all we have been going through with the COVID crisis, I’m really excited about what we are planning. I can’t wait to get ready for the SEMA Show—to just see everybody again. I hope everyone stays safe so that we can get together in November."