SEMA Show Guide for Buyers

SEMA Show Guide for Buyers

Top Priorities for Your Show To-Do List

Mike Imlay

As the world’s premier automotive aftermarket trade event, the annual SEMA Show at the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC) offers industry buyers unparalleled value and opportunity.

“This year’s SEMA Show will have the most industry support that we’ve ever had in the event’s 49-year history,” said SEMA Show Director Tom Gattuso. “What that means to buyers is more new products, more innovation and more ways for them to improve their businesses in the coming year and beyond. In fact, what you do in four days in Las Vegas really can help you chart your business course for the next four years.”

Of course, with so much to see and do in one week, buyers will want to begin planning their Show experience well before their arrival at the trade event. To help get started, Gattuso offered the following 2015 SEMA Show priorities for buyers.

Start With the New Products Showcase

The first stop on every buyer’s list should be the New Products Showcase, which continues to rank among the Show’s most popular attractions. For 2015, the Showcase has been relocated to a prominent pathway on the bridge between the Central and South Halls at the west end of the Las Vegas Convention Center. The New Products Showcase will also feature extended hours for greater accessibility before and after the Show floor opens and closes. Plus the exhibit space will boast a Featured Product section for key manufacturer offerings that are not necessarily new but are high-volume, innovative products that would be of keen interest to the industry.

“The New Products Showcase is an essential part of the SEMA Show,” said Peter MacGillivray, SEMA vice president of communications and events. “Thousands of buyers and media visit the Showcase to discover leading trends, and participating exhibitors rely on it as a tool to generate awareness of their products and brands. The new location will make it easier for buyers to discover new products, for media to generate coverage and for exhibitors to drive traffic to their booths.”

To make it easy to connect with manufacturers of products from the Showcase, scanners will be readily available to buyers so they can create personalized lists of the products that interest them. Information, including company name and booth location, will be included on the lists based on what products are scanned.

Download the SEMA Show Mobile App

While buyers will certainly want to make the New Products Showcase their first Show destination, they’ll also want to make downloading the free 2015 SEMA Show app their first act of business. The app is easier to use this year and includes a virtual marketplace of all the SEMA Show’s new products, complete with images.

“The mobile app helps you plan your Show experience and navigate with ease,” said Gattuso. “Available for Apple and Android phones, the app essentially places the New Products Showcase in the palm of your hand, along with a digital map with turn-by-turn directions for getting you to any exhibitor and everywhere else you need to go.”

In addition, you’ll find a complete Show schedule, information for all the 2015 programs, and numerous other helpful features. To download the 2015 SEMA Show app, go to www.SEMAShow.com/app.

Visit the Performance Pavilion

To connect buyers with an unprecedented number of new exhibitors, the 2015 SEMA Show will include an exciting new First-Time and Featured Exhibitors expansion area, called the Performance Pavilion. Located in the outside area south of the Las Vegas Convention Center (adjacent to the Renaissance Hotel), this exhibitor space will also include a transportation hub and serve as a primary thoroughfare into the SEMA Show.

With this year’s Show projected to open with more than 2,400 exhibitors, including 500 new manufacturers, displaying thousands of products, the Performance Pavilion is actually one of four specially designed First-Time and Featured Exhibitors areas consisting primarily of newer manufacturers displaying their latest products reflecting market segments from nearby main-floor sections. The three additional expansion areas include the Upper South space, located in the upper level of South Hall, on the east side; the Grand Lobby meeting rooms, located in the LVCC meeting rooms N100–120, between North and Central Halls just east of the Grand Lobby; and the Westgate Pavilion, located in the Pavilion area of the Westgate Hotel, just north of the LVCC.

For performance-minded buyers, there is also a not-to-be-missed Racing Annex adjacent to the LVCC Central Hall, which you’ll find brimming with product and services exhibits from many of the racing and performance niche’s top companies.

Learn Something New

While known worldwide as the automotive specialty-equipment industry’s number-one trade event where business gets done, the annual SEMA Show is more than an extravaganza of hot aftermarket products, customized vehicles and industry networking. It’s also a Show heavy on learning opportunities, with more than 50 free and several “pay-to-attend” educational events covering everything from online marketing to customer service, industry trends and more.

“Throughout Show week, buyers will find a huge roster of educational seminars and learning events geared toward every segment of the industry,” said Zane Clark, SEMA director of education. “Our focus in creating these presentations is to help arm industry professionals with the tools and resources to foster career advancement and business growth. We’re especially proud of the wide-ranging program we’ve put together for 2015, along with the leading experts we’ve gathered to deliver our education tracks.”