AIMExpo 2023 is taking all the best parts of the show from January of this year and building on it – and dealers are responding by registering in big numbers. That was the takeaway from November's MIC Symposium, a sit-down conversation with the latest on the AIMExpo trade show and the Ride With Us market expansion program. The 38-minute session featured Cinnamon Kernes, MIC VP of market expansion, and Andre Albert, MIC director of sales & marketing. Jacqueline Peterson, MIC vice president of communications, moderated the symposium.
"At just under 100 days to the show, we're at the highest dealer registrations that we've ever been this far out, states Albert. “And we haven't even hit our spike yet. Essentially, the last 30 days is when the trajectory truly dials up, and almost goes ninety degrees up. One of the big reasons the dealers come to the show is to meet with their distributor. So because we have two out of the three major distributors coming to the show, obviously our registrations are up."
"Tucker has been a great partner,” adds Kernes. “One thing that makes the show better this year is having Parts Unlimited on board and having them recognize the value of coming to the show and connecting with dealers. They see the value in coming to Las Vegas as well, so we're excited to have them on board, along with All Balls Racing Group, Motonation, and we have quite a few distributors on the floor this year."
The OE representation is there, too, adds Albert. "We have Suzuki coming back… They're going to be returning in 2023 as well as Triumph. KTM, GASGAS, and MV Agusta will be on our show floor, so that's super exciting news. Those are a lot of heavy hitter brands and obviously there's a huge turnout from the European brands coming to AIMExpo."
Kawasaki Motors Corp., U.S.A., announced that it will return to the AIMExpo show floor with its Dealer Development & Training team.
Also in February, OEs, aftermarket companies, and various exhibitors will have a new AIMExpo stage to present their products. "We have a specific part of the show floor that we call New Product Central," explains Albert. "Traditionally, we have new product display showcases. Those will remain…but now we're building a stage with cameras and a host where aftermarket companies, OEM companies, any of our exhibitors, can apply to do a new product presentation with our host on the stage. lt gives the dealers the opportunity to hear about your products in one place."
Education for AIMExpo attendees, both in the form of the Disruptive Thinking presentations and in-person MIC Symposium sessions, will again play a major role in the Las Vegas show. "We took our education and put it on the main show floor," Albert said. "We didn't really know how it would be accepted, but it went down well. One comment we did get was that people missed the classroom style education, so for 2023 we're going to have both the main stage on the show floor and we're also going to bring back the classrooms. People are going to get that day-to-day dealership, inner-workings kind of classroom from those sessions, as well as the bigger thinking, motivational type of panel."
And as it has always been, the show is free to dealers!
