Value of the Ratchet and Wrench Management Conference

[bantar]

I attended my first ever industry management conference.  What a great experience.   If you've never gone, I would encourage you to add it to your do-now bucket list.  There was a lot of open and detailed sharing.   For example, in a work session talking about bay efficiency analysis, they used real numbers from the audience.    Monthly Overhead, Gross Profit Percentage, desired bottom line profit.   It showed multiple paths to success that were immediately relatable. 

None of the presentations were about perfection.  As a matter of fact, most presenters shared information about how they did things stating that this may or may not apply to your situation.  No one told you what to do, but rather offer tools for analyzing your own situation.   None of the presenters were making sales pitches.

In other sessions, real shop owners share tips and techniques on a number of topics that we see here.    Being a live event, these were more dynamic conversations.

I've returned from the conference with a renewed sense of urgency analyzing my numbers to see where we had success and where we need to improve.   I do expect to make real changes, but don't yet know exactly what changes I'm going to make.   Got to crunch some numbers first.

I signed up for the conference when it was first published, but sat on the CC screen for a while debating the value of this conference.  Should I go, or should I stay?   I reluctantly pushed the GO button.   However, looking back, I should have enthusiastically smashed that GO button!  

The next one is in Denver.   I recommend that you consider attending.

 

A side benefit is that I got to meet Joe Marconi and in a session that we jointly attended, I overheard Joe say that he was mentored by Jerry Holcom.  Later in the conference, I had the pleasure of talking with Jerry as well.  In the many networking sessions, we met many different shop owners and had great conversations.

 

--brian

[Joe Marconi]

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[trentu]

I am in the Midwest and just in the process of partnering on a small shop, the R+W conference is coming up too fast.  Any other conference recommendations?  Thanks

[Transmission Repair]

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[bantar]

On 9/3/2024 at 10:29 AM, trentu said:

I am in the Midwest and just in the process of partnering on a small shop, the R+W conference is coming up too fast.  Any other conference recommendations?  Thanks

Coming up in March in Kansas City is the March 6-9, 2025 VISION Hi-Tech Training & Expo.     All of these training conferences I note below are great resources in addition to the R&W conference.  Make sure that you sign up as soon as early registration begins as the classes fill up fast.   Be ready to act to get the classes you want.   I'm sending my GM and one of my techs to Vision.   These conferences generally have Management / Service Advisor classes and Technical Training Classes.   You should be attending the Management track.   You'll learn more than you can digest and you'll be able to network with other shops as well.