Celebrating Industry Excellence at the 78th AWDA Business Conference

This year marks the 78th year of the Aftermarket Warehouse Distributors Association business conference. The AWDA conference is the largest meetup of distributors in the industry and is the hallmark event for the association.

During this conference — which will take place on Nov. 2-3, in Las Vegas, Nevada — all AWDA’s members are given the opportunity to have meaningful, one-on-one, high-level meetings with their choice of suppliers in one place, over two days.

“Starting in the summer — when registration opens — everybody registers, and then in August, the distributors go into the system and rank the suppliers that have registered based on which ones they most want to have meetings with,” said Ted Hughes, senior director of Community Engagement at the Auto Care Association and executive director of AWDA.

Likewise, the suppliers who have registered for the conference go into the system and rank the distributors with whom they want to have meetings. AWDA then matches them up in terms of priority, which then all but guarantees that a meeting will happen.

Building Better Partnerships 

In the meetings, many things are discussed, but most focus on improving relations between the two sides.

“Some talk about the year that was, some talk about the year that's coming, but the meetings all revolve around improving efficiency and collaboration for both suppliers and distributors,” Hughes said.

This year, the AWDA conference will have close to 2,000 different one-on-one meetings between independent distributors and aftermarket suppliers.

Consistency Drives Success 

The AWDA conference’s layout will remain the same, with no new additions or changes to the format.

“It's the format that has worked and it's stayed true, so why change it?” Hughes said.

Although there are no changes to the event itself, there will be an exciting AWDA general session at six o’clock on Sunday evening. This event will occur after all the meetings have been wrapped up so that everyone can participate.

Celebrating Industry Excellence 

At the general session, four prestigious awards will be given to members of the AWDA. These awards are presented annually during the AWDA conference and are the most widely recognized and respected awards the aftermarket has to offer.

These AWDA Awards include:

• The Pursuit of Excellence Award. This award recognizes excellence in business performance.
  
  
• The Art Fisher Award for Excellence in Education. This award recognizes a company or individual for their leadership and commitment to education or training and is presented in honor of the former AWDA Chairman, Art Fisher.
  
  
• The Lifetime Achievement Award in Honor of Martin Fromm. This award recognizes individuals who have distinguished themselves over the course of their career through their integrity and unselfish commitment to the motor vehicle aftermarket industry.
  
  
• The Outstanding Leadership Award in Honor of Jack Creamer. This award recognizes an individual employed in the aftermarket who has made a monumental contribution to the industry and/or the association. (Formerly the Jack Creamer Automotive Leader of the Year Award).

In addition to the presentation of the awards, Hughes — along with AWDA chair, Ashlee Arnold — will be making remarks at the general session. 

“The legacy of the conference continues, if you will,” Hughes said. “This is a key component of most calendars in the aftermarket. This event is for those that are from the supply side that work with independent distributors — which is pretty much all of them — and then for the independent distributors, which count on good quality relationships with all their suppliers.”