Just four more days until the Paint & Panel L!VE conference in Melbourne on October 12.
Are you going to be one of the many shop owners, managers and senior staff who have a 'light bulb' moment at one of our conferences that has a profoundly positive affect on one or more aspects of the way you run you business? Training, networking and learning about what's happening and coming in the industry are things that you can't afford not have time for to stay competitive in this difficult market. Being seen is also an important aspect, as well as suppliers there are work providers there who all take note of who attends.
What might you learn at L!VE?
We have an HR guru in the form of Trudy MacDonald from TalentCode HR. As well as being a multi-award winning speaker she is passionate about helping small to medium businesses to thrive by giving practical advice on how to assemble and motivate their dream teams. We've briefed her about our industry issues and she will be discussing strategies to help you make your business more attractive to potential staff that other autobody repair shops.
Something that could alleviate a portion of the skills shortage is automating jobs such as rubbing down panels. Mario Dimovski of Tradiebot and his brainy team will be telling us about some of the projects that are already in development for our industry.
We'll be hearing from two canny shop owners from Damage Control Accident Repair Centre and Gino's Panel & Paint about making the right connections in their business, from diversification to digital marketing.
There's been a lot of chatter globally about car manufactures becoming more involved in the customer journey and that includes the accident repair process - and we're not just talking about luxury brands. There will be sessions from Holden's Damian Cahill and Audi's Gareth Wright and a panel which will include I-CAR's Mark Czvitkovits to discuss how this could affect the industry as connected cars and ADAS become mainstream.
Sam Street will also be on stage with business coach Ben Fewtrell chewing over the results of our industry survey and what opportunities and industry learning can be gleaned from it.
Can you afford to miss it? Of course you can't - you can buy your tickets here.
Don't forget you can buy a combo ticket for our night of nights after the conference. There's also our Melbourne shop tour on 11 October.