The association is collaborating with other affiliate chapters and ASA National to combine efforts into one event together
Denver—The annual ASA Colorado Summit training event and tradeshow is will be a virtual event in 2021 but with a few new twists, while some details are still being ironed out.
“It’s been an interesting past couple of months,” Julie Massaro, ASA Colorado’s executive director, told Aftermarket Matters Weekly. “There was a 50-50 chance as to whether or not to have a live event because of the pandemic — members were split on the issue. But the board decided last month to go virtual.”
Instead, ASA Colorado and other association affiliate chapters, along with ASA National, will combine efforts and collaborate to have a virtual event together.
“We’re going to have an awesome online training event and tradeshow,” Massaro said. “We’re very excited.”
Hard dates are yet to be determined, but the event is anticipated to take place in either late February or beginning of March (the Summit is traditionally held in late January).
“We have a great platform that we’ve contracted with who will allow us to be as interactive online as possible. There will be social interaction, as well as with vendors and other opportunities,” she said, adding that there will be a virtual lobby that looks “real” and vendor booths with live discussions.
Vendor information will be available to download into an attendee’s virtual “briefcase” and future meetings can be scheduled.
As with ASA Colorado’s traditional summit, there will be a mix of one-hour and one-and-a-half-hour technical and management training classes. Massaro added that a small number of technical classes might run longer.
“We’re going to try and keep the training shorter with more variety to choose from and flexibility to move from ‘room’ to ‘room.’”
There will also be classes that feature just one presenter up to a panel discussion. “Many people are ‘Zoomed-out’ with online training, recently, so we’re keeping the program varied and interesting — it’s more dynamic with more choices and different options,” she said.
It still remains to be determined if the event will be called the “Summit,” as various chapters will be involved, but Massaro noted that many of the affiliates’ similar events are also called the Summit, so perhaps the brand will carry through.
The duration of the event is still under discussion, but she anticipates it will be between a day and a half to two days. “Anything more than that is way too long for people’s attention spans being online.”
The event will also feature a keynote speaker, she said.
“It will be the Summit on steroids online.”
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