If you are in the auto after market business then you will not want to miss the SEMA show, which is the world fifteenth largest show. What an incredible week we had at the SEMA show which beat all previous records. This years show had 88,000 pre-registrations before October 15 on the Internet as well as 90,000 during the show. There was an estimated 250,000 daily visitors from almost every country in the world, 4 countries on the planet did not have any guests. The show of course was great for my company, Detail Guys. as well as the 1400 exhibitors. This years show included passes to AAPEX which had over 500 exhibitors. Who did not attend? Well anyone who is not really in the running, we guess?

The SEMA Show is now ranked 15th in the World for size and that includes every Industry and even the World Fair and Oshkosh annual flyin. It is larger than Comdex now by another third the size and is the second largest show in all of Las Vegas as of 2002 and appears it will possibly break the record in attendance, however there are two more large shows coming still this year in Las Vegas, which might come close.

Every year my company sets up and attends trade shows to keep our team updated on new technologies, service issues, vendors, new products and industry contacts. It is not easy to go to all these shows and know the automotive aftermarket industry so well. It is a lot of hard work. We believe it is vital for anyone in the industry to stay informed and not be left in the dust. We are the dust makers, not the dust eaters.

For those of you who may not be familiar with SEMA or AAPEX; SEMA stands for; Specialty Equipment Market Association and you can check out their web site at; http://www.sema.org/ . Why is this important to those of us in the auto aftermarket biz? These are all the people who make everything that is attached to the modern and antique automobile. If it was made for a car, it was at the show. If it is a service for a car, it was at the show. If it was product for a car or the industry it was at the show. The only thing not at the show was, people and companies who are posers.

AAPEX stands for; Automotive Aftermarket Products EXPO. For more information check out; http://www.aapexshow.com . Between these shows everyone who was anyone as well as nearly all of our vendors were also there on display.

We discussed our purchases and group buying economies of scale with Mother's Waxes, Auto Magic, Turtle Wax, Simonize, Pro, Eagle 1, Beauty Shine, Maguire's, Production and at least 20 other brands which are new to the market. We also discussed our product purchases for equipment with at least as many companies. Was there anything new? Yes about 15 things we had never seen or heard of before from companies that no one really ever heard of. We are able to help our team to the best prices and services through these relationships with our vendors to make us number one and to beat the competition. Boy are we tired after standing on our feet for nearly a week straight. But all in all there is no place we would have rather been. I guess we will see you there next year along with some 1,000,000 other folks filling up all the hotels in Vegas.

"Lance Winslow" - If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs