News Archives

Continuing on Our Charted Course

San Diego, 2005 PFW Dealership Management Conference

PFW Password - Winter 2004 PFW's biennial Dealership Management Conference is scheduled for February 23-26, 2005 in San Diego, California at the Catamaran Resort Hotel. February's conference marks the return of PFW to San Diego ten years after "Charting a New Course" with our customers there in 1995. Our 2005 conference theme of "Continuing on Our Charted Course" updates this earlier theme, and inspires us to reflect on the changes that have occurred in the dealer/distributor landscape—and in the PFW software products that have supported this change.

From 1995's R5V01 to 2005's IntelliDealer and beyond—join us in San Diego as we continue on our charted course towards success!

Something For Everyone
With an appropriately balanced blend of education and entertainment, the conference offers something for everyone and presents the best possible opportunity to bring PFW System users and other industry contacts together. Attendees will learn about existing software products, preview new software and help shape the products that are still in the "concept" stage of development.

In San Diego, sessions such as "Hidden IntelliDealer: The A-Ha! Session," and "Using IntelliDealer to Market Your Dealership" will offer dealerships currently using IntelliDealer—and those contemplating the switch—new ways to maximize the features the system offers. Other sessions such as "Your Financials: Any Way You Want Them" dive deep into the myriad reporting capabilities of IntelliDealer, the PFW System and other add-on products like Crystal Reports. Forty-five-minute "Mini-breakouts" cover topics like the new IntelliDealer Rental software specifications, selling on the Internet with eMerchandise, the IntelliDealer Dashboard and vendor-specific software interfaces. As well, the "track" session concept that we introduced in our last Management Conference in Nashville will be continued, giving attendees in San Diego more sessions to choose from and the ability to select those sessions that best suit their interest.

Learning From Your Peers
In Nashville, we were fortunate enough to complement our PFW-led sessions with presentations by dealership personnel. These "peer-to-peer" sessions were highly successful, and when we asked attendees at the conclusion of the 2003 conference if they wanted to attend more of this kind of session, the answer was a resounding "YES!". We've doubled the number of dealership-led sessions in San Diego, and even placed them in their own track—so attendees can mix and match with the PFW-led sessions, as desired. Sessions will include a firsthand look into "Creating the Three-Way-Win with IntelliTech", "Dealership Parts Management", "Service Scheduling" and "Selling Service: Service Agreement Management".

Note that, as "track" sessions run concurrently, PFW encourages dealerships to send more than one person to the conference to cover all sessions. To help with the cost, a 10% discount on all registrations (after the first attendee has registered at full price) is offered.

Why should I attend?

1. Meet and talk to key PFW executives about your dealership's goals and our strategic direction: Robert Morton, President; Frank DeDecker, VP of Development; Dave Fulton, VP of Client Services; John Andersen, VP of Sales; and Ross Atkinson, VP of System Architecture and Product Design.
2. Meet and network with other PFW Dealership Management System users: share your ideas, successes, and solutions with like-minded individuals.
   3. Take advantage of personal, one-on-one sessions with some of PFW's technical staff to make sure all of your own dealership-specific issues are addressed.
3. Contribute your ideas to help shape the future PFW Dealership Management System in brainstorming sessions, or after-hours at our Operations Central.
4. Take part in an amazing keynote address from an industry expert and participate in a panel discussion with your peers.
5. Have some good, plain fun in sunny San Diego, the Catamaran Resort and all the surrounding entertainment and shopping venues: La Jolla, Downtown, the San Diego Zoo and Sea World, the historic Gaslamp Quarter, Balboa Park, one of the region's more than 90 golf courses—or just walk along Mission Bay and watch the sun set.

Register
Don't wait to register! Fax back the registration form you received in the mail as part of the Conference Registration package to (519) 474-3661, or go online to www.pfw.com/conference.

If you have questions about the 2005 PFW Dealership Management Conference, the city of San Diego or the Catamaran Resort Hotel, contact Jenna at (519) 474-3300, ext. 270 or jmorton@pfw.com.