CARY, N.C. -

As a master impressionist and a man of many characters from his “Saturday Night Live” days and beyond, Dana Carvey, one of the keynote speakers at NADA Show 2019, has had to wear many hats, so to speak.

So too does the franchised car dealer.

Just as Carvey’s repertoire has ranged from characters like “Garth Algar” and “The Church Lady” to impressions of Ross Perot, Johnny Carson and everyone in between, dealerships must navigate a slew of fields from finance, service and repair, reputation management, online retail, social media and, of course, the selling of new and used vehicles.

While perhaps Carvey may have a few impressions and characters in store for his speech at the show, NADA also has workshops and sessions lined up at its annual convention, set for Jan 24-27 in San Francisco, to help dealers work through the many roles they play.

Part of that will be through a new feature at NADA Show 2019: a preview of the NADA Professional Series, the association’s new dealership management training program.

The preview will be conducted through inventory management sessions in four different areas of a dealership:

■ NADA Professional Series: Office Managers

Protecting Your Dealership’s Biggest Assets

■ NADA Professional Series: Sales Managers

Managing Millions in Vehicle Inventory

■ NADA Professional Series: Service Managers

Maximizing Your Daily Disappearing Inventory

■ NADA Professional Series: Parts Managers

Stopping Parts Obsolescence Before It Starts

“Attendees will see first-hand why dealership managers are looking to this program to supercharge their careers,” NADA said on its convention website.

“These special workshop sessions will demonstrate how NADA educates the next level of dealership department managers and equips them with the tools they need to advance both their careers and their respective dealerships in the ever-changing automotive industry,” the association said. “NADA Academy Instructor Georgia Munson will provide an in-depth look at this program, where dealership managers will learn to improve departmental profitability and gain the confidence to secure leadership roles in the departments they choose.”

Education at NADA Show 2019

Overall, the NADA Show’s educational endeavors are divided into four areas, according to the event’s website:

• Workshops on pressing topics in the industry

• A Super Session designed to be “network-oriented.” This year’s will include leaders from Twitter, Google, Facebook and UnityWorks Media, who will discuss “Disrupting Your Market with Google, Facebook and Twitter.” 

• An Exchange series of peer-to-peer roundtable sessions

• A Distinguished Speaker Series

With this being a publication that leans towards the pre-owned side of the market, here are a few of the used-car sessions at NADA Show 2019:

Workshops:

• Leadership Skills and Used-Car Strategies for Champions with Tommy Gibbs of Tommy Gibbs & Associates

• Make Pre-owned Great Again with Randy Barone of Pearl Technology Holdings

• More info: https://show.nada.org/2019/Workshop-Schedule/

Exchange Sessions:

• Increase Used-Vehicle Sales

• Used-Car Strategies, from Acquisition to Increased Turn Rates

• More info: https://show.nada.org/2019/Exchange

Distinguished & keynote speakers

Meanwhile, the Distinguished Speaker Series will include:

• Carey Lohrenz, the first female F-14 fighter pilot in the Navy

• Alan Haig of Haig Partners and Dale Pollak of vAuto/Cox Automotive

• Mark King, executive emeritus at Adidas

• Rick Rigsby of Rick Rigsby Communications

• Bill Rancic, entrepreneur, first winner of “The Apprentice” on NBC, author

In addition to Carvey, keynote speakers include:

•  Kat Cole of FOCUS Brands North America

• Air Force Maj. Dan Rooney

• 2018 NADA Chairman Wesley Lutz

• 2019 NADA Chairman Charles Gilchrist