The Ultimate SEMA Show Survival Guide
Everything you need to know to survive the world's largest automotive trade show...
It’s that time of year again, car fanatics. The one where you put on your comfy shoes, iron your best branded shirts, and head to Vegas for that week-long industry trade show known as the Specialty Equipment and Manufacturers Association (SEMA) Trade Show. Run continuously since 1967, the SEMA Show brings together the best in the automotive aftermarket in the form of custom cars, performance parts designed to personalize any automobile, and a whole lot of other stuff you can’t see anywhere else. For decades, you and your predecessors have walked the aisles, set up displays, and done business deals. For those of you venturing out to the big show this year, we have put together this guide to make sure that the exhibitors are ready to get maximum value out of your annual investment.
SEMA Survival Guide Part 1 – Exhibitors
Pre-Work: A successful event is based on a good plan. This includes a list of everything that you want to accomplish and a clear definition of “what success looks like” for you as a brand. This will mean different things for different companies. Some companies will launch new products, some will want to connect with the media, and others will push for sales from all the distributors walking through the halls. Have a plan and work it.
New Product Showcase: One of the hidden gems at SEMA is their New Product Showcase. Make sure that if you have a new product, you enter it in this special area. There are many wins for you here: get buyer attention, get media attention, and maybe win an award for your design. Good luck.
Display: Your display tells your future customer a lot about you. It should be brightly lit, clearly branded, stocked with your best product, offer a meeting space, and have the extra thick carpeting. Take a really good look at your layout and remove any sort of barrier for an attendee to enter your space such as arches, overhangs, or weird (Vegas) carpet patterns.
Handouts: Catalogs still work with the crowd despite what your advertising agency is telling you. QR codes work too for the modern-minded buyer. Lots of folks will be taking pictures, so make sure you stage your premium product with a simple, branded background. Your team should have business cards, and you should have a universal card with key information like your website and social media handles. Oh, yeah, merch will win the day with this crowd, so make it clever, and save us a couple of those mini turbo keychain whistle things.
Communications: Get your press releases ready early and get them ready to go. Your PRs will serve you as a gold standard for your entire marketing effort with key information on new product and expanded capabilities. SEMA will share them out if you ask nicely. And make sure your team has them before the show so they can study up.
Website Update: Don’t forget to get your website updated and ready to go. New information, critical new product, and key new additions to your lineup should be easy to find. If this is your goal, drive traffic, and watch the cash register ring.
Timing: All of your marketing, communications, social posts, and website updates should be timed for max impact. Some teams will be doing a live press conference at their display on the floor and hitting the “go” button on all these activities. Of course, the risk is that something happens with your digital assets, and the entire plan gets jacked. Ask us how we know…
Meetings: Get those meeting invitations out early. Slots fill up with popular (powerful) people, and you can be standing on the rope (literally) if you aren’t on their calendar. If you are reading this, and you don’t have at least five big meetings planned for SEMA, you are behind.
Stay Healthy: Seems obvious, but we get to Vegas and all hopes of health go out the window. Stay hydrated, carry and use hand sanitizer, get your sleep (tough one), eat healthy, and remember to keep that Air Borne handy.
Staff Training: The entire work-from-home thing has made some folks forget how to interact with live humans. It might be a good chance for you to reinforce things like eye contact, a big smile, a cheerful “hello there”, a handshake (or fist bump), and a sincere “How can I help you?”
The Human Touch: Remember to take care of your staff. By the second day, everyone is exhausted, and we still have 3-5 days left to go. Make sure your staff is taking time for lunch, a break, and at least getting some snacks during the crunch hours. Biggest tip we can give you about staying human while at SEMA … be polite during those long lines and challenging times. We are all in it together.
Finish Strong: With all of that said, make sure you have some juice in the tank to take max advantage of Thursday and Friday. A lot of folks will have cut out by Thursday, but the real survivors walk the show on Friday to make sure they saw it all and made those key contacts.
SEMA Survival Guide Part 2 – Attendee
Let’s get the obvious stuff out of the way first. Drink water, wear comfortable shoes, eat a bunch of vitamin C gummies, and try your best to limit the number of drinks you consume between 12:00 and 3:45 in the morning. We’d recommend hitting the late nights early in the week as they get harder and harder to recover from as the days go on… but the better parties do happen later in the week, so there’s that.
Network: Like, actually network. Don’t just talk to the same people you talk to every year and call that networking. The more new people you meet at the SEMA Show, the better. Of course, you should spend some time building upon prior relationships, too. We’d recommend you spend 65% of the show getting out of your comfort zone and meeting new people. Try it!
Plan Ahead: Check the map, bro. It’s so easy to have a kinda-sorta plan that you throw out the window the second you arrive in the SEMA Show halls, but the show will be so much more valuable if you make a plan for each day in advance. You can check out the SEMA Show floorplan right now and make a great hit list of the companies, people, products, and cars that you want to see. Fight your shiny-itis now before your Automotive ADD takes control on opening day.
Dinner: If you have 3 dinners at the SEMA Show, try one with the crew, one with your most important industry contact(s), and one with a group of people you are just now meeting for the first time. In order we’d go industry contact(s), new group, and then your crew so you can end with a debrief and a great crew bonding experience. Try to make at least 2 of these at a place where you can actually hear each other talk…
Education Seminars: Continuing education is crucial for personal growth and the SEMA Show offers some great (and some not so great) education opportunities. Pick a couple out in advance and commit to attending them. Worst case, you get an hour to sit down, rehydrate, and recharge. Best case? You learn something new, meet some great new people who also love to learn new things, and go back to your business with a big new idea.
Buffet Strategy: Vegas is known for its buffets. When faced with a plethora of choices, don't go all in at once. Start with a recon lap to scope out your favorites. Then, prioritize your plate real estate for the top picks. Remember, it's a marathon, not a sprint. Pace yourself. They put the most expensive stuff in the back, just so you know.
Gadget of the Week
By the time you hit 10 miles on your workout tracker, your feet and back will be just about done with the SEMA Show. We are highly recommending that you buy a pair of super comfortable walking shoes like these beauties from New Balance. Better yet, get two pair, plan on switching them each day, and break them in. Your feet will thank us. (Editor’s note: you may already have a pair of these in the frunk of your new Corvette. They are standard equipment.)