August 25-27 will find members of the AkzoNobel Sikkens Acoat selected National Performance Group gathering at the Fairmont Chicago in Chicago, Ill., for the 17th Annual Summer Conference.

In addition to performance benchmarking with their peers participants will also benefit from classes on:

• Collision Industry Mega Trends – Perspectives from  State Farm, Allstate and Liberty Mutual insurance companies as well as I-CAR and CollisionWeek on the future of the Collision/Claims Industries.
 
• eTips V: The Future of IT in the Collision Repair Industry – Industry thought leaders for a round table discussion of IT trends which will continue to help shape and define our industry.

• Tomorrows Answers Today – Innovation 2010 – Six new products and services from AkzoNobel with an emphasis on growing sales, waste reduction and sustainability will be revealed.

• Database Enhancement Gateway – Presents the functionality of one of the industries most effective tools developed to aid in the collision estimating inquiry process.

• I-CAR Professional Development Program – After two years of work, I-CAR is introducing its new, performance-focused training and development curriculum.

• China Syndrome – This session will showcase how the collision repair business is emerging in China.

• TerraStar Engineering – International’s newly released TerraStar Medium Duty Work Truck has been a big hit in the market. Body engineers from International Truck will conduct an in-depth overview of the TerraStar cab construction and associated methods of repair during this informative Early Bird class.

• Increasing Your Emotional Intelligence – Emotional intelligence is the ability to understand your feelings and the emotional states of those around you and the ability to use those feelings to guide thoughts and actions appropriately. This class provides proven methods to apply emotional intelligence in the workplace to enhance employee relationships and increase productivity.

Additionally, the conference will include an array of classes designed for AkzoNobel distributors.

Numerous awards also will be presented to recognize business and personal growth achievements over the last year.

“From the very first, the AkzoNobel Acoat selected program has been unique within the North American collision repair market,” said Mike Sillay, North American services manager of AkzoNobel Car Refinishes Americas. “By offering content that is practical and relevant we can create business environments that enable our customers to grow and prosper.”