Complementing a successful week at Automotive Service & Repair Week (ASRW), attendees also benefited from more than 200 hours of educational sessions. The ASRW Conference Program presented topics that both mechanical and collision industry professionals deal with on a regular basis.
The comprehensive education program was comprised of collision, mechanical, management, technical and women’s professional development sessions. Session formats for 2011 included 90-minute and 3-hour sessions over four days.
Approximately 70 percent of the sessions were accredited by the Automotive Management Institute (AMI). Additional add-on education included role-based training presented by I-CAR and a look into insurance and legislative issues on the horizon for 2012 delivered by Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCI).
The conference program was developed by the 2011 ASRW Conference Planning Committee led by Bill Haas, ASA’s vice president of education and training.
"The conference experience is one our highest priorities at ASA and conference committee work hard each year to bring together the top experts in our industry," said Haas. "And it shows both in the number of people attending conference and in the depth of content they are taking away from this ASRW."
Management sessions were the most sought-after education for both collision and mechanical professionals. Detailed technical instruction was also offered this week, and most CARS technical courses were powered by CARQUEST Technical Institute.
Session highlights included "Building a Team That Works Without You" (WE14NC), "Why Lean Implementations Fail in the Collision Industry" (WE12N), "Increasing Technician Efficiency – It’s a Team Effort" (TH0C) "Communicating with People Who Drive Us Crazy" (FR05NC), "Reality Repair Shop – What Would You Do?" (FR12C), and "Leadership Best Practices – How to Inspire, Delegate and Coach Your Team to Success" (FR18NC) conducted by Mike Anderson.
Conference attendee Bob Chabot noted, "I attended what I felt was the best single class session I have been to in the 10 years I have been coming here. The material from Game On with Ryan Schneider was helpful but it was different in that it provoked, grabbed and engaged my imagination, and I was inspired to act within minutes of leaving the room."
