Keeping Attendees Coming Back: The Evolving Landscape of AAPEX/SEMA
Key Highlights
- SEMA will occupy all five buildings at the Las Vegas Convention Center, expanding into the Westgate Hotel for an international pavilion and new features like the Battle of the Builders showcase.
- Both shows are emphasizing experiential booths, interactive displays, and enhanced networking opportunities, including dedicated meeting rooms and a booth crawl for increased attendee engagement.
- AAPEX introduces a new student engine reassembly competition, revamped training sessions with structured schedules, and a keynote by Wayne Gretzky focusing on industry excellence and innovation.
Two of the biggest industry events of the year, AAPEX and SEMA, are slated to take place Nov. 4-7 in Las Vegas. Though the shows have been going on for decades, organizers have stepped it up in the past couple of years, implementing new features and sessions with the goal of giving attendees a distinct experience each year.
Tom Gattuso, vice president of events for SEMA, and Mark Bogdansky, vice president of trade shows and community engagement for Auto Care Association, shared what changes attendees can expect to see not only this year, but in years to come.
SEMA Show
This year, SEMA will fill all five buildings at the Las Vegas Convention Center and expand into the adjacent Westgate Hotel and Casino. Despite ongoing uncertainties in the market, thousands have already started the registration process for this year's conference.
The expansion into the Westgate has allowed SEMA to put up an international pavilion that they created, and to reintroduce certain features. This will include the Battle of the Builders showcase, which will likely go from outside to inside.
SEMA Live, a 31-hour live broadcast, will also be moved to a different hall this year to reach a wider audience, including those who cannot attend in person. The livestream will be broadcast on YouTube and partner channels during the show.
"When the show opens and closes every day, we broadcast it on our YouTube channel. We've got other partners that we collaborate with that put it on their channels as well," tells Gattuso.
For those looking forward to SEMA Fest, it'll be in full swing again in 2025. While it will be similar to last year in terms of music and motorsports, SEMA is planning to put more emphasis on the motorsports aspect of SEMA Fest. Along with motorsports activities and cars on display, three bands will perform, featuring enhanced lighting technology this year for better event flow.
"We've now got some lighting options, where we'll be able to almost turn the lights on and off on that lot; where in the past, if you turned lights off, it took 10 or 15 minutes for them to power back on," explains Gattuso. "I think that will allow people to migrate between watching the music and watching the motorsports, which is what we were able to achieve our very first year, because we were going from noon to 10 p.m., so there were a lot of daylight hours. Daylight saving time doesn't necessarily work in our favor for this, but we figured out a lighting option for it."
The Friday Experience will also be held, a part of SEMA Show open to the public, designed to give enthusiasts and consumers direct access to the event and for manufacturers to interact with end users as well as industry professionals.
Networking will, of course, also play a huge role in the SEMA Show, with plenty of opportunities to connect with other professionals lined up from the moment the show begins with its kickoff breakfast, which is paired with SEMA's new product showcase winners for the week. It will also feature a keynote speaker to motivate attendees for the week ahead.
There are also several councils and networks that will be hosting events throughout the week, such as the Truck Council, Hot Rod Council, and Restoration Network, allowing attendees to connect with colleagues in specific industry segments.
On Thursday night, SEMA will hold its banquet, which is seeing some changes. It will be moved to Fontainebleau Las Vegas and will be revamped as the SEMA Honors Program to recognize Hall of Fame members and other industry leaders.
More unstructured opportunities for networking will include the connections you make just from traversing the show floor, though.
"A lot of learning and networking happens on the show floor," says Gattuso. "There's people who've come to the SEMA show who have friends that they've been associated with for 30, 40 years, who they met on the show floor. So I always tell people, 'Your next best seller is right around the corner—but also, be careful who you talk to, because you may know them for the next 30 years.'"
AAPEX
Around a year and a half ago, AAPEX organizers put into motion the "Future of AAPEX" project to re-evaluate the show's direction. It consisted of discussions with regular attendees, those who never attend, exhibitors, and international/domestic participants to better understand the aftermarket's needs.
The end result was two main factors that now motivate the decision-making process for AAPEX: enhancing the attendee experience so they want to return every year, not just every few years; and increasing value for exhibitors—not by making the show cheaper, but by making it more valuable and engaging.
This has led to significant changes being made to the show, including segmenting the show floor based on broad product categories, which has challenged many exhibitors to rethink their booth design and layout. In fact, exhibitors have been encouraged by AAPEX to not just relocate their existing booth, but to make them more interactive for attendees.
"Every attendee ... the first thing they say is, 'We want booths to be more experiential.' That's the word," says Bogdansky. "Make it something they want to come to. Make it something fun. Make it something that they are going to drive them to your booth.
And so I think we're going to see that progress over the next few years. We've had some exhibitors say to us, 'Hey, we see this as an amazing challenge. We're going to be next to our competitor. We need to show why we're better than our competitor. We see that as a great challenge.'"
Additionally, rather than having meeting rooms inside of exhibitor booths, the showroom now features dedicated meeting rooms. They are capable of fitting 6-10 people and can accommodate AV presentations and lunches. Attendees also have the option to reserve a meeting room.
To further bolster activity on the showroom floor, this year's event will also feature a booth crawl, where attendees go from booth to booth. Every day from 3-5 p.m., there will be a different map highlighting the companies participating in the booth crawl that day. Many exhibitors on the showroom floor will be hosting receptions or offering drinks in their booths in the afternoon as part of the AAPEX booth crawl.
There are several new amenities for attendees as well, including filtered water stations, free buyer lunch on the show floor, and a revamped lobby area with product showcases and themed seating, designed for comfort.
As always, attendees will also have a plethora of options for self-improvement and training this year, including hands-on transmission training in partnership with ATSG and live training in Joe's Garage—the latter of which will see some changes from how it was scheduled last year. Sessions will be broken up differently, with a built-in lunch and scheduled breaks, and improved seating arrangements have been implemented to make it easier and more comfortable for participants.
There will also be many training tracks more focused on business management, covering topics like financial classes (reading P&L sheets, identifying fraud or embezzlement), service advisor training, working with your spouse, intergenerational communication, and handling addiction in the workplace.
This year, AAPEX is also rolling out a brand-new student competition focused on engine dismantling and reassembly, with eight different teams from vocational schools around the country being flown in to participate in the event on Wednesday morning. First place prize will include a full toolbox valued between $1,300-$1,500, plus an additional $1,000 for purchasing tools. The second prize is a smaller tool set, with other prizes for all other competing teams.
Featured as the keynote speaker for AAPEX 2025 will be none other than Wayne Gretzky. A former professional hockey player, TV personality, head coach, and philanthropist, Gretzky will share his story through a moderated discussion on Nov. 4, titled "Getting into the Hall of Fame: What it Takes." His session outlines lessons the aftermarket industry can use to improve its competitiveness, flexibility, innovation, and ability to let go of fear.
"He's not just the best hockey player of all time. He also is a very successful businessman," says Bogdansky. "He's done a lot of different things, in a lot of different industries, and he's going to be able to talk through a lot of different things that people in all businesses and all walks of life can learn."
At AAPEX, there are an abundance of opportunities to pursue. Bogdansky strongly recommends that attendees make at least a rough game plan beforehand of what they want to see. Especially for those who are coming for the first time, it can be a lot to take in without prior prep.
"Look at the classes. There might be a class that appeals to you. Look at the classes that we have on the stages. There might be a class you don't have to sign up for—but, hey, I know that 9:30 on Wednesday, there's some class given by this tool company, or there's a demo by Autel that I really want to get to, or NOCO is doing something really cool. I want to make sure I'm going to check that, or whatever it is," says Bogdansky. "So plan ahead."