Tire Dealers Association of Canada Convention - Autosphere

Advertorial
Shirley Brown
sgbrown@xplornet.com
T he
Tire Dealers Association
o f C a n a d a ( T D A C )
Conference really was ‘By the
Sea.’ Halifax, Nova Scotia is especially
beautiful in the summertime
and the venues for
the various events were spread
throughout the city and nearby
sites. Seminars and speakers
were many and varied but all had
a theme—the opportunity for tire
dealers to move their business forward in
the coming years.
“The whole event was awesome,” stated Eric Gilbert current TDAC president and
owner of Ericway Tire in Beamsville, Ontario. “I talked to a lot of dealers and suppliers
that were present and they thought everything went very well. As well, because of
some issues that needed to be discussed, I’ve talked with people since the TDAC and
their feedback was tremendous. This is unusual because usually when the event is over,
there is no further communication, so it was great to be able to hear people from across
Canada praising the event afterward.
“Another thing that stood out was that we surpassed attendance numbers of former
events—there were a great number of independent tire dealers in attendance. The
seminars were of good quality—that’s what the feedback was—and there weren’t a
great many of them, which can be overwhelming. I give a lot of credit to the organizing
committee who gave us the quality speakers and seminars—they were well attended.
“Halifax was a great place to be—when you combine all the offerings of the East coast,
the friendly atmosphere, the hotels and the piers being right on the waterfront—it was
pretty incredible. We learned something from it… we need to hold all our conventions
in a ‘tourist’ location. Many attendees brought their family and came early and had a
little holiday or stayed afterward to enjoy the scenery.
14 Tire News tn October 2008
“All in all I felt the TDAC was a big success!”
By the Sea 2008
By the Sea 2008
Moving your Business
Forward
By the Sea—this year’s Tire Dealers Association of Canada
Convention—was held in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The goal of the
event was “moving your business forward.”
Needless to say, a Golf Tournament was the
kickoff to the Convention on Wednesday
and attendees were given entertainment
options for that evening. Meetings and
seminars were on the agenda Thursday
with luncheon guest speaker, Peggy Fisher,
president of TireStamp and current TIA
president, giving an interesting talk on
products, marketing, and training.
A reception at Pier 21 finished off
the day.
Great seminars, great speakers
The next day brought forth Market Trends
presented by Marc Brazeau, president
of the Automotive Industries Association
of Canada, followed by Trends in Scrap
Management, a subject well geared to today’s
environmental issues. Then keynote
speaker Jacques Demers took over. As
you all recall, Demers was one of the most
successful of the NHL hockey coaches…
although he could neither read nor write.
Demers coached in both Canada and the
United States and was the last coach to
help the Montreal Canadiens to a Stanley
Cup victory. After he stopped coaching,
he went on to have a new career—as a
television sports commentator and he was
most interesting to hear at the TDAC. His
biography was published in 2005.
It was a double-barrel day for famous peo-
Photos: Marie-Josée Rousseau mjr@p-rousseau.com