It’s only April, but contracts for SEMA Show booth space are rapidly accumulating, and the staff has been busy preparing for booth selection, planning innovative Show features and securing discount programs to help our participants avoid unnecessary costs. With all this activity afoot, the 2015 SEMA Show is looking to be another outstanding event. That’s why now is the time to be laying the foundation for a successful SEMA Show, especially for exhibitors.

One important deadline is coming up April 6, which is the cutoff date for exhibitors to register for Priority Booth Selection. This year’s priority selection process begins...

Those who have attended the SEMA Show are likely aware of SEMA’s collaborative relationship with the Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research (CU-ICAR). SEMA’s partnership with CU-ICAR is now in its fifth year. It’s been a great partnership that yields useful tools to help SEMA members cope with vehicle technology and advance their products. Clemson has state-of-the-art equipment and top engineering talent to stay abreast of the newest automotive technologies. By connecting CU-ICAR and its graduate-level students and professors with the aftermarket, SEMA is shaping world-class research into practical tools for our member companies.

One example is the just-released “Ride Guide,” a publication that puts more science into the matter of wheel/tire performance and selection. With support from SEMA and the Wheel & Tire Council (WTC), CU-ICAR recently conducted months of testing to determine the performance differences of varying wheel and tire combinations.

We’re pleased to report that the SEMA Data Co-op has surpassed critical mass and is rolling! Your industry-owned product data repository now has more than 350 brands covering more than 2.7 million live part numbers. Every week, we see thousands of data exports pulled down by data receivers—our industry’s resellers and retailers. That means that more products are getting more exposure, leading to increased sales.

That’s great news. Meanwhile, the marketplace continues to evolve. These days, more than 50% of all sales begin with online research, and studies show that a product listing that offers an image is more than twice as likely to sell as one with no image. Rich data—images with multiple views, video files, audio files—is reported to be as much as 17 times more likely to prompt a sale.

If you’re not registered to participate in the SEMA Ignited event, now is the time to get in. The event concept is simple. After four days behind closed doors in the Las Vegas Convention Center, visible only to industry professionals, participating cars and trucks from the SEMA Show will roll out on Friday, November 7, to assemble at one of the newest landmarks in the city, the High Roller observation wheel at the LINQ entertainment district. There, from 4:00 p.m.–10:00 p.m., consumers and the media will be able to experience the hottest cars, products and personalities from the SEMA Show and enjoy food and music in a culminating celebration. Participation in the event will be free of charge to SEMA exhibitors, attendees and consumers.