Education Fair East
August 17, 2021
The Association was pleased when news of the rescission of the COVID-19 mandate limiting large gatherings at the end of June. It allowed us the opportunity to move forward with presenting in-person Education fairs again for our Washington Dealers.
The event was postponed a month later than in past years to allow for the staff to make arrangements, enlist sponsors and invite speakers to attend as Eastern Washington dealerships began to register for the event that would be held at the Doubletree By Hilton Convention Center in Spokane Washington.
Executive Director Brian Dansel, only with the Association for less than two months, was able to secure several political colleagues from his time as a State Senator.
During the opening ceremonies, Brian introduced himself to everyone in attendance while giving his background in politics and spoke about his goals as Executive Director long-term before yielding the floor to our first speakers.
Spokane City Council member Michael Cathcart and Spokane County Commissioner Josh Kerns spoke with the attendees on subjects ranging from COVID-19 responses in Eastern Washington to affordable housing for residents of the area.
Toward the end of their individual presentations, they sat down together to answer more questions from the attendees.
The next presentation with Marc Worthy from the Office of The Attorney General of Washington was through the Zoom format. This was the first time that the Association had attempted this on a large scale outside of a small class environment.
Mr. Worthy spoke on the subject of Advertising Do's and Don't's for Washington State dealerships in regards to how to properly advertise their vehicles through all types of communications: Newspapers, Television, and the Internet.
Washington Retail Association's Terry Hopsecger spoke to attendees about their help with Labor & Industries related subjects that affect any business like Worker's Compensation and the RETRO program partnership with WSIADA's membership.
After the lunch hour, Todd Shepard of Shepard & Shepard Insurance Solutions discussed the change in the insurance world during the pandemic and Cyber Liabilities for protection against being a target of Ransomware.
Ken Krous from the Washington State Department of Revenue presented changes and updates to the Excise Tax subject with the dealers in addition to other subjects that affect the auto industry in Washington State. Ken also discussed tax exemptions for out-of-state transactions and much more while taking questions from our attendees.
Discussing the benefits of Mobile devices and website responsiveness, Lyamen Savy CEO of 321 Ignition helped many understand the need for having a proper website to sell online in the 21st century.
Unfortunately, the Washington State Department of Licensing was unable to attend to discuss various policies and subjects that changed in early 2021 for dealerships. The WSIADA's Education Manager, Rick Olson, presented on behalf of the Department to ensure the dealerships attending had the information about those changes.
Brian Dansel closed the event by thanking our sponsors, speakers, and attendees for coming together under the pandemic circumstances before announcing a reception available for anyone to attend afterward that was not needed at their dealership so quickly.