New Orleans LA will host the 51st annual American Truck Dealers (ATD) Convention & Expo in January 2014.
“There’s a limited number of hotel rooms available at the Hilton Riverside, which is the ATD headquarters hotel, so we’re encouraging dealers to register as soon as possible,” said ATD Convention Chairman Steve Parker.
Keynote speakers include Philip Byrd, incoming chairman of the American Trucking Associations; Lt General Russel L Honoré (Ret), commander of the Joint Task Force Katrina and Global Preparedness Authority, who led the Department of Defense response to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana; and ATD Chairman Dick Witcher, chief executive officer of Minuteman Trucks in Walpole MA.
The ATD convention runs concurrently with the National Auto Dealers Association convention from January 24 to 27 at the Ernest N Morial Convention Center, which was renovated earlier in 2013.
Dealers will have the opportunity to meet face-to-face with their manufacturer executives at 11 franchise meetings and with exhibitors in the ATD Zone on the expo floor. ATD-NADA University will be offering seven workshops for truck dealers and their managers. The ATD Super Workshop, featuring Stu MacKay, president of MacKay & Company, is scheduled for January 24.
The annual ATD Sunday Gala will be held at the historic New Orleans restaurant, Arnaud’s, in the French Quarter.
ATD attendees can attend any of the NADA general sessions and workshops. Steve Forbes, chairman and editor-in-chief of Forbes Media and NADA Chairman David Westcott, a new-car dealer in Burlington NC, will deliver keynote remarks January 25. J R Martinez, an injured Army veteran and winner of the 13th season of ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars,” will provide an inspirational address January 26.
ATD attendees who register by October 7 will receive a $150 discount off the onsite registration rate. Online registration for the ATD convention is now available. For more information or to register, visit www.atdconvention.org.