Events
At one time, members of ABPA met twice each year. However, in the Year 2003, the schedule was changed to reflect the demands of a changing marketplace. The industry convention and trade show was previously held in months of September or October but when NACE (the International Autobody Congress & Exposition) switched its event to early November and in consort with two other large industry conventions--AAPEX and SEMA--it made no sense to force ABPA members and industry suppliers to select among so many disparate events nearly at the same time.
The fall convention was switched to the spring and took place in Scottsdale, Az. in 2003. Beginning in 2004, a far greater emphasis was placed on that new Spring meeting date which historically and generally had been the smaller of the two meetings. As the Spring meeting was elevated to the main event for the year, the timing met with great success when that convention took place in Montreal in late May. Over the years since then, ABPA has met in many diverse locations including San Antonio, Nashville, Ft. Lauderdale, Oahu, Hawaii, Charlotte, N.C., and Indianapolis. The history of the organization during the past 30 years has found the Association meeting in such diverse places as Anaheim; Anchorage, AK.; Orlando; Dallas, Washington, D.C.; San Diego; Seattle; Lake Buena Vista, Fl.; Denver; Boston; Pittsburgh; Dearborn; Cincinnati; Minneapolis; Chicago; Sarasota, FL., and Hershey, Pa.
ABPA moves its meetings around the country--two, actually counting Canada. This type of schedule affords its membership equal accessibility and provides an interesting backdrop for those many members who use the annual convention as a family vacation. Whatever works because at an ABPA event, there is a healthy mix of education events and social activities, including a golf tournament. There is always one special day in which education and technical seminars are conducted and of late, these have been dedicated to the newly forming Bumper Recyclers Division (called Bird) which reflects the interests and concerns of those whose primary interest lies in this arena. There are often, too, smaller breakout meetings in which convention participants have an excellent opportunity to look at a few industry, business and/or management issues in depth and to learn from the experiences of one another.
The Association uses its annual meeting--as well as its attendance at either NACE and/or AAPE--as a bridge to the Taiwan Auto Body Parts Association (TABPA), an organization which it helped establish in 1986. That was the same year in which ABPA took the lead in initiating an industry product certification program. By 1987, recognizing that the Association had no where near the type of funds necessary to continue on this path, the program was sold to an entity which became CAPA, the Certified Automotive Parts Association.
As a matter of policy, ABPA will continue to move its convention and meeting sites around the country and some parts of the world so as to expose as many of its members to others within the industry and to insure the broadest base of participation. Planned future meetings will take place in Texas, Canada, the Great Southwest and Florida. In fact, in late September, 2011, ABPA will be meeting in Tampa, FL.