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| March 01, 2006 News |
| Sodi Kart Expo International – U.S. Karting Conference |
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Despite the fact that show floor was not yet open for booth set-up, the activities at this year’s Sodi Kart Expo in St. Charles, IL got underway on Thursday when a large group of industry members gathered at the Pheasant Run Resort and Convention Center for planned meeting to discuss the state of the sport. The Thursday summit attracted roughly 50+ people from the karting industry, from media to manufacturers, to discuss the current condition of karting in North America.
During the 50 years of karting’s existence, the industry has seen many changes in the forms of technology and business practices and, heading into the future, addressing these evolutions will be key to any business’ success. The current downturn in certain areas of the sport’s industry was the motivation for this meeting, as many company owners have voiced their concern for karting’s future. Sodi Kart Expo International director Darrell Sitarz was happy with turnout at the meeting and felt the discussion was a positive step in the direction of solving some of karting’s inherent problems.
The early part of the program focused on identifying the primary areas of concern before splitting the attendees into groups to discuss five key points: promotion, classes/series, costs, leadership, and business practices. After the groups recorded their points of separate discussion, these were all returned to the primary forum for debate within the entire assembly.
“It was a great opportunity to get together with those who care about the industry,” stated Stars of Karting head Paul Zalud. “Good ideas were talked about, now it’s just a matter of where it goes from here and what can be done.”
Zalud was part of the panel, consisting of moderator Sue Nuttall, Jim Donovan, Garry Lobaugh, Dave Gough, and Darrell Sitarz, which was in attendance to provide their own expertise to the discussion. They also led the individual group discussions. Though some discussions would return back to promotion of karting, the points were discussed at length with some issues or ideas being helpful for some of those in attendance.
“Some ideas for different business practices were helpful to hear from other importers and dealers,” said Jamie Sieracki of Franklin Motorsports. “Identifying different ways to promote relationships within the supply chain of the karting industry was a positive point of discussion for me.”
In the end, the simple identification of the primary issues affecting the sport was a positive first step. Should this conference be included in the show’s activities again next year, the lessons learned from this initial gathering could be implemented in the quest of a more goal-oriented meeting. Any open discussion like this will battle the offering of personal agendas and off-topic tangents, but if any of the attendees took away a new idea or an improved understanding of the business of karting, the summit was a success.
A full outline of the meeting can be found at e-kmi.com site |
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