PowerHouse Alliance member, 21st Century Distributing recently celebrated the success of hosting their three-day Annual Roadshow. The first virtual Annual Roadshow event was held on October 19-21 and provided a unique platform for dealers to learn about the latest custom install products, attend live training, and even participate in a virtual golf tournament.
“This year’s event took the 21st Century Annual Roadshow to a whole new level. The ‘Gamification’ of our virtual convention center with live trainings and interactive booths have led to overwhelmingly positive feedback from both dealers and manufacturers,” said Josh Vicini, Director of Business Development and Growth at 21st Century Distributing in a statement. “The way in which dealers and vendors were able to interact effortlessly over a three-day period was a huge win for all.”
Due to the success of 21st Century’s first virtual roadshow, they have decided to maintain the platform as a permanent pillar of support for their dealers. Live and recorded trainings including sessions from the roadshow, new content, and a dealer toolbox with supporting technical and marketing documents for dozens of products will live on in the virtual platform and be regularly updated.
Vendors also showed tremendous support for this year’s virtual roadshow; Platinum sponsors included IC Realtime, Legrand AV, Lutron, Samsung, Sony, and Vanco International, “One of our favorite distributor events every year is 21st Century’s annual roadshow,” said Aaron Rozanski, Director of Distribution Markets, Vanco International. “The transition this year from multiple in-person events to a fully virtual show was surprisingly seamless. With unique vendor pages to showcase top products, like Vanco’s Evolution EVO-IP HDMI over IP System and Beale Street Audio speakers, and training events spread across three days, the show surpassed our expectations and allowed us to connect with nearly 200 integrators.”
“In a year when travel and face to face meetings are on pause, I was so pleased to have a professional place to engage with our customers again,” Ian McColley, Senior Sales Representative at Lutron added. “I was especially impressed with the creativity and interactivity of the virtual experience that made connecting with our industry friends so seamless.”
When planning this year’s virtual roadshow, the 21st Century team considered staples from past in-person shows including an opportunity for dealers to have fun. 21st Century opted for a friendly competition via a virtual golf tournament hosted through the WGT TopGolf application. In addition, attendees could visit the “food court” to obtain a $10 GrubHub gift card to order lunch right from their seat. Throughout the course of the three-day event, dealers earned points toward raffle tickets by visiting booths, joining training, and playing in the virtual golf tournament. Participating vendors provided over $10,000 worth of prizes for the virtual raffle including a 55-inch Samsung TV, Ring Video Doorbells, and IC Realtime security products.
“2020 has been a challenging year for our industry making it difficult to connect with manufacturers and learn about new products and technologies. 21st Century really thought outside the box to create an engaging virtual experience for dealers, installers, and manufacturers to come together and knowledge share,” said John Thall, Owner of Knightwing Audio. “The time invested to attend the virtual roadshow and attend manufacturer trainings and presentations was worth the payoff to be sure.”
To learn more about 21st Century Distributing, please visit www.21stcenturydist.com.
See also: PowerHouse Alliance Expands Reach With 7 New Distribution Warehouse Locations
