Collision Industry Conference – Palm Springs, CA – January 17th and 18th, 2018

By - admin on January 4, 2018 in Industry News

It’s almost time for the Collision Industry Conference (CIC) to find its way to Southern California. On January 17th and 18th, 2018 the CIC will host an event in Palm Springs, at the Hilton Hotel. If you would like to make reservations, you can click here.

But what is the CIC and how did it get started?

In 1983, California shop owner Al Estorga became upset after being told at an inter-industry event that it was not the appropriate time, or place to discuss an issue he had raised. As a result, he became determined to create a forum in which it was “always the right time and place” to discuss the issues most important to the collision industry. Thus, the CIC was formed.

Collision Industry Conference meetings are held four or five times a year, each in a different region of the country. In January of each year, there is an additional planning meeting for the coming year that is open to everyone. Participation in CIC is open to all individuals who share an interest in the collision industry. There are no “members” of CIC, only participants. All participants share an equal standing.

A hot topic during the October 31st CIC in Las Vegas was who is the rightful owner of collision repair center estimating data. “The author owns the data,” stated Pete Tagliapietra, employee owner of the collision repair software provider NuGen IT.

Scott Biggs, CEO of the Assured Performance certification network, agreed.

“Can you imagine if the guys that sold Picasso the paint, the paintbrushes and the canvas tried to claim ownership of one of those paintings that he finished?” Biggs asked. “In our minds, the shop wrote the estimate. It’s their value added; they created it. They certainly own the Picasso painting that they created.”

The Collision Industry Conference (CIC) is a forum made up of participants from all industry segments for the expressed purpose of discussing and exploring the issues that occur among them. Through discussion and research during meetings and extensive interim committee work, CIC attempts to form consensus on various issues, aware that all such findings are non binding and voluntarily accepted.

Similar to 2016, the CIC recently asked the industry and CIC attendees to participate in a brief survey to help the direction of the CIC. The results of that survey will be discussed at the additional planning meeting scheduled for the January 17th and 18th Palm Springs event.

“We ran a similar survey at this time last year as we prepared for the bi-annual CIC Planning Meeting,” said Guy Bargnes, current CIC chairman. “The results were both encouraging and insightful. The 2016 survey responses were used to shape the structure of CIC committee activity and the content of CIC meetings in 2017.

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Here are more details and links on the event:

PALM SPRINGS, CALIFORNIA
Hilton Palm Springs

Register Now

Reservations: 1-800-522-6900 (CIC Rate: $169)
Online Reservations

Meeting Time: 8A-5P Thursday Only
Reception: 6:30 PM Wednesday

RELATED MEETINGS:

Monday, Jan 15
1:00p – NABC Open Board Meeting

Wednesday, Jan 17
8:30-10:00a: SCRS Open Board Meeting
8:30a: NABC Fundraiser Golf Outing (offsite)
2:00-5:00p: Mitchell Program Freedom Experience (offsite) Registration Link

Thursday, Jan 18
6:30-7:30a: Collision Industry Prayer Meeting (Oasis 2)
6:00-8:00p: Collision Industry Foundation Gala Fundraiser (offsite)