Seminars, Trade Show Highlight NTP-Stag Expo’s Day One – RVBusiness – Breaking RV Industry News
The 2025 NTP-Stag Expo, presented by Airxcel, on Monday (Jan. 20) enjoyed a rousing first full day that featured supplier-led seminars and the long-celebrated opening of the trade floor.
Held at the Gaylord Rockies Convention Center in Aurora, Colo., the two-day event concludes today (Jan. 21) with a full day of the trade show followed by a closing reception.
Once again, the Expo has attracted several hundred RV dealers and suppliers from across North America – NTP-Stag officials typically do not release attendance figures – for an event that is equal parts business and networking.
Monday’s festivities kicked off with PRO speaker Peter McGraw, a marketing and psychology professor at Leeds School of Business at University of Colorado Boulder, where he translates the genius and madness of the world’s funniest people into powerful prescriptions for professional success in his speech “Shtick to Business: From Punchline to Bottom Line.”
Following that was several dozen seminars in which supplier companies offered product and program updates for dealers.
Among them were Aubrey Amborn, director of sales for InteractRV, who walked attendees through best practices for dealer’s websites and digital outreach efforts. Among her key takeaways was that consumers have done a tremendous amount of online research long before they ever set foot inside a dealer showroom, so the first impression is digital.
“Word of mouth is still the No. 1 way to get new business, it just looks different,” she said.
Kevin Jastrem, director of aftermarket sales for Carefree of Colorado, as well as Chad Anderson of Cummins Onan both provided updates to their companies’ respective product lineups for 2025, as did Andy Mikesell, product manager of Valterra Products.
One of those Valterra products was the E-Valve, an electric waste valve that Mikesell said has been a “winner” for the Dometic subsidiary. He predicted the E-Valve would become a standard item on RVs in the near future – much like electric awnings have mostly replaced manual awnings – and suggested E-Valves represent a huge profit opportunity for dealers in the meantime.
Another session was moderated by Colin Van Tol, a sales rep for Go Power!, another Dometic subsidiary. Borrowing terminology from the automotive world, Van Tol explained the different components of an off-grid energy system and how they work together to allow RVers to get off the beaten path for days if not weeks on end.
“Our goal is for them to run out of water before they run out of power,” Van Tol said.
Before the trade show re-opens at 9 a.m., the Expo begins today with a keynote presentation from NFL veteran Justin Forsett, sponsored by Carefree of Colorado. Forsett will offer invaluable insights into leadership, resilience and seizing opportunities with his topic “The Huddle & and the Hustle: Leading Teams through Change, Adversity & Opportunity.” Former NFL Pro Bowl athlete turned entrepreneur, Forsett shares his dual journey of excelling in the high-stakes world of professional football and pioneering his wellness brand, Hustle Clean and how embracing setbacks is an essential step towards greater achievement.
