Energize Your Mind with SEMA Education

by Alana Quartuccio

It’s time to get energized! And the best way to reinvigorate yourself and your business is by putting the 2026 SEMA Show in Las Vegas the first week of November on your agenda. This vast event attracts thousands of automotive professionals from around the world to the Las Vegas Convention Center year after year.

For collision repairers, the SEMA Show is the portal to a brighter future thanks to the Society of Collision Repair Specialists’ (SCRS) Repairer Driven Education (RDE) series. Once again, RDE is poised to inspire and enlighten even the most engaged collision repair professional with fresh ideas and information from some of the industry’s most valuable players.

This year, SCRS offers an expanded slate of education, technology programming and industry events designed to connect collision repair professionals with the people, ideas and emerging technologies shaping the future of the industry. As ADAS continues to be an integral piece of collision repair, SCRS Executive Director Aaron Schulenburg points out all educational programs –  including the RDE classroom series, IDEAS Collide Showcase, OEM Collision Repair Technology Summit and the SEMA Collision Repair and Refinish Stage – will feature a particular expanded focus on these systems.

“From helping repair businesses improve operations and profitability through RDE, to challenging conventional thinking through IDEAS Collide, connecting repairers directly with vehicle innovators through the OEM Summit and ADAS Showcase, and creating opportunities for technical education and industry dialogue on the Show floor, SCRS continues to work with SEMA and its industry partners to ensure collision repair has a meaningful and forward-looking presence throughout SEMA Week,” he notes.

The 2026 program continues RDE’s tradition of combining established industry experts with new voices and perspectives. SCRS welcomes the following first-time speakers to this year’s RDE slate:

•  Lizzie Jones, Senior SEO Specialist, Sokal

•  Austin Carroll, Senior Project Manager, Sokal

•  Deric Krist, CEO, Kri-Tech Solutions

•  Arynne Kelly, Store Support, Coach and Trainer, DCR Systems

•  David Martin, Director of Operations, DCR Systems

•  Michael Giarrizzo Jr., CEO, DCR Systems

•  Rachel James, Founder, Torque Financial

•  Steve Dawson, Regional Manager, Hunter Engineering

•  Sean Preston, Managing Attorney, Coverall Law

•  Jorge Sandoval, Spanish Auto Glass Education Director, Kaizen Glass Solutions

•  Isaac Aronson, Product Manager, Repair Research Division, OEC

Industry attorney Sean Preston, of Coverall Law, will make his RDE classroom debut with some eye-opening talking points that no shop owner will want to miss with “The Three Daily Mistakes Repair Shops Make That Empower Insurers.”

“There are practices that shops do – or maybe fail to do – that actually empower insurers to beat up on them,” Preston reveals. He will review the main areas shops need to shore up in order to take back control of their business. It starts with knowing one’s legal rights, having proper SOPs and processes in place and making sure consistency sticks.

Preston, whose firm is well known for its Forever Forms, will also take part in the popular IDEAS Collide segment, where he plans to unveil Coverall Law’s latest solution.

Hunter Engineering’s Steve Dawson will lead a discussion on “Bringing Mechanical Repairs In-House.”

“Alignments are not something that have to be sublet all the time,” Dawson suggests. “There are benefits to doing it in-house. It can save cycletime, increase productivity and you can be in control of the final product you deliver.”

As he explains, attendees should consider the big picture when considering alignment, and its potential to open up new areas of efficiency and profitability.

“Shops should take a look at their entire process and not just think of alignment as the after-thought at the very end of the repair,” he recommends.

The discussion will also address how ADAS calibrations come into play no matter what one’s shop environment looks like, as well as how to utilize OEM procedures for reimbursement. Dawson says this is a subject all should be open to exploring, even if the final decision is to  not bring mechanical work in-house. “If one decides mechanical work is not for them, they will still walk away with all the information they need to ask their sublet providers so they can protect their business, their customer and make sure the job is done right.”

Of the returning RDE alumni, the one-and-only Mike Anderson (Collision Advice) will deliver  “Capturing Mechanical Labor: Being Intentional About the Opportunity.”

“Upon examining industry data, most shops only average 1.4 to 1.6 mechanical labor hours per estimate, but the reality is that it should be 10 to 12 hours per estimate,” he reveals. Anderson will set out to help create awareness and educate attendees about not-included mechanical operations. “This is about making sure vehicles are being properly repaired. If you are only averaging 1.2 mechanical hours per estimate, you probably aren’t fixing cars correctly.”

Anderson will educate attendees about required mechanical operations within OEM repair procedures and safety inspections.

He recommends attendees come to the class with an open mind. “This isn’t about what one will get paid for or not; it’s about what is needed to fix the vehicle properly and have it on the repair plan.”

A strong group of returning RDE presenters will also take the stage during SEMA week, including Keith Manich (Automotive Training Institute), Chris White and Danny Hacker (KECO Body Repair Products), Tracy Dombrowski (Collision Advice), Barry Dorn (WMABA and SCRS), Kris Burton (Rosslyn Auto Body), Danny Gredinberg (Database Enhancement Gateway), Andrew Batenhorst (Pacific Collision Center), Tim Ronak (AkzoNobel) Tony Adams and Melissa Wolfe (Leaders Way), Shauna Davis and Jason Horne (Kaizen Glass Solutions) and Maria Quintero (Body Builders Automotive).

RDE sessions will be held on Tuesday and Wednesday leading into the popular IDEAS Collide showcase on Wednesday afternoon. This year’s lineup of seven 10-minute “TED Talk” inspired discussions include Coverall Law’s Preston, who will present “The Law of Reasonable Pricing: Why Shops Must Be Paid and Customers Must Be Reimbursed,” BodyShop Booster’s Ryan Taylor with “The Body Shop That Works While You Don’t,” Joel Adcock (REVV Diagnostics) delivering “The Scan is Not the Story: Closing the Gap Between Diagnostics and Calibration,” Brian Herron (OPUS IVS) with “Growing Your Business,” Justin Allen’s (Hunter Engineering) “What Will You Do When the Cars Stop Crashing?” Daniel Burkholder (BodyShop Marketing) presenting “The AI Takeover: Is Your Shop Ready to Be Found?” and Maria Quintero (Body Builders Automotive) with  “Technician Roadmap: Financial Awareness Leads to Technician Excellence.”

On Thursday, SCRS will host three sessions of the OEM Collision Repair Technology Summit, which sets out to put collision repair businesses in the same room with innovators in automotive structural design and technology, providing repairers with greater visibility into how evolving vehicles, materials and technologies affect repairability.

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Deputy Administrator Lee White will open this year’s OEM Summit with “The National Safety Objective: Safer Vehicles, Safer Roads.” His presentation will focus on the agency’s current vehicle and roadway safety priorities, emerging transportation technologies, data-driven research and the federal government’s work with industry to reduce fatalities and serious injuries.

Schulenburg will join White on the stage following his presentation for a one-on-one conversation exploring the intersection of federal safety objectives, automotive innovation and the collision repair industry’s role in preserving vehicle safety throughout its service life. The conversation will explore NHTSA safety priorities, automated and advanced vehicle technologies, data and research, emerging safety risks, industry collaboration and the role of repair in maintaining vehicle safety. The additional two segments of the OEM Summit will include engineers and technical contributors from Ford, GM and Rivian, sharing how automakers engineer for the safety benefit, and the roles and expectations in preserving the safety system through functioning sensors, calibration and repairability. Ultimately, the sessions will confront one of the industry’s most important emerging questions: What must a collision repair facility or ADAS calibration company do to confidently determine that the vehicle’s safety systems have been restored to the performance its manufacturer intended?

Opportunities extend well beyond the classroom. SCRS continues its collaboration with I-CAR and SEMA to bring education right to the show floor via the SEMA Collision Repair and Refinish Stage.  The stage provides a visible gathering point for collision-specific programming, combining expert discussions, demonstrations and conversations in an environment accessible to Show attendees throughout the week. The continued collaboration builds upon a platform that has become an important part of the collision repair industry’s presence at the SEMA Show and creates another avenue for sharing technical knowledge outside of traditional classroom education.

Schulenburg points to the SEMA ADAS Showcase as one of the most significant areas of development for 2026. SEMA has created an expanding platform for conversations at the intersection of vehicle safety technology and repair solutions. In its earlier form, the Showcase largely provided equipment manufacturers an opportunity to demonstrate products and calibration solutions. For 2026, SCRS and SEMA organizers have been working together to broaden that vision by placing greater emphasis on the technology driving those repair requirements in the first place.

“The objective is to elevate the OEM engineering voice and create opportunities for repairers to interact directly with the engineers and technical specialists responsible for vehicle safety systems, sensors and crash-avoidance technologies,” Schulenburg states.

Representatives from General Motors, Ford and Rivian are going to expand beyond the Summit to participate on the Show floor, alongside interactive demonstrations designed to help attendees better understand not just how certain repair and calibration processes are performed, but also why they are necessary. Programming is envisioned to range from informal Q&A and meet-and-greet opportunities to expert-led presentations, technical discussions and panels. The expanded Showcase is intended to provide practical knowledge surrounding safety technology and crash-avoidance systems while connecting those technologies to scanning, diagnostics, calibrations, vehicle setup, environmental controls and procedural compliance.

“The goal is to help close the gap between the engineering of increasingly sophisticated safety systems and the repair processes necessary to ensure those systems function as intended after a collision,” explains Schulenburg.

The week closes out with SCRS’ Sky Villa Afterparty at the Westgate Las Vegas Resort. The Thursday night event is a fixture of SEMA Week for collision repairers offering a great opportunity to reconnect with friends and colleagues after several days of great education and discussions.

The Collision Industry Conference (CIC), taking place in conjunction with SEMA Week, also returns to the Westgate this year. The full-day conference will be held on Tuesday followed by the Collision Industry Red Carpet Awards that same evening. Learn more about CIC and register to attend the November 3 meeting at ciclink.com.

For attendees looking to take full advantage of SCRS programming throughout the week, the RDE Full Series Pass, available at bit.ly/SCRSRDE2026Fullpass, offers the best value and greatest flexibility, providing access to RDE classroom education, the IDEAS Collide Showcase, all three OEM Collision Repair Technology Summit sessions and the Thursday night SCRS Sky Villa Afterparty, all with one pass. Start preparing now to be part of this week of opportunities that will energize and inspire you to take your business to new heights!

Stay tuned to Hammer & Dolly for additional updates leading up to the Show and a recap following SEMA 2026.

Want more? Check out the October 2026 issue of Hammer & Dolly!