At the upcoming annual meeting of the Automotive Fleet and Leasing Association (AFLA), attendees will be presented with valuable fleet information, educational experiences, and the opportunity for important networking. The 2003 AFLA conference will be held at the Lowe’s Ventana Canyon Resort in Tucson, AZ, on September 10-13, 2003. “This is going to be an exciting conference,” said Jim Anselmi, executive vice president of AFLA. “One of the key elements is that AFLA has gone from a two-conference-per-year menu to one, and has extended that one conference by an additional day, which makes it more cost-effective, and much more impactful, for people to travel to the destination. You’ve still got one plane ride there, and one plane ride back home, but we’ve put three day’s worth of valuable fleet information and presentations together for those three days. We’ve put all of our resources and energies into providing one dynamite information-packed conference.” “We’ve got a varied group of speakers,” Anselmi added. “On one end, we have speakers from the Arizona Highway Patrol, who will talk about safety. On the other end, we’ve got four manufacturers on stage at the same time, who will respond to questions from the audience in a Socratic dialogue format.” He noted that AFLA attendees tend to ask specific and pointed questions, which fits the Socratic format. According to Anselmi, other conference topics include: Used Vehicle Pricing Trends — Causes and Consequences; How to Keep from Going Bonkers in Fleet Management; Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Accident Management and Never Bothered to Ask; and the Outlook for the Automotive Industry, among others. “We have a motivational speaker to keep the day moving at lunch. We have great free-time activities. We have put the golf outing right in the center of the conference, so that people can take a break from their hard work of a day-and-a-half. We’ve got a good balance here between education, networking, (which is in itself an educational experience) and some activities, which will further foster networking,” Anselmi concluded.