A key strategic goal of NATM is to continue to serve as a leader in trailer safety. To accomplish this, the association recognized the need to better incorporate and work with dealer affiliates. Dealers, after all, regularly meet face-to-face with end users and are an important avenue for sharing association-
created content and helping to ensure their customers have access to best practices for towing safely.
And, as announced at this year’s convention, the NATM board has decided to move forward with offering a dealer-specific trade show to launch in 2025. Called the NATM Trailer Expo, the event will take place in the fall and offer manufacturer members and suppliers the opportunity to showcase their products directly to dealer affiliates. Additionally, this offers industry experts the chance to share insights and information that NATM’s dealer affiliates have expressed a current lack of access to.
“This event is designed to bring together the entire spectrum of the light- and medium-duty trailer industry, including trailer dealers, manufacturers, suppliers, service providers, and automotive tow vehicle OEMs,” NATM Assistant Director Meghan Ryan said. “Our target audience walking this show floor includes trailer dealers, fleet managers, and government purchasing agents.”
The NATM Trailer Expo, a not-for-profit event, will feature trailers under 26,000 lbs GVWR, allowing dealers to explore the latest innovations and technologies. Additionally, suppliers and service providers that play a crucial role in supporting dealerships will be welcome to exhibit, “fostering a comprehensive representation” of the industry.
“One of the primary motivations behind the creation of the NATM Trailer Expo is to address the gap in education, resources, and self-governance that exists in the trailer-dealer realm,” Ryan said. “As leaders in national towing safety efforts, dealers have long looked to NATM for support. To meet this need, NATM is rapidly expanding benefits for dealers with our warranty program, our dealers connect, and additional programming throughout the year.”
To fund the initiative of expanding dealer benefits, the revenue generated from the NATM Trailer Expo will be reinvested into dealer-specific programming and benefits, Ryan emphasized.
“We’ll be returning to our roots in Oklahoma City, where NATM was founded in 1987 by five livestock trailer manufacturers seeking better benefits as they understood the power in numbers, unifying for the greater good,” Ryan said. “The NATM Trailer Expo marks a fresh restart, a full circle, and a new chapter for the trailer industry, this time incorporating trailer dealerships into our efforts while now being able to support our trailer manufacturing members by offering an event at which they can exhibit.
“This event is more than a convention; it is a celebration of the success, growth, and expansion that NATM has experienced over the last forty years.”
The inaugural 2025 NATM Trailer Expo will be hosted at the state-of-the-art Oklahoma City Convention Center, completed in 2020. The Omni Oklahoma City will be the host hotel. Visit www.trailerexpo.com for more information on the event.
