Education

The Marine Retailers Association of America strives to create professional development opportunities for you and your employees through educational events, partnerships with 20 Group providers, and scholarships for furthering education.

The premier professional development opportunity can be found in the Marine Dealer Conference & Expo, a three-day educational program wrapped around the MRAA's annual meeting. The MDCE provides timely and critical topics that are geared toward helping you improve your business, your employees and yourself. The event focuses on sales, marketing, service, marina, and dealer principal-specific topics. With more than 100 exhibitors and numerous networking opportunities providing additional educational opportunities, the MDCE is a one-of-a-kind event for marine dealers. MRAA members receive a $50-per-registrant discount on MDCE registration.

Spader Business Management has been the endorsed 20 Group provider of the MRAA for more than 20 years. MRAA-endorsed 20 Groups provide an excellent avenue for dealers to take their education to another level. With peer-to-peer sharing of best practices and ideas for success as a foundation, 20 Groups offer financial analysis and trending that allow members to hone in on and remedy problem areas in their businesses in addition to creating additional revenue opportunities. Through an expanded partnership with Spader Business Management, MRAA members now have access to significant discounts on the set-up fees and enrollment in Spader's Profit Production workshops and its TRUE* dashboard reporting program.

MRAA also offers three different educational scholarships.
  • The ABYC Scholarship offers members a chance to attend one of eight American Boat & Yacht Council training and certification courses.
  • The Kevin Lodder Scholarship covers the tuition and provides a travel stipend for the recipient to attend Spader Business Management's Total Management Workshop.
  • MRAA's Technical Scholarships are awarded to a state or regional marine trades association to offer financial assistance for technical training of dealership personnel.