More Than a Better Seat: What WIA's First VIPs Say About the Experience

Women In Automotive® introduced its VIP experience for the first time at the 2026 conference.

On paper, VIP came with a clear list of perks: hotel accommodations, reserved seating, additional access, gifts, and a handful of other conveniences designed to make the weekend easier.

Those are the things you can put in a brochure. They are not necessarily the things that determine whether an experience actually feels valuable.

For two first-time attendees who chose VIP this year, the real question was never whether the perks were worth it. The more interesting question was what those perks allowed them to experience differently.

Sarah Galloway is North America Director of Operations at ROME Technologies and ImEX Systems, coming from the collision side of the industry. Julie O'Dwyer is an architect who designs automotive dealerships. Both women were attending Women In Automotive for the first time, and both work in corners of the industry that rarely come to mind when people picture automotive. Sarah wanted a fuller picture of the ecosystem beyond collision, a world she had spent nine years inside without seeing much past its walls. Julie described her own role more simply: "a little obscure." She rarely meets other women doing what she does.

They came to Austin looking for slightly different things. But both chose VIP because they wanted more out of their first Women In Automotive experience than a standard badge could offer.

Why They Chose VIP

For Sarah, VIP was about making the most of the opportunity. Her company had been weighing the overall cost of attending, hesitant about the price tag before commitment. Once Sarah saw that VIP bundled the hotel with the rest of the experience, she took the case to leadership. It was a modest increase over standard registration, and they said yes.

This was also Sarah's first conference in roughly a decade. She wanted to get everything out of it that she could. VIP was not simply an upgrade. It was what made saying yes to the whole conference easier to justify.

For Julie, "it really was about access." Her reasoning had two parts. The first was practical: she wanted someone else handling the hotel and the logistics so she didn't have to. The second was more particular to where she is in her career.

"I think it really was about access," she said. "Access to key people."

What she wanted was to expand her circle of influence: not the biggest names in the room, but the peers directly within her reach in any direction, women a few steps behind her on the same road, or a few steps ahead.

Access, it turns out, means something different depending on where a woman stands in her career. For Sarah, it meant an on-ramp into an industry she'd only seen a slice of. For Julie, it meant finding people who already speak her language.

Sometimes the Best Access Is Simply Being Closer

Sarah describes herself as "very pro front row seating," and not for the reasons you might assume. It isn't about being seen. It's about staying fully engaged.

"I think when you get back in the weeds and when you're at back tables, it's kind of, you know, you hear the little whispers and people are talking and not paying attention," she said.

Sitting up front kept the speaker the focus, and she came away grateful for it.

Julie felt the same pull toward proximity. She loved being able to sit up front, watch the interactions unfold, and take in what she called phenomenal keynote speakers. For both women, front-row seating wasn't about status. It was about staying close enough to actually absorb what they came for.

The reserved seats brought them closer to the stage. But some of the most valuable access they experienced had very little to do with where they were sitting.

The Moments That Made the Conference Personal

Beyond the tangible perks, both women pointed to moments that had nothing to do with a checklist.

For Sarah, it was the smaller VIP session with Danelle Delgado. The impact didn't stay inside the conference room. She was so moved by the talk that rather than waiting for the book included in the VIP experience to arrive by mail, she bought two copies herself and is starting the gratitude work in them with a friend.

"We don't just want to grow as professionals," Sarah said. "We want to grow as a whole person."

It's a line that captures something bigger than her own experience. It's close to what Women In Automotive is trying to build in the first place.

Julie found her moment in the conference's collective social events. On the surface, they can look like the least serious part of a conference agenda, but Julie's experience suggests they're often where the real, memorable connection happens. She talks about moving from karaoke one night to a formal gala the next, watching different women's personalities surface in each setting.

"The value of them is sort of seems superficial," she said, "but in actuality, that's kind of the core of when you actually get to meet someone and connect and find out a little bit more about who someone is as a person, as a woman."

Access isn't always created by putting someone important in a room. Sometimes it's created by giving people enough room to actually get to know each other.

From Attending the Conference to Joining the Community

Sarah arrived barely aware that a broader Women In Automotive community existed beyond the collision world she knew. She's leaving with plans to enroll in the mentorship program, deepen relationships outside collision, and stay in touch with the podcast hosts Fred and Lou she met at the gala. She's also looking for more ways to get involved.

The clearest evidence that the conference delivered isn't a feeling. It's a decision.

Her company has already purchased two BOGO registrations and plans to bring four people to Salt Lake City next year. Sarah is already talking about hosting a social near her company's Salt Lake headquarters before the conference even begins and looking for ways to help behind the scenes once she's there.

Julie's path to the same place looked different. She came to Austin hoping to find women she could relate to, since her corner of automotive rarely puts her in a room with many of them.

She leaves not just recommending VIP to other first-timers, but actively asking how she can help spread the word about Women In Automotive itself, reaching out to the team behind the regional socials with names of potential hosts and sponsors from her network of dealer groups across the country.

Both women arrived asking what Women In Automotive could give them. Both left asking what they could give back.

What Could Make VIP Even Better?

Both women offered honest, specific feedback, the kind that only comes from people who genuinely want something to succeed.

Among their thoughtful suggestions: Sarah would have welcomed a dedicated VIP meet and greet built into the schedule, something purpose-made for the group rather than layered onto general programming. Julie wanted the travel handled all the way through, including transportation to and from the airport.

The first year established the foundation. What their feedback points toward isn't necessarily more perks. It's more intentional opportunities for the people who chose VIP to connect with one another while maximizing their learning access.

Would They Do It Again?

Asked directly, neither woman hesitated.

"Especially if you've never been before, I would say absolutely," Julie said, describing VIP as a more comfortable way to walk into a conference you don't yet know.

"I was glad that I did it as my first time," Sarah added, calling it a chance to push herself further professionally through real access to the kind of leaders she hopes to become.

For both of them, VIP helped lower one of the biggest barriers a first-time attendee faces: figuring out how to get inside a community you haven't joined yet.

VIP Isn't Really About Being Important

VIP can easily be read as a synonym for exclusivity. Better seats. Extra gifts. A little special treatment. Sarah and Julie's experiences suggest something different.

The value wasn't in feeling more important. It was in having fewer barriers between them and the experience they actually came for. Fewer logistics to manage. Closer access to speakers. More chances for real conversation. A seat near someone worth knowing. A room small enough that asking a question felt possible.

And sometimes, for a woman walking into Women In Automotive for the first time, that small bit of additional access is what turns a conference from something she's attending into a community she belongs to.

Maybe that is the better measure of what happened in Austin this year. Not simply how many women attended, how many sessions filled rooms, or how many new experiences were offered, but how many women left seeing themselves as part of what comes next.

Sarah and Julie came to Women In Automotive looking for access to a community. By the time they left, they were already thinking about how they could help build it.

Women In Automotive's VIP experience will return for the 2027 conference in Salt Lake City. Registration details will be announced in the months ahead. For the women who will walk into Women In Automotive for the first time next year, Sarah and Julie's experience offers perhaps the best reason to consider it: VIP isn't simply about getting more from the conference. It may make it easier to find your place within it.