There’s still time to get flights and hotel rooms for the April 19-20 Collision Industry Conference in Pittsburgh, and shops, insurers and other interests hitting the quarterly summit might want to budget enough time to hit three key SCRS events preceding it.

Tuesday, April 18, will feature the Society of Collision Repair Specialists’ open board meeting, which will feature not only updates from the organization but the premiere of the next feature in SCRS’ video series. Anyone is welcome to attend the event from 3-5 p.m. at the Grand Station 3 room of the Sheraton Station Square.

The January SCRS open board meeting gave attendees an advance screening of the film series’ inaugural video, which examined adhesives in collision repair. It has since been posted to YouTube and drawn more than 3,000 views.

Collision repairers will also want to be around Tuesday to weigh in on the makeup of the trade group’s next board of directors. The 2017 election, held immediately after the board meeting, will choose four of a group of six nominees to fill a quartet of open seats.

Voting starts at 5:15 p.m., and “polls” close at 5:45 p.m. April 18. To vote, one must be present and a designated rep for an SCRS member business. Businesses wishing to become a member and receive a vote should call 877-841-0660 or email info@scrs.com.

2017 candidates include incumbents Amber Alley of Barsotti’s Body & Fender (Calif.) and Brett Bailey of A&B CARSTAR (Mo.). Other nominees include Trace Coccimiglio of Valet Auto Body (Utah), Justin Forkuo of 290 Auto Body (Mass.), Matthew McDonnell of Big Sky Collision Center (Mont.) and Mark Schaech Jr. of Mark’s Body Shop (Md.). Nominee bios are here.

Finally, SCRS will the morning of Wednesday, April 19, hold its biggest event outside of the SEMA Repairer Driven Education series: the Repairer Roundtable and awards/recognition lunch.

“The Roundtable has evolved into a platform for captivating presentations intended to stimulate open discussion among the participants in the room,” SCRS wrote in a news release. “The 2017 event is going to focus on current and future technology evolutions that have direct impact on collision repairer’s approach to modern day repairs.”

The roundtable and lunch are free (RSVP required here or via email) and occur prior to the start of the Collision Industry Conference, so take SCRS up on the offer. The roundtable runs 8:30-11 a.m., and the lunch begins at 11 a.m. April 19. CIC starts at 1 p.m. that day.

Last year’s Repairer Roundtable featured trainers from a variety of mainstream and luxury OEMs and was so successful SCRS held a spin-off discussion at SEMA during the OEM Collision Repair Technology Summit.

SCRS Repairer Roundtable: How OEMs test technicians on auto body skills

Why OEMs make techs travel, owners pay for collision repair training

In 2015 — the first full year of the aluminum F-150 — panelists from I-CAR, Chief and Reliable Automotive Equipment warned the audience about considerations as materials diverged further from traditional mild steel.

Repairer Roundtable: Future auto materials trends for body shops to know

Repairer Roundtable: Cleanliness, safety should be greater concerns for auto body shops

Roundtable: Failure to follow OEM collision repair procedure could be disastrous

Besides the SCRS sessions and CIC itself (1-5 p.m. April 19, 8 a.m.-noon April 20), Pittsburgh natives and travelers can attend a few other industry events that week.

April 18: 8 a.m.-noon CIECA board planning meeting (email here to attend open meeting portion); 6:30 p.m. AASP-Pennsylvania meeting, guest speaker Erica Eversman (RSVP required).

April 19: 6:45-7:45 a.m. collision industry prayer session.