STAUNTON, Va. – The annual Federated Auto Parts national membership meeting will be held April 24-27 at the Caribe Royale Hotel and Convention Center in Orlando, Fla., and will feature a new venue, the Federated Vendor Expo, allowing Federated members and manufacturing partners additional opportunity to interact.  
 
“The goal of every annual meeting is to create an efficient environment for members and suppliers to meet and communicate,” said Rusty Bishop, CEO of Federated Auto Parts. “As our membership expands and we add more suppliers, the Federated Vendor Expo is the ideal addition to the scheduled meetings and social events that have historically made up our national meeting. The booth environment of the Vendor Expo provides our members with more access to more supplier partners for shorter, less formal meetings.” 

In addition to the new Federated Vendor Expo, Federated members will attend meetings on a variety of topics including technology, employee health care, inventory management and marketing, as well as receive updates from select manufacturers on their latest product offerings. Several new suppliers will be provided an opportunity to make presentations to the membership, and meetings will be held with various Federated councils such as Co-man, Technology and the Board of Governors.  
 
On April 25, Federated will host its annual awards dinner to honor Federated members, vendors and technicians with such prestigious awards as Outstanding Vendor of the Year, the Art Fisher Memorial Membership Award and the inaugural Federated Shop of the Year presentation.
 
“Every year, our members take full advantage of our national meeting to meet as a group and discuss the issues that are important for their individual businesses and for Federated as a whole,” continued Bishop. “This year, the addition of the Federated Vendor Expo will provide members with more opportunity to learn about suppliers’ plans and initiatives for the coming year. That increased awareness and communicationwill be helpful to forge stronger bonds and grow our collective businesses.”