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Mrivera1 is a regular long-time chatter in our live community. Long before he was a Geek, he was a car buff. Here are his top 10 tips for enjoying an Auto Show.

• Know when to go Knowing when to go is very important thing to know when you are going to an auto show. Don’t expect to have a good auto show experience in an hour or two. It takes me on average about 6 hours to visit every exhibit, and at larger auto shows you can take even more time to see everything. So, be sure to plan to spend most of the day at the auto show. And get there early, as parking fills up quick and exhibits become crowded. Plan to get home late too. Also, try to go on a weekday, as the show is most likely to be less crowded during the week. I went to mine the day after Christmas, got there at 1pm, and I left at about 7:30pm.
• Know who to bring If you do go to the auto show with a companion, be sure to know who you want to go with you. It is recommended that you bring someone with an interest in cars or someone who is in the market for one. Otherwise things can get quite boring for them, and it would be detrimental to your experience hearing the person complain every 5 minutes. Also, children and auto shows do not mix very well, unless the child has an interest for cars. If the child doesn’t like cars, then it is best to leave them at home. Knowing from experience, my younger sister, who doesn’t want anything to do with cars, was brought along with my dad and I to the auto show, and after only being there 10 minutes, she began to complain and we got sick of her quickly.
• Look for ticket price deals When I go to the auto show, I look for deals on tickets, and believe me, they can be found everywhere. My local newspaper had coupons for $5 off regular price. And local grocery stores and fast food locations had coupons as well. So there are always a lot of ways to get auto show tickets on the cheap.
• Have a plan When you arrive at the auto show, don’t just run for the first car you see. Have a plan of where you will start. I go to the nearest end of the show floor and start from there going all the way to the other side, and then I turn around and view the other side until I reach the end that I began at. This makes it a lot easier to know what manufacturers you have seen already and those that you haven’t seen yet.
• Pace yourself Don’t try to see every manufacturer one after the other. Slow down. Stop and rest if you need to. Go to the bathroom. Get some food and a drink. The cars will be there when you are ready to go and look at more again. If your leg or foot or any other part of your body hurts, then it is best if you just sit down for a minute or two and let your body catch up.
• Get the information you want Most people come to the auto show for two reasons. One, to sit in the cars and see them in person, and two, to get as much information as they can from the representatives there. Don’t be afraid to ask questions of the representatives at the auto show. I know that there is a strict no sales pressure policy in place at almost every major auto show, so you shouldn’t have to worry. Go ahead and ask the questions you want, go ahead and sign up for more information, and don’t ever be afraid of the representatives there, as they are there for you. Also, don’t be afraid to get as many of those little car books that every manufacturer hands out. I find them very useful as a car buff. And if you don’t want to carry them all, get a bag. Bags are available from most of the exhibitors at the auto show, and just ask if you cannot find one.
• Double back, if needed Sometimes, you don’t get enough out of an exhibit because you are trying to get through all of them before you have to leave. If after you have seen everything, but you still want to see a certain manufacturer’s exhibit again, perhaps to see more cars or get more information, go ahead! I do this many times when I’m interested in a certain manufacturer, and it is a very common thing to do. After all, it is your time to spend, isn’t it?
• Visit the other attractions available at the show Nowadays, many auto shows have extra attractions available to the attendees. Some of these are put on by manufacturers, while others are sponsored by the auto show. Anyways, they are almost all very interesting and can make an auto show even better than it already is. For example, my local auto show had two test drive programs available, an off-road course, several demonstrations of various technologies from the automakers, a whole exhibit dedicated to eco-friendly tech in cars (the first one like it in the US), and a whole other floor dedicated to after market accessories for cars, all of which were on-site. These various other things to do really make the auto show more interesting, and you should be very happy after taking part in them.
• Visit certain automakers at certain times At your average auto show, almost every major automaker will show up and have an exhibit there. However, some higher profile exhibits fill up sooner like Mercedes, BMW, Porsche, etc., while others have relatively less people. Visit the exhibits that have less people first, and then visit the higher profile ones when there are less people. Of course the crowds may never let up, so you may just have to put up will all of those other people.
• Take your time The auto show is most likely the only time of the year in which you get to sit in brand new cars from almost every automaker. As a result, it is best for you to take your time. Adjust the mirrors, seat and steering wheel to the positions you would normally have them, test out overall room inside, play with the gadgets in the cars, see how big the trunk is, see how powerful the engine is. Don’t worry the other cars will still be there when you are ready to move on. The is especially important when you are inside of expensive cars. Take even more time in them and value every second, as this is probably one of the few times you will be able to sit inside of a $100000 car, so it would make sense to anyone why you would sit in them longer. There is nothing worse that could happen at an auto show than being rushed through it. That is the best tip I could give you.

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• GM IAA Announcements
• How to Fit a Segway into a Car
• Hydrogen Car Information Interview
• Bob Lutz, GM Blogger Roundtable
• Germany Blogger/Youtube Meetup
• Bob Lutz Interview
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• World’s Sexiest Car Unveiled…? :)

So, a few people have been asking why Ponzi and I are heading to Germany for the next week or so – and the answer, while perfectly sound, may surprise you.

GM (yes, General Motors) is hosting us for the International Automotive Ausstellung (IAA) – the Frankfurt Motor Show 2007. They saw how much fun we were having with live video and YouTube and thought it’d be nice to share the expo and a few semi-exclusive interviews with the rest of the galaxy.

Even though my car has Bluetooth, XM, OnStar, etc. – I’m not a true car geek. That said, I’m quite interested in learning about efforts in “green tech” for international and domestic markets. GM gave me a running list of top initiatives for their company:

• New HydroGen4 fuel cell vehicle, Volt electric car
• More than 700 million euros for new engines and transmissions until 2012
• Opel / Vauxhall: Electric car concept, ecoFLEX initiative, new Agila
• Chevrolet: New Aveo generation, distinctively designed HHR
• Saab: New 9-3 generation with top-of-the-line Turbo X model
• Cadillac: BLS Wagon, new generation of Cadillac CTS luxury sedan
• Corvette: More power for Coupé and Cabrio
• HUMMER: H2 is film star in “Transformers”

So, looks like they’re not killing the electric car after all…? :)

As noted before, I’ll have my camera, laptop, microphone, etc. We hope to stream whatever we can stream live to everyone (thanks to a Vodaphone modem with my MacBook Pro). There will be plenty of stills and videos to share with you as well. I’m quite excited, as you can imagine.

This will be my first time in Europe altogether. I don’t speak a lick of German – beyond hallo, bitte, danke, and sprechen zie English. We’ll have free time from the 13th through the 16th, I believe – so if any informal blogger meetup was to happen, it would likely be within that space (in Frankfurt or not, so long as Ponzi and I could get to the destination with relative ease and minimal frustration).

• GM IAA Announcements
• How to Fit a Segway into a Car
• Hydrogen Car Information Interview
• Germany Blogger/Youtube Meetup
• Bob Lutz Interview
• Saturn Astra Test Drive
• Hot Women Drive Fast Cars
• How to Make the World a Greener Place
• Auto Show Tips
• Franklin Language Translator