“Greatness grows best in the shadows,” an enthusiastic Justin Forsett — former nine-year NFL veteran and keynote speaker of the 2025 NTP-STAG Expo — told a bustling crowd on Tuesday morning.
The distributor’s President Bill Rogers welcomed the Pro Bowler, entrepreneur, broadcaster and family man to the stage after setting a precedence of “perseverance” for hundreds of attendees across the RV and marine industries — a feeling that carried on throughout the event in Aurora, Colorado, on Jan. 20-21.
“If you want to level up your game, you must build a huddle. You must find a group of people that you can do life with,” Forsett said during his breakfast presentation. “Peyton Manning would give me three things at every single huddle: he would give me warning, he would give me encouragement and he would give me instruction.”
Those three things don’t only play into football, but the nature of business when facing uncertainty. The RV industry is collectively aiming to plan for a future of unknowns, but dealer and supplier attendees expressed positivity for what’s to come among good attendance and strong business at the market’s final distributor show.
Forsett asked the crowd to stand and later invited Rogers to the stage, where the two sat together in a hypothetical car jamming to Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing” and Chris Stapleton’s “Tennessee Whiskey,” garnering laughs from the crowd. Forsett asked Rogers how he could best support him. Rogers said, “Buy RV parts.”
Many dealers wait for the January event to take advantage of special deals and the wide variety of parts and accessories on display at the Expo. The returning Outdoor Recreation Area, sponsored by Dometic, displayed new innovations and products soon to hit the market, such as Xponent Power’s solar awning, now hooked up to an app for easy control. Many suppliers’ eyes were on making best-selling products more streamlined and convenient to use in addition to releasing new products that consumers are seeking.
NTP-STAG gave its annual Most Innovative Product Award to Silwy Magnetic System, a first-time exhibitor at the Expo and Germany-based supplier looking to branch into the U.S. market. Silwy’s founder and CEO Christoph Fritz said the company is “huge” throughout Europe for its patented magnetic glasses and dishes, which prevent rattling and sliding tableware when on-the-go.
“It’s a must-have for all camping and boating lovers all over the world. We’re solving annoying problems on the road, on water and in the air. Gamechanger,” the company said.
Airxcel returned as the 2025 event’s title sponsor at the Gaylord Rockies Convention Center. Educational sessions, lively presentations and a vibrant show floor — which many agreed had heavy foot traffic, especially on Monday — are always an annual draw. Dealer trainings were packed to the brim, with sessions from suppliers like Dometic’s Go Power! seeing nearly 250 attendees and standing room only, said Eva Mitic, marketing manager and member of RV PRO’s Editorial Advisory Board. The event’s Marine Certification session also saw its largest attendance to date.
In addition, a first-time initiative from the RV Technical Institute (RVTI) brought 29 high school students to the Expo. Guided by Justin Rickett, RVTI’s senior manager of recruitment, and Windish RV President Whitney Holtz, the students toured the show floor and met with major suppliers to learn more about the industry.
“They were really excited — a lot of them were surprised the RV industry has so much going on and there is so much opportunity,” Rickett said. The group, part of Colorado’s Littleton Public School system, are connected to the Explorative Pathways Innovative Careers (EPIC) campus, which will now offer RVTI’s Level 1 course for interested students. Rickett said many individuals participated in the summer course, with one individual completing the Level 1 certification as likely the youngest trained RV tech in the industry.
