The Gadget Repair Expo 2025 transformed the Miami Beach Convention Center into a vibrant hub of repair innovation on May 7-8. With approximately 70 exhibitors and an estimated 500+ attendees, the event demonstrated the strength and innovation of our repair community. As TCA’s representative, I had the opportunity to introduce many new faces to our association and share our important industry initiatives.
Competition Highlights
The competitive events drew the largest crowds, showcasing the incredible talent in our industry:
Beau Dorsey, Micro Soldering Competition Winner at 2025 GRE 5.0
- Samuel Lansberry dominated the competitions, winning the LCD Swap “Show Down On South Beach” and securing runner-up in the Micro Soldering Competition, taking home over $1,500 in cash prizes
- Beau Dorsey claimed the Micro Soldering Championship title after an intense double face-off in the finals, earning over $2,500 cash, a PACE Soldering Iron, and the coveted GRE Title Belt
- Rebekah Kenney took first place in the ProtectionPro Installation competition
Industry Innovation Spotlight
The most buzzed-about announcement came from the launch of Basile, a groundbreaking universal graveyard marketplace and diagnostics database system. This platform aims to revolutionize how repair shops handle donor devices and parts sourcing. Key features include:
- A searchable system connecting shops’ donor device inventories across cities, states, and countries
- Analytics-driven pricing and inventory management
- Universal diagnostics database with bounty system for component-level data
- Integration with popular POS and ticketing systems
- Structured B2B board repair framework
Expert Presentations
GRE2025 had four presentation rooms that offered attendees lots of options, here are some highlights
- Martin Organista (EZ Fix Smartphone) delivered an enlightening micro-soldering demonstration
- Jessa Jones of iPadRehab showcased critical data recovery techniques
- Christian Kelley (My Tech Bench) demonstrated diverse repair skills across TV, drone, and e-mobility sectors
- Timothy Phelps, COO of Techy, shared strategies for optimizing customer interactions and store operations
- Christopher Smith’s packed session received enthusiastic audience response, particularly resonating with attendees who brought their families
Evening Events
The networking continued beyond the show floor with a cocktail party and laser light show, providing valuable opportunities for industry professionals to connect and share experiences. Many groups continued discussions outside of the convention center over dinner and drinks, strengthening the community bonds that make our industry unique.
TCA Impact
As your TCA representative, I used this opportunity to connect with shops facing challenges from recent tariff increases (up to 54% on China-origin products) and discuss how our association can support them. The conversations reinforced the critical importance of having a unified voice in our industry, especially as we navigate significant supply chain changes.
Community Connections
What truly makes these events valuable is the incredible sense of community that emerged both during and after show hours. As repair professionals, we often work in relative isolation, facing similar challenges with OEM restrictions and parts availability. However, at GRE, these shared challenges transformed into opportunities for collaboration. During the cocktail reception and even over dinner and drinks afterward, I witnessed countless conversations where shop owners exchanged solutions for common repair issues, shared supplier recommendations, and discussed strategies for navigating recent tariff challenges.
One particularly powerful moment was watching Christopher Smith’s presentation with his children in attendance – a reminder that we’re not just building businesses, but creating legacies in the repair industry. These personal connections are invaluable, especially considering that 42% of repair shops frequently have to turn away customers due to restricted access to parts and materials.
By building strong networks at events like GRE, shop owners can help each other find solutions, share resources, and strengthen our collective voice in advocating for right to repair. The after-hours networking proved just as valuable as the daytime sessions, with many attendees forming lasting connections that will serve as ongoing resources for their businesses.
Looking Forward
Innovations like Basile’s marketplace platform show how our industry continues to evolve and adapt to challenges. With an estimated 40 million original parts sitting in repair shops across the U.S. alone, solutions that help connect and mobilize these resources will be crucial for our industry’s future.
TCA’s Industry Support
The energy and collaboration witnessed at GRE2025 perfectly aligns with TCA’s mission to strengthen our industry through connection and advocacy. While events like GRE provide valuable face-to-face networking opportunities, TCA continues to build digital bridges between consumers and repair professionals through WhereToRepair.org – the internet’s only dedicated directory of repair shops.
This platform, highlighted in our recent Earth Day initiatives, emphasizes repair over recycling and connects consumers directly with local repair professionals. As our industry faces challenges revealed in our 2024 annual survey – where 48.1% of shops identified parts availability as their biggest threat and 38.5% expressed desire for more business from insurance and warranty services – TCA remains committed to developing tools that address these needs.
WhereToRepair.org represents just one of our efforts to increase consumer awareness of repair options, particularly important given that 70-80% of consumers don’t even know about repair services. By combining the in-person connections made at events like GRE2025 with our digital initiatives, we’re working to create a stronger, more connected repair ecosystem that benefits both consumers and repair professionals across all 50 states.
More TCA Resources
You can find additional tech repair industry resources on our website: Tech Care Industry Resource Hub
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