What an amazing experience to attend De Lorenzo's ASPYA conference. Jessica and I arrived in Singapore for an amazing whirlwind 4 days that did not slow down. To learn more about what was at Conference there is a great article in The Journal and on De Lorenzo's Blog.
We attended this amazing hairdressing event as I had been selected to Pitch an idea for the 2015 ASPYA program. My 'Pitch' idea for a business mentor program was video recorded early on Day 2 and then played to a room full of De Lorenzo ASPYA salons from all over Australia, the company directors, representatives, technician's and some of the industries most awarded stylist's.
As you can see in the photo above, we were also awarded as one of three finalist in Australia in the salon marketing excellence category, it was such an honour.
After a welcome party at the Lantern Bar the following day of conference saw Tracey Hughes an icon in hairdressing and the most awarded hairdressing educator globally, opened the conference by sharing her experience and knowledge in a session she titled 'Team Tonic'. She spread her message of continuous learning as the key to success and how to bring a team together for a successful salon atmosphere.
After Tracey's presentation we were treated to a Look and Learn session with HJ's British hairdresser of the year 2008, 2009, 2011 & 2013 Akin Konizi demonstrating his artistic concept haircuts with techniques and trends that could be transferred easily into street style. Akin was for someone so highly skilled and awarded was so giving with his time and knowledge and such a down to earth nice guy.
That evening it was off to Singapore's famous Raffles Hotel for our Gala award ceremony - where we were presented with our finalist award in marketing excellence - so exciting!!!! The event was hosted by Troy & Zara Swindells-Grose - Troy & Zara were our MC's for most of the conference and they were so full of energy and enthusiastic about everything they kept all the events running smoothly and kept everyone laughing.
Raffles was truly beautiful and the atmosphere was so friendly, we made so many new friends and everyone was just relaxing and having fun and congratulating each other a special thing to be a part of!
The last day of the conference included a presentation from the very inspiring Julie Piantiadosi a business coach and salon owner who talked about practical changes everyone could make to improve their salon. Customer Service is a passion that shows through in every word spoken by Julie who also is a motivation speaker in the U.S and Australia as well as completing customer service training for Qantas. Next we had Paul from Refoil who spoke about sustainability, his approach to the subject was refreshing and informative and very eye opening.
The last speaker Allana Corbin was a survivor of a tragic plane crash in 1990 who has overcome adversity of unimaginable heights and not only learnt to walk again, after being told she would spend her life in a wheelchair but became the first woman to circumnavigate Australia in 1997 in a helicopter. I couldn't stop sobbing through her story but she left a message of strength, motivation and to live every minute of your life with no regrets- the way you want to live it.
After being pumped with motivation and excitement Jessica and I headed out to see what we could of Singapore before our flight home the next night. We saw where they were setting up for the F1 and I checked out some of the local salons. We went over to the night safari at the zoo an incredible experience before off to Universal Studio's and an overnight flight back home.
Jessica and I have come back with a wealth of knowledge we can't wait to share in the salon. It was such an inspiring event and incredibly exciting.
Look Forward to Seeing you Soon,
Danielle
Salon Director