The Wrap: Kao Salon Australia MBE 2019

MBE is always an event to soak up every part of, consisting of an array of speakers that cover business knowledge, professional and personal health, inspiring stories and direct salon expertise from experts across their fields. Salon owners across KMS and Goldwell businesses nation wide showed up in Sydney on May 5, for a full day of inspiration, education and motivation at Kao Salon Australia’s annual MBE event. As always, hairdressers left rejuvenated and in better stead to lead their salons in a savvy, healthy and more focused manner, with networking, professional and engagement opportunities that specifically focused on small businesses, work-life balance and our unique industry, including its challenges and its strengths

The day was MCed by TV talent, comedy festival regular and noted compere Peter Berner, who entertained the crowd and welcomed business experts, keynote speakers and inspiring presenters to talk across the entire day. He opened proceedings to introduce the day’s first keynote speaker Claire Madden, a leading voice on Generation Z as an author, social researcher, keynote speaker and commentator, who presented “Lead, Manage & Engage Generations”. Claire’s domain is in interpreting social trends, demographics and implications of generational change, an important topic for our salon client bases and employees. Fusing her skills and experience as both a media commentator and PhD candidate, Claire’s engaging stage presence broke research and stats to deliver them to salon owners in relevant ways, changing the ways the audience could work with and deal with people across a spectrum of generations, particularly Generation Y, Generation Z and the upcoming Generation Alpha.

The stage was then opened to Justin Anderson, General Manager of Kao Salon Division, who welcomed attendees to another dynamic MBE event, introduced Kao Salon’s upcoming “Supercharge your Salon Business with Scott Missad” business session to be held at the Sydney Opera House on Monday 10^th June, and ushered attendees into a refreshing lunch and prime professional networking break.

Panelists Chris Hammond, Luke Reynolds, Chris Hudson, Michael Belcastro and Jess Lewis

The next item on the agenda was an industry panel discussion, with an engaging round table talk conducted by notable industry figures. The panel was moderated by Kao Salon National Sales Manager Chris Hudson, welcoming Luke Reynolds of Luke Reynolds Hairdressing, Jess Lewis of Hair by Jess Lewis, Michael Belcastro of B.Educated and Chris Hammond of Oribe. With so much business and salon experience on one couch, the panel discussed relevant insights and expertise in a number of fields, including achieving business success through adversity, harnessing the power of social media to more effectively generate and communicate with salon clients, innovative education strategies for millenials and the secrets to luxury retailing through selling an experience.

The afternoon saw a presentation from Mark Bunn, one of Australasia’s leading health and performance researchers, as well as a former AFL footballer and best-selling author of ‘Ancient Wisdom for Modern Health’. Mark’s expertise is in dealing with organisations to combat high stress, poor sleep, negativity, unbalanced work-life situations, low motivation and low workplace morale, employing Eastern and Western health and wellness sciences to boost both health and performance. His down to earth solutions, delivered in entertaining fashion in his presentation “Simple Wisdom for Conscious Living”, took innovative research in medicine and psychology to uplift, refresh and really change lives. Importantly, his lessons also delved into community, team building and work enjoyment – important lessons for any salon to take on board.

The final speaker of the day was the incomparable big wave surfer Mark Mathews, who conducted an engaging and empowering presentation about facing our fears and overcoming adversity. The international speaker has worked with brands such as Google, Sony, Intel, to MasterCard, and his domain involves epic tales and spectacular ocean-themed adventure simulations. He spoke about themes of personal growth, high performance and fulfilment, as well as adapting to stress, resilience and overall strength in mindset. This unique presentation was an original and emboldening session with which to end the business proceedings of the day.

Finally, Justin Anderson closed out the sessions, recapping the key learnings and take-aways presented by each speaker and inviting attendees to continue their inspirational education and professional networking at the upcoming Kao Salon MBE International event in Vietnam in August.

Then it was time for the party to start! MBE Attendees headed to Marquee at The Star with the theme of Colormania, dressed up in their brightest hues and hitting the dance floor alongside colourful Brazilian dancing girls.

After a long day, attendees were happy to take the event into the early hours of the morning, only speaking to the energy and dynamism of the vibrant Kao community who never leave an MBE event without savouring every moment. We anticipate just as much flourish in Vietnam, but until then it will be notions of wellness, resilience, generational know-how, community and growth that truly change how attendees see and lead their salons going forward.

For more information visit www.goldwell.com.au and www.kms.com

Images via www.eventphotography.com

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