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Welcome to the Salon Owner’s Podcast, Phorest FM Episode 81. Co-hosted by Killian Vigna and Zoé Bélisle-Springer, Phorest FM is a weekly show that puts forth a mix of interviews with industry thought-leaders, salon/spa marketing tips, company insights and information on attending Phorest Academy webinars. Phorest FM is produced every Monday morning for your enjoyment with a cup of coffee on your day off.

Phorest FM Episode 81

Don’t miss the industry event of the year! Phorest’s Salon Owner’s Summit 2019 is Europe’s largest and most prestigious milestone on that very adventure for salon owners who share one common purpose – to lead and evolve an industry that makes everyone feel and look like the superstars they were born to be. In this episode of Phorest FM, Killian and Zoe are joined by Sinead Carroll to discuss the latest Salon Owners Summit 2019 announcements, as well as chat format, speakers and Inside Phorest.

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Transcript

Killian Vigna: Welcome to the Phorest FM podcast, Episode 81. I’m Killian Vigna.

Zoe Belisle-Springer: And I’m Zoé Bélisle-Springer. This week on the show we’re joined by Sinead Carroll, who most of you would know from trade shows and other events such as the Salon Owners Summit, which in fact will be the primary focus of this episode.

Killian Vigna: So, grab yourself a cup of coffee, sit back, relax, and join us weekly for all your salon’s business and marketing needs. Good morning, Zoe!

Zoe Belisle-Springer: Good morning, Killian. How’s the form?

Killian Vigna: Yeah, I’m good man, good, good. So, nice interesting one today, because as most of our clients would be aware, we’ve had a couple of emails going out recently, but we’ve also updated the splash screen on the Phorest product, and that announcement is the Salon Owners Summit, isn’t it?

Zoe Belisle-Springer: Yes, so Salon Owners Summit 2019, coming up quite fast, considering… I don’t know about you, but we’re already mid-July, I haven’t seen the first part of the year go by. It’s absolutely insane, so I can only imagine that the Summit is just literally around the corner in our impressions of time.

Killian Vigna: Well yeah, it really does just come around so fast, and that’s just what I was talking about, let alone Sinead who actually has to deal with putting it all together! So it’s all year summer for her.

Sinead Carroll: Yes, all year round, this doesn’t stop, but it’s great, it’s great!

Killian Vigna: Well it’s definitely paid off, because you’re actually nominated for an award, isn’t it?

Sinead Carroll: Yes, so this year’s event that’s happened in January has been shortlisted as a finalist for the Irish Event Industry Awards, so that’s pretty exciting. So we’ll be going along to that, and we’ll find out who the winner is, so fingers crossed! It is a black tie event, so I may go look for a dress.

Killian Vigna: Can’t you just wear the same one from the last one no?

Sinead Carroll: My awards dress, you mean?

Killian Vigna: That’s really quite a [crosstalk 00:01:57].

Sinead Carroll: No, I’ll have to pick something else.

Killian Vigna: It’s like when I bought a tux, and got so excited, it’s like, “Yeah, you can just keep wearing the same tux now for all the awards,” and then the last one will end up being casual.

Sinead Carroll: Yeah, the last one was v-casual, it was good.

Killian Vigna: So, yeah, I suppose, who… How many announcements have you announced at the moment for the Summit?

Sinead Carroll: So, at the moment we have announced two of our main speakers. So we’ve announced Jo Fairley was the first one, you may know her from Green & Black’s chocolates, and then the second one was Ryan Holiday. So Ryan Holiday was Marketing Director for American Apparel, he’s pretty well-regarded as one of the best marketeers out there at the moment, so we’re excited to bring him over, he’s flying over from the States. So they’re the two we’ve announced so far. There’ll be another announcement coming, I’m not sure when this podcast is going out, keep and eye on your inboxes.

Zoe Belisle-Springer: So is it going to be the same format as last year, with the whole breakout sessions, and the workshops, and stuff?

Sinead Carroll: Yeah, so last year’s format, we changed it up last year. Those of you who are Salon Owners Summit veterans, we changed it up last year, we moved to a bigger venue, moved to the convention center. We started doing more workshops, breaking up the day a little bit more with networking, workshops, and then the main stage. So we’re going to go with that same kind of theme again this year, with the exception being that we’re going to have quite a few more speakers than last year.

So, we’re going to have more main stage speakers, we’ll be doing the workshops again, more networking opportunities, and then of course, all the festivities that go along with it and that everyone enjoys.

Killian Vigna: Yeah those workshops, it was done the first time last year wasn’t it, and it was a massive hit, wasn’t it?

Sinead Carroll: Yeah, so we’d never previously done workshops at the event, so last year was a trial, and it actually went really, really well. So this year… Last year we had a few different teams, this year they’re going to be completely different again, and I’m actually very excited about announcing who we’re going to be having for these workshops. So again, you’re going to have to wait a few weeks to find out who they are, but I’m excited, so I’m excited to share that with you guys.

Killian Vigna: So will there be more workshops? Or is it same amounts, those three workshops in rotation again?

Sinead Carroll: So there’ll three workshops in rotation again, I think that worked well, so instead of you having to decide and choose which one you want to go to, or sacrifice one for another, you get to experience all three. So we’ll have the schedule in that kind of way again, so that you’ll get to experience all three of the workshops at different stages during the day.

Killian Vigna: Yeah, that is a great way of doing it, because I went to a conference really recently, and it was all different workshops but at the same time. So, like that if you went to one, you’re missing a couple of other ones, and you could do them throughout the day, but you’re always missing different ones because of those time clashes. So the fact that it’s just in full rotation, you get to experience all of them.

Sinead Carroll: Yeah, I mean we could make people choose, but I just don’t think that’s fair because… I don’t know, we want everyone to get the best out of everything.

Killian Vigna: So is this going to be in the IFSC again this year?

Sinead Carroll: Yes, so we’re going back to the Convention Center again. We got really good feedback from the venue last year, and to be honest, we’ve outgrown quite a lot of the venues in Dublin, so it’s a great that the Convention Center can host us, and it’s a really lovely venue, so we’re back there again. We actually haven’t mentioned the date yet, it’s the seventh of January. Monday, the seventh of January.

Killian Vigna: The IFSC, it looked absolutely brilliant for anyone that did go last year, or even if you see the image of it in your emails. It was completely lit up in purple, and then you could see the reflection off the River Liffey, it really just… In the Phorest purple, the brand colours, it just looks so good.

Sinead Carroll: Yeah you could actually see it when you… When we were coming down the Liffey, it was still kind of dark, and you could see it reflect, and so it was a bit emotional. We actually got it framed, it’s in the hallway in Phorest HQ here. We got one of the photos printed and framed, so it’s a constant reminder.

Killian Vigna: So have we opened this up to more attendees this year?

Sinead Carroll: No we’re going to have the same amount, the same as last year, five hundred people.

Killian Vigna: Five hundred, and it’s all that last year.

Sinead Carroll: It’s all that past year, yup. So the tickets are selling really well at the moment. So Aaron, if you call in for tickets, or if you email, then you’ll be speaking to Aaron. Aaron’s dealing with the tickets, and he’s doing a stellar job. So yeah, they’re flying out fast though, so you’d wanna get on it.

Zoe Belisle-Springer: So around the Summit, like everyone who’s been to the Summit at least once knows how, and what goes down on the day. Now there always is the tours before, and the activities before, and there’s also Inside Phorest in the… For the last two years anyways, is that still all in plan for this year again?

Sinead Carroll: Yeah, so we haven’t released details just yet, but as with in previous years, Sunday afternoon we always organise some tours of Dublin. So we do some of the touristy ones like the Guinness Storehouse, the Jameson Distillery, but then we also do the infamous Salon Owners Summit pub crawl, which always goes down really well on a Sunday afternoon, so that always gets sold out. But there will be announced some details of that, and you’ll be able to sign up to those tours, but those of you who’ve been here before, you’d know how much fun they are. Then on the Sunday evening, we organise-

Killian Vigna: I’m laughing because I know how much fun it was.

Zoe Belisle-Springer: Yeah, did you not guide one Killian, actually?

Sinead Carroll: You were leading one? I’m signing you back up again this year.

Killian Vigna: I always wanted to go, it is good craic because salon owners all get to meet each other. Some people came with their team, some people came on their own, and everyone just networked so well, but they also got chatting to us, so Phorest staff as well. So it was just a really good bond that day, yeah.

Sinead Carroll: Yeah, you met lots of friends.

Killian Vigna: Lots of friends, I just love being social.

Sinead Carroll: So anyway, we have a free party then. Last year we had it Café en Seine on Dawson Street, but this year we’ll be having it somewhere else. Not gonna tell you where it is just yet, but we’ll be announcing all the other details, so keep an eye on your inboxes, as I said. So, all those details are yet to be released, and we’re six months out, but… Five months out, but it literally feels like it could be tomorrow, time just flies.

Killian Vigna: And so, for the format of the Inside Phorest, because that was changed last year as well, that was actually done pretty well. Before, it was just… Was it, there was only one talk that day, it was Paddy talking through the product, and it was only at one time slot. But this year we actually… You split it up into two time slots?

Sinead Carroll: Yeah, so for those of you don’t know, Inside Phorest is an event we host the morning after the Summit, so it’s basically where you guys can come in, meet the Phorest team, meet the development team, talk about what’s coming down the line for the next year, have some breakfast, coffee, that kind of thing. So that always goes down really well, but last year we had such demand for it we actually had to split the session up into two. So we had a morning session, and then we also had an afternoon session, and then you guys recorded the podcast in the middle, so it was a really fun day.

Killian Vigna: Definitely looking forward to doing another live episode this year, and we’d love for some of you to reach out to us with some ideas of something that we can talk about. So this year’s…  we talked about reviewing your past 12 months, and how you come up with a new strategy for the following year.

Zoe Belisle-Springer: Yeah, so we had actually quite a few speakers on it. We had three guests, which is more than we usually have in an episode, so we had Jenny Lawson from Mimosa Beauty in the UK, we had Paul Davey from Davey Davey in Dublin, and Hairdressing Live. We also had Sean, who is now actually in Australia building the brand, and spreading the word about Phorest in Australia with our team over there, which is great.

Killian Vigna: And doing a stellar job too.

Sinead Carroll: We’ll be doing the same again this year, so as before the state this year… So as before, you can sign up to it. Now we did have a few people who missed the morning session, but they can come along to the afternoon session then as well.

Killian Vigna: But that was also almost like a workshop as well, wasn’t it this year, because there was more engagement… There was different product feature ideas, so people went into groups and discussed.

Sinead Carroll: Yeah, so the grow team were out and about, chatting to people, getting some feedback on features, and that kind of thing, so it was great. It was great for us to meet you guys, and to come into our office, and just give you a feel for what we’re planning, and get your feedback on it. It’s really useful for us, and it’s really great for you guys as well, and plus you get the inside scoop on us as well.

Killian Vigna: Yeah, it’s kind of like, I suppose a real life user voice where you get to come in, chat about the new features, the ideas, and how it would work for your salon, because a lot of the ideas that came out of it actually came from people that were at the Inside Phorest. So it came from salon owners like yourselves.

Sinead Carroll: Yeah, so there’s a physical user voice, there and then, so it’s great. Now that’ll be definitely going to had again this year, so sign up.

Killian Vigna: So if you have any changes for Paddy and the product team, come along to that and hound them. So that is all of the Salon Summit announcements for now-

Sinead Carroll: But in the meantime, Aaron is here, he’s on the phone, so if you want to give him a call then reserve your tickets, or otherwise you can just email salonsummit@phorest.com, and yeah, looking forward to seeing all you guys there!

Killian Vigna: Cool, well cheers Sinead!

Sinead Carroll: Thanks!

Killian Vigna: So yeah, that was Sinead Carroll from the Phorest PR and Events team, and discussing the Salon Owners Summit there. Like she was saying, the first two announcements, we have Jo Fairley, an entrepreneur best known for creating Green and Black’s Chocolate Brand, which was bought out by Cadbury’s, which is actually the second largest chocolate brand, manufacturer, company – in the world just after Mars, so kind of a big deal. She also runs her own salon, which is really cool!

Then we have Ryan Holiday, and I know Ryan Holiday is a very big deal here, a lot of people love him. He has books like Enemy is the Ego, Growth Hacker Marketing, The Obstacle is the Way, and Trust Me I’m Lying. But he’s got loads more, and it’s all by about stoicism, I suppose the ancient wisdom of the stoic philosophers, and the practical meditation, so that’s gonna be a really cool one to listen to. And he’s also very young as well!

So yeah, the dates then for that Salon Owner Summit are…

Zoe Belisle-Springer: Monday, January 7th, 2019, it’s at the Convention Center in Dublin on the docks. The theme for this year is, “Power up.” I know we haven’t mentioned it in this episode yet, but yes, so “Power Up”, it’s essentially kind of, “How can you empower your staff, yourself, and everyone to just get onboard with the vision, and create a massive brand.”

Killian Vigna: Cool, so do we have the Zoe half? We’re on a new platform.

Zoe Belisle-Springer: We are, I completely forgot about that, we’re on Spotify! How amazing is that? I’m so happy!

Killian Vigna: We’re just completely forgetting about this stuff today aren’t we? Yeah, no that’s brilliant, because Spotify for so long have only been drip feeding podcasts into it. It was very hard to get your podcast onto Spotify, you actually had to apply through some third-party thing, long story short. But now Spotify have opened up to all podcasts, am I right?

Zoe Belisle-Springer: Yeah, most of them, you still have to go through a verification process, but at least it’s more feasible, it’s more accessible. I think the verification process for us was about maybe a month, which is still longer than what you would expect, but I mean it’s there now so you can enjoy it! It’s probably going to be the most accessible platform for you to tune in to PhorestFM I suppose.

Killian Vigna: Everyone has Spotify, yeah. Whether you’re on the freemium or the premium, and it’s just great because you can follow it, and you can keep your podcasts and your music all in one place, and you don’t have to use multiple apps or platforms. So that is officially the final sign-off…

Zoe Belisle-Springer: If you have any feedback, as always feel free to reach out, and leave us a comment. Again, if you would like to be featured on our podcast or have a story to tell, and would like perhaps to be featured on the live episode in January, let us know! Drop us a line – otherwise have a wonderful week, and we’ll catch you next Monday!

Killian Vigna: All the best!

Thanks for reading!

#LetsGrow

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