It’s time to close a chapter on JK’s awesome summer event in Vegas with my final photo blog. Every JK-North America expo is filled with great prizes from start to finish. Executive Director of Sales Jerry Deveney gets to have most of the fun awarding them since he serves as the gathering’s MC. The crowd was always ready to participate, whether he was handing out $100 bills or lottery tickets, or raffling off a $54,000 Sun Angel.
During the Opening Session, every salon was given a $100 bottle of Supre’s Diamond lotion. Good thing John P. Johnson was on hand (and bended knee) to help distribute the goods in true Caesar’s Palace style.
The Grand Prize drawing was the final event of the show, and the winner needed to be present to be eligible.
This made for high drama, as a room packed with hopefuls waited to see if their ticket was called. Deveney had everyone stand up and then he’d call out the winning ticket’s numbers one by one. When the attendees were no longer in the running because their number didn’t follow the sequence on the winning ticket, they had to sit down. It really built the suspense to see the standing crowd go from 1,500 down to 1,000 down to 700 ... until the final round only left a handful of potential winners. There were actually three or four rounds of this – with the final number being called and the winner NOT being present, so that a new winning ticket had to be drawn and it started all over again. Talk about drama!
Eventually, local Nevada gal Angela Power of Paradise held a raffle ticket that matched up, and she went home with a new Sun Angel S46.
Now on to my favorite winning education sessions. One speaker I really enjoyed was Representative Paul Scott (R), who serves in the Michigan House of Representatives on the Health Policy Committee. Rep. Scott has almost two years’ experience at the state level and shared some great tips to help salon owners make their voices heard in the political arena. They include:
•Get to know your representatives
Identifying yourself as a “job provider” in the politician’s district, don’t hesitate to e-mail or call and ask for a sit-down meeting. You are more likely to develop influence with a leader if you’ve connected with them face-to-face. This allows you greater comfort to reach out in the future – calling and asking if you need to be concerned about proposed legislation, or even having the representative call you when something that impacts you is in the works.
•Don’t assume the policymakers in the area know about your issues.
•Call and ask for the top person in the office who deals with your specific issue – regulatory, policy, etc. There are many specialists surrounding your rep who can be of great assistance.
•Mass e-mails hold very little weight with Rep. Scott. He suggests writing a personal note or a letter to the editor, as staff members are assigned to watch those comments.
•Full-time lobbyists are best at stopping proposed legislation. Work in tandem with organizations such as the ITA, who are active in that part of the process.
Finally, I’d like to acknowledge the salon owners who sat on the panel discussion. They are: Adrienne Aaron of Electrik Beach, Mike Blore of California Sun, Cheri Cosgrove of Tanworld, Josiah Garlan of Bodyheat Tanning, Vince Lorraine of Tropi-Tan and Amy Ringler of The Midas Touch Golden Tans.
Since the expo took place in June and the industry was still just starting to receive direction from the IRS regarding the July 1 tan tax, much of the panel discussion was focused on it. Some of the other topics of discussion included: salon marketing, evaluating your business, introducing and retaining EFT’s, training, and taking advantage of the economy – not being the victim of it.
Thank you again to JK-North America for the fantastic event and your ongoing support of the industry. East Coast-ers, mark your calendars for JK’s next event in your area. For more information about September’s East Coast Tanning Expo, click here
–Karen
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