ISPA Wraps Up Successful 29th Annual Conference & Expo
A crowd of over 2,200 engaged spa community members came together September 11 – 13 to celebrate the 29th annual ISPA Conference & Expo taking place at The Venetian Resort in Las Vegas, NV. This annual event host spa industry leaders from around the world as they attend inspiring keynote presentations, high-level educational sessions and an expo floor featuring the latest spa industry products.
“We are grateful to our dedicated members and generous sponsors who helped make this year a success,” said ISPA President Lynne McNees. “This year’s ISPA Conference & Expo challenged our attendees to evolve in all aspects of their professional and personal lives and we look forward to seeing the innovations that are created from this year’s event.”
A few interesting facts and figures from the 2019 ISPA Conference & Expo:
- 32 countries represented
- 35 speakers
- 63 sponsors
- 220 exhibiting companies
- $5,000 US dollars in scholarships awarded
- 4,500 bags of product gifts delivered to attendees’ hotel rooms
- Thousands of dollars donated for charities connected with The Shop Forward and their missions
- Almost $100,000 US dollars raised to support the ISPA Foundation
Playing off this year’s theme of “Evolve”, attendees experienced keynote presentations from introvert expert Susan Cain, best-selling author Marcus Buckingham and philanthropist and CEO of Not Impossible Mick Ebeling. On the closing day of the event, the 2019 ISPA Alex Szekely Humanitarian Award, named in honor of the late spa pioneer Alex Szekely, was presented to Mick Ebeling honoring his philanthropic work.
Ebeling founded Not Impossible, a multiple award-winning social innovation lab and production company, on the premise that nothing is impossible. His mantra of “commit, then figure it out” allows him to convene a disparate team of hackers, doers, makers and thinkers to create devices that better the world by bringing accessibility for all. This unconventional approach brought to life highly acclaimed initiatives-the EyeWriter, Project Daniel, Don’s Voice and most recently Music Not Impossible–that brought the ability to draw back to a paraplegic street artist, 3D-printed arms to Sudanese amputees and “voice” to an ALS patient who hadn’t spoken in 15 years.
Additionally, attendees heard from several award recipients who were honored at General Sessions throughout the Conference, including:
- Bryan Williams, long time speaker for ISPA, accepted the 2019 ISPA Dedicated Contributor Award
- Jeremy McCarthy, Group Director of Spa & Wellness at Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, who was honored with the 2019 ISPA Visionary Award
- Quincy Reynolds, senior at the University of Houston, won the 2019 ISPA Foundation Mary Tabacchi Scholarship
- Noel Asmar Group, ISPA Innovate of the Year Award recipient
ISPA would like to thank all the sponsors that made the 2019 ISPA Conference & Expo possible. Platinum-level sponsors included Book4Time, HydroPeptide, ResortSuite, and Technogym. Sponsors at the gold- level included Babor, Columbia Skincare, comfort zone, Eminence Organic Skin Care, Endospheres USA, HydraFacial Company, Groupon, LEMI Group, Sothys USA Inc, and Universal Companies Inc. The full sponsor list can be found at attendispa.com.
ISPA will celebrate its 30th anniversary at the 2020 ISPA Conference & Expo, held at Gaylord National in National Harbor, MD, October 14-16, 2020. More information about the ISPA Conference & Expo can be found by visiting attendISPA.com.