It’s that time of year again - the sun was shining (well that’s in-between the downpours), the birds were chirping and the crème de la crème of the aesthetic industry were making their annual pilgrimage to the Royal Society of Physicians in London for the FACE Conference.
The Conference, which is now in its 9th year, has become a staple event for industry suppliers, practitioners and clinic owners who attend the yearly meeting. The event, the largest in the UK, is becoming a world premier event attracting renowned international speakers from all over the globe. Attendees were treated to interactive lectures on cutting-edge technologies, practical tips and advice, workshops, insight into the latest innovative technologies and exhibits from global industry suppliers, product launches and of course the chance to meet industry colleagues.
This year FACE included a parallel agenda running in two lecture theatres and hosted a variety of exhibitor workshops. An interesting new addition to the schedule was the introduction of “an evening with Tim Flynn and Wendy Lewis.” The informal and extremely enjoyable evening featured personal anecdotes, interesting career facts and a few humorous slides from two of the industry’s leading experts. Tim Flynn continued his unique blend of entertainment and information in a number of workshops including his advanced injectable demonstration workshop hosted alongside Beverley Hill Dermatologist Dr Derek Jones and New York Plastic Surgeon Dr Michael Kane.
Also premiering this year was the SKIN workshop which looked at the cross-over between standard medical and “medical aesthetic” options which are currently employed by some clinics for common skin conditions such as acne, rosacea and psoriasis.
The Face of the Clinic agenda explored the practical aspects to running and managing a successful business. Speakers included Dr Wendy Lewis, Martyn Roe and Sue Bird who spoke on a variety of topics including handling the media, customer service, sales, customer loyalty and social media marketing.
Of course, it wasn’t all work, conference delegates were invited to attend the annual Aesthetic Summer Ball, held this year at the National Science Museum. The much-anticipated event took place under a dazzling array of historical aircraft in the Flight Gallery and the evening’s festivities were bolstered by the knowledge that it was for a good cause – the event raised over £20,000 towards its chosen charity Help for Heroes.
Taking advantage of the 1940s theme, an assortment of fantastic period outfits were on display alongside modern dresses and a lively and atmospheric swing band played the night away – skilfully striking a balance between the old and new with a musical ensemble ranging from the vocal harmonies of the Andrews Sisters to Ricky Martin and Beyonce.
Dinner was an event in itself with the theatrics of the waiting staff and the ingenious gimmick of a Morse code machine on every table (which was connected to a flashing light on a different table so you could playfully interrupt your colleagues’ dinner with a spate of Morse code bulb flashes). The evening called for attendees to “wine, dine and dance the night away”... and well... that’s exactly what we did
With a great weekend of socialising, networking, enjoying delicious food, fine wine and irritatingly memorable swing band music being whistled you could almost forgive delegates for forgetting they were at the conference working... until the following morning that is....!