Early Bird bookings open for WSW Africa Convention

Melinda Yon of Six Senses

Speakers from Six Senses, Four Seasons, Sandton Sun, Delaire Graff, Fairway Spa, Oxford Healthcare Retreat, Relax Spas, Irene Country Lodge and Saxon Hotel, Villas and Spa have confirmed their participation at the World Spa & Wellness (WSW) Africa Convention, which runs on 1 & 2 September at Gallagher Convention Centre in Midrand.

The WSW Africa Convention runs alongside Professional Beauty Johannesburg, the biggest trade expo of its kind in Africa. Day 1 of the WSW Africa Convention is themed ‘Spa hacking – a brave new world’, while the theme for Day 2 is: ‘Solutionist-thinking in the spa’.

Singapore-based Melinda Yon of Six Senses Hotels Resorts will present the international keynote address on 1 September. Her presentation is titled: ‘What can African spas learn from overseas?’ and will highlight key international developments and explore their relevance for the local market.

Yon, who is the Technical Services Director of Spa and Wellness and part of the core Wellness Innovation team at Six Senses, will also participate in the closing session of the conference. This session is called ‘Charting Your Way through the Spa Obstacle Course’ and will look at the biggest business challenges facing spas today. Nuncia Pereira of The Fairway Spa in Johannesburg has also confirmed for this panel, with more spa executives to follow.

Mauritius-based Four Seasons Regional Spa Director, Joelle Jennepy, will present on the topic of spa menu engineering, along with spa managers Hildegard Carstens (Delaire Graff) and Tanya Lopes (Saxon Spa).

Noli Mini of Relax Spas and Pinky Mathebula of the Sandton Sun Spa will present on the topic of effective communications and cross-promotion between hotels and spas.

In a session called ‘360° Wellness’, Karen Turis will speak about mindfulness, a topic currently trending in the global wellness sphere, while Madaleine Helm will talk on nutrition, specifically the gut microbiome.

Cecilia McKay of the Irene Country Lodge will present a keynote on revenue generation, and Marisa Dimitriadis of The Spa Consultants will unpack the concept of yielding in spas.

Spa and wellness professionals are encouraged to take advantage of the Early Bird booking special of R950 for a two-day pass to the convention. The Early Bird special is valid until 1 August; there after a two-day convention pass will cost R1,350.

To book your place at the WSW Africa Convention lot on to http://www.tetradeevents.com/wsw.htm