The fiesta has officially begun! It’s day two of Farouk Systems’ 17th International Sales & Buying Conference in Cancun, Mexico, and it’s been a whirlwind of action since our planes touched ground.

Last night, there was a welcome party right by the ocean, with live music, entertainment, delicious food and lots of mingling. It was a great location to network with some of the industry’s finest educators, distributors, store owners, stylists and salon owners. According to Gregg Emery, president of Farouk Systems, there are an expected 5,000 attendees for this year’s conference—WOW!

Today began bright and early beginning with the National Anthem sung by Glennis Grace, a singer from the Netherlands with the most beautiful voice.  Our host for today’s General Session was Scott Emery, VP of International Sales for Farouk. “It’s a great day to b a part of the Farouk family,” he said. “What you’re going to see here today is epic in portion, and fantastic in scope.”

And, he wasn’t lying.

The first presentation was from Team South America,  representing Latin America’s Puerto Rico, Brazil and Mexico. The show was spectacular.  [more after the jump!]

Next up we learned all about the 25 year history Farouk Systems has with producing ammonia-free hair color. “Twenty-five years ago, Farouk Shami had a dream, he had a vision, and more importantly, he became allergic to ammonia,” said Gregg Emery, President of Farouk Systems. “Farouk could have walked away from the business, but he was a true entrepreneur and invented a little product called Sunglitz.” And, 25 years later, the ammonia-free color is still going strong, with a little facelift,  of course.

Farouk Shami himself hit the stage after Gregg to talk about the importance of hairdressers earning more money, working in a safer environment and serving their clients with integrity and respect. “That’s what makes us proud, and that’s what makes us Farouk Systems,” he said. “In Arabic, we have a saying that goes, ‘You make sometimes have a brother your mother did not give birth to,’ for me, it’s John McCall, my best friend in the world,” referring to Vice Chairman of Farouk.

After John spoke, Farouk’s General Counsel Wisam Ghuneim gave a “State of the Union” presentation that addressed some serious issue, namely brand position and counterfeit. “Faoruk Systems has worked hard with the General Customs Administration of the People’s Republic of China, and they are actively assisting us to seize counterfeit CHI appliances on their way to the United States.” Ghuneim said. Stressing the importance of 2011’s anti-counterfeit campaign, Ghuneim continued, “We need the help of stylists, educators and distributors to educate clients—let them know that buying a counterfeit product is not just a crime, but people do get injured. Aside from injuring the US economy, it’s been shown that proceeds from the sale of counterfeit goods often end up in organized crime, child trafficking and even terrorism.”

Jason Yates,  Farouk Systems’ VP of marketing, had a very interesting presentation that also focused on the importance of brand positioning—introducing the new hologram that will help distributors be able to identify counterfeit Farouk products. Yates also discussed the huge success of Royal Treatment, and Sunglitz, noting that year to date, color sales are up 27 percent.

New launches for 2011 also included CHI’s American Smoothing Treatment, ChiEnviro—which was hugely successful for the brand, introduced at all JCPenney Salons,  of which more than 500 classes have been taught on the product, 700 when you factor in BSG, we learned.

Also new to the brand is Royal Treatment’s White Truffle Foundation, for use on skin or hair, that helps mend split ends and smooth hair.  The digital Chi Orbits are all the buzz, as well, Yates said, coinciding with the fact that clipcless, rod irons are hugely popular right now among stylists and consumers.

Yates, along with PR Director Elizabeth Yong, introduced the new Farouk website, where stylists and salons can download FOR FREE appointment cards, business cards and shelf talkers. “Farouk Systems is forward-thinking,” Yates said, “we are giving the tools to stylists that will allow them to make themselves successful in building their own businesses.”

The new trend collections were then introduced, Lisa Marie, director of shows, did a tremendous job of bringing out the people that make the magic happen behind Farouk's hair shows--right before Team Europe presented their sexy stage show! Check out the below video for a piece of the action!