Looking to expand your business in 2013? Then head on down to San Antonio, Texas, May 19-21 where some of most successful owners and managers of multi-unit salon and spa businesses will gather to celebrate 40 years of the International SalonSpa Business Network. “At our conference you can meet senior management from companies that operate thousands of salons, as well as owners of companies with two or three highly successful salons or spas,” says Jason Volk, ISBN president and the CEO of Chatters Canada. “We share and learn from each other in a non-competitive environment. While each of us has our own business model and culture, we share the same goals.”

The carefully designed conference integrates insightful speakers and interactive panel discussions with breakout sessions and an opportunity to meet one-on-one with some of the industry’s most forward-thinking vendors. Most of the association’s members believe ISBN’s thought-provoking curriculum  serves to foster the true magic which happens when the members network and share ideas among themselves at the conference’s hosted breakfasts, lunches, dinners and cocktail parties.

From the Stage: On Monday morning, Scott Klososky, the former CEO of three successful tech startup companies and the principal at Future Point of View technology consulting firm, will illustrate the trends in emerging technologies and those can be used to help organizations thrive, leaders prosper and entire industries move forward. With “Trends, Technology and Taking the Lead,” Klososky offers attendees practical tools and concepts they can implement as soon as they return home.

T. Scott Gross, a veteran of the hospitality industry and the author of Positively Outrageous Service, takes the stage on Tuesday to show owners how to sell, serve and stand out in the digital age through outrageous customer service. He promises to show attendees how to multiply their marketing efforts by creating experiences that build their brand and benefit the bottom line.

In a very timely presentation, Steve Overholser, CPA, the chief financial officer of Great Clips, will walk attendees through the implications of the Affordable Care Act on salon businesses as new taxes come into play in 2013 and new mandates and employer penalties take effect in 2014. This discussion will to quantify the potential costs of different courses of action and present several alternatives for businesses to consider.

Sharing Sessions: Moderated by ISBN board member Pat Neville, the State of the Industry panel and discussion will focus on identifying money-making trends in products and services in the salon and spa industries.  Industry heavyweights representing the multi-unit salon and spa and manufacturing sectors will weigh in on the emerging products and services salons and spas must add to their mix.

New to ISBN, the Salon Secrets forum gives ISBN members the opportunity to take the stage and detail one aspect of their business that sets them apart from their competition in five-minute presentations. After the final presentation, Sport Clips CEO Gordon Logan offers a more in-depth case study of how he took his innovative concept from one test location to 900 Sport Clips today, including a look at his biggest challenges and most gratifying successes.

Lifetime Achievement Award: This year ISBN will honor <B>Carlton Whitaker<B>, vice president of Mitchell’s Spas and Mitchell’s Hairstyling Academy in Raleigh, North Carolina, with its 2013 Lifetime Achievement Award. Along with his wife and his partners, Whitaker, helped build Mitchell’s into a company of 18 value-priced and high-end salons which they sold to open two day spas and eventually grow four cosmetology schools. Whitaker served 12 years on ISBN’s Board of Trustees, including in the role of vice president, and as a member for almost 30 years.  He’s known for facilitating the conference’s marketing roundtable for more than 10 years, for which members took home great ideas for strengthening their salon businesses.