As salon owners, stylists and guest coordinators took their seats at the 2014 Millennium Experience in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, an electronic voice encouraged them to take out their phones, log onto playTME.com, take their place on one of four teams and tap their phones as quickly as possible earning points for the team. The engaging activity immediately enrolled this year’s attendees into Millennium Systems International Founder John Harms’ “Game On” theme for the year.

Throughout the three-day conference, Millennium continually invited participants to play. Through the site, attendees could earn points by tweeting, retweeting and sharing photos. A live feed on the onstage- screens let the audience interact as speakers gave their presentations. During breakout sessions, attendees could rate their educators and post questions. The more points they earned the more badges they could rack up, and the attendees with the most points earned prizes such as free T-shirts, one year free of Meevo, or SurfacePro Tablet.

The Game On theme dovetails nicely with Millennium’s release of Meevo, its latest generation of salon management software. Within the new software, the Success Center allows salon/spa owners to challenge staff to be more productive by honing in on certain Key Performance Indicators and set up competitions. Leader boards posted in the staff room can show live totals throughout the day, and staff can earn tokens, digital trophies and charms when they reach certain goals set by management. Staff can event cash in their tokens for prizes set by management or they can gift tokens to other staff members as a way to thank each other.

“For years owners have struggled to get their staff to get their heads around goals and the numbers,” Harms said. “We think the gaming on Meevo will engage them and motivate them like they’ve never been motivated before.”

During the opening session, Harms outlined all the ways Millennium believes the theme Game On is relevant to today’s salons:

GAME ON is a battle cry to accept change, embrace where our clients want to take us and at the same time continue to focus on growing our businesses and making our employees successful.

GAME ON is what you say when your competitor underestimates you and loses sight of the most important aspects of long-term sustainability.

GAME ON is what you say when your employees challenge you to be better and to do more.

GAME ON is excitement as your team pulls together towards common goals and the joy of seeing positive improvement.