The Premiere Orlando International Beauty Show, the largest annual beauty industry summit in the country, attracted more than 46,000 attendees to its conference and trade show June 5 to 7 at the Orange County Convention Center. This year organizer Premiere Show Group joined the International Buyer Program of the U.S. Commercial Service to promote the event to an international audience, which resulted in more than 300 beauty professionals from 10 countries, including Russia, Kenya, Senegal, and Vietnam, attending the 20th annual event.
“The U.S. Commercial Service helped us send out press releases and brochures to their international contacts and had their trade specialists work with these countries to recruit delegations,” said Kara Hildebrandt, Premiere's operations and marketing assistant. Hildebrandt added that Brazil sent the largest delegation of more than 100 representatives.
For the first time, the show offered five free Saturday workshops before the official opening of the event on Sunday morning. “A lot of people fly in Friday night or Saturday morning, and this gave them the option to get some education in so they could have additional time on the show floor and take the classes they want on Sunday and Monday,” Hildebrandt said.
The conference offered 380 classes on topics like hair-cutting techniques, hair color, nail techniques, and salon business development during the final two days. Hildebrandt said four of the five Saturday classes hit capacity, and the organizers had two classes add a second session due to the high demand. Additionally, to accommodate international attendees, the show has offered some classes in Portuguese, Spanish, and Vietnamese for the past three years.
The 250,000-square-foot trade show floor was open on the second and third days of the event with live demonstrations, makeovers, and thousands of products for sale from hundreds of manufacturers like Tigi, Redken, and L'Oreal.
