The Start - Day 1

After a good nights sleep, attendees awoke to breakfast and a little networking time. Following an introduction and orientation by HSMG President, Marie Gale, the conference officially started.

Erin Brockovich

One cannot say that the 2009 Conference didn’t start with a bang. Due to the generous sponsorship by Essential Wholesale, Erin Brockovich, made famous by the 2000 movie of the same name, was the keynote speaker.

She kicked things off right by inspiring and motivating attendees into action. Using her personal word “stick-to-it-iv-ness”, telling us to never give up or stop fighting for what we want and believe in. Afterwards she donated a number of "stick-to-it-iv-ness" shirts, which were given out as door prizes throughout the conference.

The crowd was enthralled with Erin's talk about her experiences.

After speaking, she stayed behind to talk to attendees.

Dennis and Kayla Fioravanti of Essential Wholesale posed for pictures with Ms. Brockovich.

Thanks, Dennis and Kayla, for making Erin's appearance at the conference possible!

Networking Lunch

The lunch on Day 1 was a special networking lunch. Attendees were routed to different tables that corresponded to the desert plant that was listed in their folders. This is our way to break the ice and get people talking to other Soapmakers and business people that they may or may not have run into.

Lunch was held outside on the lawn under umbrellas. It was hot, but the company made it very enjoyable.

At the lunch attendees were greeted with the first of the HSMG goodies (in the orange bags). Everyone received a terra cotta mug with the HSMG logo and a coupon book full of over 28 valuable offers from industry suppliers.

Many Speakers Fill The Day

Starting after Erin Brockovich and continuing until 6:15 PM the day was filled with many speakers on a variety of subjects.

Donna Maria Coles Johnson of the Indie Beauty Network, took the stage to guide everyone through social media. Her presentation was sponsored by ED Luce (Essential Supplies).As Donna Maria was speaking, attendees were following along on their laptops (and notebooks, PDAs and cell phones). By the end of the presentation, a flurry of tweets about the confernce were already being posted, Facebook pages updated and pictures being posted. It was definitely a hands-on social media experience!

Linda Stevens spoke about Profit Margin Killers, really opening people's eyes to the places where money and profit can drain away from your business. She provided some excellent suggestions and the audience was lively with questions and responses.

Kayla Fioravanti gave information on Good Manufacturing Practices and how they can be implemented in your business. In her typical style, Kayla was extremely helpful in giving guidelines that were real and the attendees left with a sense of how to actually apply the data to their manufacturing.

For the last two time slots of the day we had "Power Sessions". Three concurrent sessions, each held twice, gave everyone an opportunity to see what best applied to their own business and soapmaking plans and passions.

AnneMarie Faiola of Brambleberry presented a hands-on class of lotion making, testing different emulsion systems. The attendees were broken into groups and each group actually made a different formulation to see how it worked. All the attendees got samples of each different formulation. It was a great experience and everyone came away with a better understanding of the resultant feel and consistency of the different emulsion systems in lotions and creams. Her class was sponsored by Texas Beauty Labs.

Lisa Chouinard gave two different demos - one on using toys in MP soap and the other on making delicious-looking desserts with MP. With the overhead "point of view" cameras, everyone was able to see what she was doing. The results were fabulous and everyone left with some great ideas on what can be done with MP soap. Her class was sponsored by New Directions Aromatics.

Kelly Bloom of Southern Soapers, gave an excellent demo on creative designs with CP soap. Again, the overhead cameras made it possible for everyone to see what she was doing. The resultant soaps were beautiful and gave everyone ideas on how they could create their own designs in CP soap.

The In-Between Time

In between the classes there were breaks, including morning and afternoon snacks. Lots of time to relax, regroup, talk to friends and meet with vendors.

Morning and afternoon snacks kept the attendees primed and ready to go.

After the last class of the day, everyone had a few minutes to relax and get ready for the Essential Wholesale party.

Next: The Essential Wholesale Carnivale Extravaganza