Pat on the Back

Following our Hair Expo review in last issue, we wanted to subject our own local awards to the same scrutiny. So here’s TRADE’s take on October’s awards weekend.

This year’s awards were different. First of all, the two sets of awards were all on the same weekend – a kind of super-award weekend – and they were all in Christchurch for the first time in years. It was planned as a bumper celebration of the industry – from a technique, training and business perspective. Throw in a little World Skills action and it was going to be a week-long hairdressing bonanza.

Then Mother Nature weighed in, heaving and churning the Garden City then throwing a few thousand aftershocks their way just for good measure. Was it a sign? Nah, just a challenge. The awards were moved, the World Skills wasn’t. And everyone gathered in Christchurch on October 16 and 17 with glad rags and entourages in tow.

By now you should know who won the awards themselves – there’s a list at the end of this if you don’t – so we thought we’d take a slightly less objective look at the weekend. First we hand over to our resident “insider”, TRADE industry editor Gene Cooksley for his unique take on the weekend. Then you’ll find a few, more objective, comments from our “outsider”, editor Ellie van Baaren.

Saturday night – HITO training awards + Kitomba and NZARH business awards

Christchurch Convention Centre, $125pp

The insider: Out at Auckland airport and it’s good to see some things never change. I’m hungover and trying to deal with food when I hear three final calls for Mr James Williams to board, as the rest of his plane has boarded and are waiting on him.

Anyway the awards are held in a beautiful ballroom decorated perfectly on a grand scale. As usual the night begins with speeches. First off it’s Tom Murphy (Kitomba). Bit of a slow start – I’m thinking it would be better if he had five or six coffees before he went on. Next was Allison Murray (HITO), followed by Ria Bond (NZARH). It’s great that we’re starting to bring all these different facets of the industry together.

Each of these awards gives fantastic recognition to people who work hard in the industry. The World Skills is the next award, presented after a passionate and uplifting speech about the competition. People like Tony make you proud of the industry, and he was also sporting a sharp 3-piece suit. We all need to send money and help winner Laura Simpson get to London.

Onto the business awards part of the evening … I remember being in Sydney at the Expo 10 or so years ago watching the Aussie Business Success awards and thinking how great it was and that we should be doing the same. So I’m stoked to be here. There are some interesting categories and most of the recipients remarked how much effort it took to gain the information required to enter, forcing them to look closer than usual at their business.

There were some tears when accepting awards but my favourite was Grant Bettjeman going up to receive an award for Salon Marketing that he openly admitted he knew little about, which is why he has someone else at work doing that stuff. When they pick up the Business of the Year Award – Grand, he starts off his speech with “yeah, we were climbing Mt Kilimanjaro and the news got to us that we were finalists in this category which was great, because I didn’t know we’d entered”. Right on man. That’s a work-life balance.

Then it’s time for the big one – 2010 Kitomba New Zealand Salon of the Year. Bugger me if Bettjeman’s don’t pick up that one as well. For a salon that seems so laid-back they obviously have it going on.

The quote for the night for me, was from Emily Frew, who said she had “winning apprentice of the year” written on her mirror as her goal all year, and she achieved it.

The outsider: First up, I have to say that Christchurch cleaned up good. I almost expected the city to be in ruins, but it looked remarkably normal and it was great to hear the positive stories about the industry pulling together to help get the city back on its feet.

Having by now been to a few awards nights and events – across a variety of industries – I’m reminded again and again that a good MC can make or break the night. Most of us are not, by nature, great public speakers, especially not off the cuff. Hairdressers are no different and I’ve already been privy to a few absolute duds – not naming names of course. So bravo to whoever trained Mana Dave. He’s obviously got a bit of a gift of the gab, but he was the glue that held this show together and he clearly understands that making mistakes is par for the course, it’s how you deal with them that makes the difference.

The night is slickly organised, the food is decent, there don’t seem to be any tragic stuff-ups and it is done before I get bored. I’m particularly impressed that when Urban Beat, the entertainment for the evening, ask for audience participation in a dance battle there are some immediate volunteers. Take that to any other industry and you might get a few unwilling participants who don’t really put their all into it for fear of looking silly. Not these guys. They actually had some moves!

Sunday seminars

Grand Chancellor Hotel

The insider: I start the day a little slow after last night’s party, with an over-priced breakfast downstairs.

First up is Rodney Wayne doing the same entertaining speech he gave me over lunch a week or so prior, plus a song this time (apparently written for him by one of the guys in The Little River Band years ago). If this guy who turns over $50m a year and whose salons cater to 5-6000 clients a week can give up his morning to be here, why can’t you?

Second up is Tom Murphy from Kitomba. Great information and very necessary, especially if you don’t spend a lot of time on the ‘net. He’s a bit quiet and calm, but once you get on his wavelength it’s well worth it.

I missed Malcolm Gibbons from Shock but I’d been to see his seminar in Auckland earlier that week and it’s a must-see. He’s just starting out and everything he says makes sense.

Philip Millar on psychology in hairdressing. Simple, common sense advice that we all know but like to get a reminder of. He’s the first person I’ve heard say it’s easy to run a salon as a business (yay!) – it’s nice to hear that for a change. Listening to him takes you back to a simpler time, but I’m not sure that time or place will be around for much longer.

Terry-Lyn Stevens raised my eyebrows when she asked us to write a positive attitude on a name sticker and put it on – no way. But then she gets into it, providing industry stats and information on innovation, leadership, pillars of success and more. She brings up things that we need in modern hairdressing like re-inventing before the business goes into decline, rather than waiting till things drop off. The seminar makes a lot of sense; if you get a chance to see her (I’m pretty sure she’s doing seminars throughout the country in the next few months) then make the effort, it’s well worth it.

Years ago when I built my first salon I used to ask all sorts of people to help with all the issues that were talked about in today’s seminars hoping to find someone that specialised in hair salons. And now’s there seems to be heaps of them.

The insider: I won’t comment on the content of the seminars – Gene’s done that already – but I have to on the organisation and marketing of them. Before I got to the hotel I didn’t know what each of our speakers were supposed to be talking about. I love surprises as much as the next person, but if you want people to give up their time and money to come along to seminars you need to put your best foot forward. I went into Tom Murphy’s seminar expecting to hear about Kitomba, instead it was all about facebook, email marketing and Google. That’s some seriously interesting stuff and it needed to be better promoted.

My other gripe is that the seminars started with Rodney at 10am and went one after the other without a break all day, while the live cutting and styling competitions were going on in the other room. That gives nobody – especially the poor people who had to be there – a break and increases the likelihood that they’ll run late.

I’m just sayin’…

Sunday – NZARH Supreme Awards

Grand Chancellor Hotel, $175pp

The insider: Right, hangover’s gone, time for a drink. It’s off to the Morrocan Oil party. F#@*ing perfect. Just the way to start the evening. Hot bar in the middle of town, good sounds, and blue drinks. LET THE GAMES BEGIN!

Off to the Hotel Grand Chancellor. Back up to the 14th floor, and into the type of environment I love – a room jam-packed full of hairdressers and a free bar. Rock n roll.

We move into the event and things start to go a bit pear-shaped. Numbered tables with a seating list is great, but there are meant to be 12 people at each table and there’s only 10 chairs and placings. Plus the tables are numbered left to right, instead of right to left as they are on the seating plan. Boozed hairdressers, not enough seats – f#@*in funny. I’m being a dick, walking around saying I’m media and I need to be at the front. We end up commandeering some seats, taking the number off the table and pretending we were meant to be there all along.

The entertainment starts up with a Mo-Town themed performance through a bad sound system. Still with people walking around looking for their tables. Things calm down and the awards start…

Things are a bit disorganised on stage. The MC was doing a great job but was interrupted and left out to dry. Slowly we get through the awards, with Liz Ward taking home the Supreme award.

What a long day for everyone involved. The poor models, the competitors, and the organisers. The Association members worked really hard today but were let down by the venue and their staff. Anyway, off to the unsanctioned after party to see how long Liz Ward can party for …

The outsider: While it’s great to see so many people here, disappointment all around with the organisation. I think the venue – a second choice because of moving the dates – didn’t hold up their end of the bargain. There are seating problems, sound system problems, the food is average and slow in being served – we get dessert at 11.30pm! – and the staff aren’t particularly friendly or efficient. I know it’s a big event, but if you can’t do it then don’t say you can.

There’s some great work on display, and volunteers are putting in a lot of work to make it happen, but I feel for the competitors who are all on stage with their models waiting to see if they get to be excited or have to put on their “oh well, they deserved it” face. Plus getting them all up on stage is one of the reasons the awards part drags on for so long. You can only clap for so long, and I see a lot of people stop paying attention until the actual winners are announced.

The audience is definitely in the mood for a party though, as we head off to the after party to let our hair down.

Monday – NZARH Management Meeting

Hotel Grand Chancellor

Next day I’m up again and off to my first NZARH management meeting as an observer. I’ve been sworn to secrecy about what was discussed. So all I’ll tell you is that this is a group of unpaid people from around the country who are very passionate about the future of our industry and they work bloody hard for what seems little thanks. If you meet your Regional President give them some respect, they bloody deserve it.

Official winners list

HITO Training Awards & NZARH Kitomba Business Awards

Tutor of the Year: Chris Lethbridge, Palmerston North

Memorial Scholarship: Reremoana Matthews, Whangaparoa

Training Salon of the Year: Reds, Pukerua Bay

Stylist of the year: Sasha Lenski, Bettjemans

Employer of Choice Award: Jacqui Victor, True Grit

Salon Entrepreneur: Belinda Watson, Biba

Fastest Growing Salon: Salon One, The Cove, Tauranga

Excellence in Marketing: Bettjemans, Auckland

Salon of the Year Under 250k: Hype, Auckland

Salon of the Year Classic 250k-500k: Biba, North Shore

Salon of the Year Grand 500k: Bettjemans, Auckland

NZARH Supreme Salon: Ursula Harris, Nelson

Salon of the Year: Bettjemans, Auckland

Apprentice of the Year: Emily Frew, Biba

For more images of the HITO training and Kitomba NZARH Business awards evening go to the gallery. 

NZARH Supreme awards

Apprentice Cutting: Bonnita Vilijoen, Blades Hairdressing, Whangarei

Senior Cutting: Liz Ward, Liz Ward Hairdressing, Bay of Plenty

NZARH Order of Merit: David Shields, NZARH President

Apprentice Styling: Stephanie Winter, Bettjemans

Senior Styling: Ursula Harris, Ursula Harris Hair design, Nelson/Marlborough

Oceanic Cut: Wade Ambler, Beaumont on Beaumont, Hamilton NSW

Oceanic Conversion: Shar Sutherland Todd, Sutherland Todd Hairdressing

Oceanic Overall: Wade Ambler, Beaumont on Beaumont, Hamilton NSW

Total Concept Senior: Leanne Elliot, House of Elliot, Bay of Plenty

Team: Nelson / Marlborough

Supreme Hairdresser of the Year: Liz Ward, Liz Ward Hairdressing, Bay of Plenty

For more images of the Supreme National Hairdressing Awards go to the gallery.