Personal Reflection

When attending an event in professional circumstances, you must know how to present yourself in order to come across in the correct way. When attending the three events I will be talking about in this post, I was expected to represent the university as well as myself in a professional and respectful way. The following list is how to present yourself professionally and should be kept up for the duration of any event:

Professional Beauty North

This was my first professional event that I attended as a Spa student. The event showcases 500 brands and 100's of product launches (Visiting Professional Beauty Manchester North, no date). We had been given a general overview of how to present ourselves for the day but could not know exactly what to do until we arrived. I, personally felt nervous on the day because I had never done any work in the beauty industry other than work experience in two salons as a sixth form student. Because of this I used the day as a way to easy myself in to talking to different people from different types of companies, starting with La Beeby, because I was familiar with the company. I then went to and spoke to some stalls that focused on innovations in the acrylic nail industry because I have had experience in this field. I felt that this way to start my professional experience because I was able to build on my knowledge of something I already have an interest in.

Buxton Spa and Wellness Conference

The Spa and Wellness conference included talks from motivational speaker Pete Cohen and wellness consultant Anni Hood. Through the talks, obviously all attendees were expected to show complete respects in regards to not using their phones etc. as this is one of the simple elements to showing a level of professionalism. I highly enjoyed the talks as they focussed on topics that we hadn't looked at yet on the course and provided us with different viewpoints.For the day, we were also required to sign up to workshops with other industry professionals. I decided to go to a talk by John Critoph on Colour Therapy and what different colours represented. I also attended a workshop about a new product designed by Adrian Jenkinson called the Wavestone. This was extremely interesting because it was about a new, but growing product innovation in the industry designed to make a therapists job easier and less strenuous on hands and wrists. I feel as though I presented myself professionally throughout the day but could have made more of an effort to talk to the visiting professionals to learn more about what they do and how they got to where they are. As I progress through university I will become more confident in doing this.

Industry Networking Day

This event was a chance for us to speak to potential employers for summer placements and even future placements for a sandwich year. I used the afternoon to get to know a number of employers and what they look for in their employees. As i am not yet trained in manicures and pedicures it would be difficult for me to get a job in many places as I found that this is often a basic requirement. However, because i found this out, I am looking to complete a course in this whilst at home during summer. I did find the afternoon very useful as I spoke to an Erasmus+ Coordinator in regards to taking part in this during my sandwich year and finding out more about it sooner means that I can evaluate my options to see whether taking a placement abroad is for me.