In my 46 years of being in the industry, I have never participated in such a spectacular immersion of alignment with purposeful mission/vision, with the city of Parma, Davines’ corporate and future vision. I am going to break it down so you have an understanding of the immensity of this event! I wanted to share my Davines WWHT2018 experience to demonstrate the power of one idea, masterfully implemented, to impact many!



Saturday was the Davines Village tour which illustrated the level of detail for the staff and clients to integrate and embrace the elements of nature. Davines will be moving into the facility in June but has had 3,500 guests enjoy the home of Davines. Saturday evening was a cultural integration of the city of Parma with Davines attendees. As our hotel owner stated, Davide Bollati has been so good for Parma and Parma wanted to illustrate their gratitude. The providence of Parma (county) has a population of 400,000 and they just hosted 3,500 attendees! Davines hair care was throughout the display windows in shops throughout the city with the cut-out emjo’s that represent the brand. There were impromptu acts of angels interacting with the tourists throughout the streets as we walked and discovered and lampshades as art above us in the alleys. There was a choir performance at the Cathedral Piazza Duomo Parma (1059 AD). Upon exiting the cathedral there were thousands to witness a light and music show on the Baptistery of Parma in the Piazza. It was like witnessing fireworks for the first timeーit was awe inspiring to witness an ancient building as the backdrop for the beauty of light and music!


Sunday, during the day, we attended a modern art exhibit sustained by Davide Bollati called, “The Third Day,” which represents creation. There were 115 works of art from 40 different artists with themes of environment, sustainability and the connection between man and nature. It was a cultural experience to provoke thought through art! We toured the Village in the afternoon, which is so beautiful and authentic in its design.
  

Sunday evening, Davines Welcome Dinner Impact was at the convention center, however, it looked like a city garden show with lights, digital screens, music, discovery with Davines characters and product intertwined in the flower gardens. There were thousands of plants to greet us as we walked through the center. This initiated ten different hair designers presenting their segment of inspiration and hair with most having 8-10 models to illustrate their aspiration from their inspiration. At the finale, we had opera. Yes, opera. It brought us to tears as it was the perfect conclusion for a day of artist presentations in all mediums.
 
The Monday and Tuesday hair show was an extraordinary slate of top artists: Allilon, Brian and Kirsten, Angelo Seminara and Tim Hartley. Angelo did a very unique creative segment on Monday from a distant land integrated with his presence in Parma (more to come on this). The World Style Contest was exceptionally received with very talented individuals from the around the world. I hope SSS/USA will have more in the future! Initiatives of B Corp celebrations with the best score of 99 and how to continue to build sustainability into life/work/personal lives were shared with subsets of how to integrate into everyone’s life. Introduction of a Sustainability in Action documentary that is in development with Justice and Soul (Matthew Fairfax), Monday’s at Racine’s, Hair Movement, and many more which Davines is sponsoring and highlighting. The Monday night gathering was a Nature in Art get together at the convention center with dancing and fun.



Tuesday after Tim Hartley and Angelo Seminara demonstrated how/why they are the masters of their craft, we were asked to bring one of the thousands of plants in the hallway to the Davines Village to be planted (the convention center is within walking distance). It was such a powerful networking, moving, engaging moment as 3,500 attendees carried THEIR plant to become part of the Davines Village. AMAZING! Tents were set up for us all to have a picnic to share in the Village gardens with music and interaction with one another!

This event was a highlight in my life as it was the best alignment of values/vision/mission and demonstration of these qualities in action for four days! Our 45 salon clients that traveled to participate have stories they will want to enthrall you with as they were all impacted with the joy of creation, love of the planet, sustainable initiatives to do on a local level, global understanding of the fact that we are all in this life together in making positive contributions in using business as a force for good, beautiful hair color/style/cuts and how this type of event changed their lives!

Now is the time for our action! To inspire our industry, community and one another in how we can create experiences to share this story of Davines and how it is in purposeful alignment in be the change and be inspired to be the force of good in your world! It is the contagion and the ripple of effect we wish to see!

Thank you so much to Davines for your investment, inspiration, creativity and hard work to produce such a spectacular event! The amazing DNA team were everywhere to find lost phones, build relationships and to support every question. Davide, THANK YOU SO MUCH for your vision and engagement! Paolo, thank you for your implementation of the vision! Pier Paolo, thank you for your facilitation of the show and your continual client connections created. Anthony, Brad, Heather, Ayla, Jorge, you were the magic pixie dust in engagement with our clients and supporting all their needs with smiles and responsiveness!!


I know that I have missed so many aspects, which is why I want everyone to connect with the attendees to have their reactions and implementation that they will develop. As Stacy quoted Mary Anne Radmacher yesterday “I am not the same having seen the moon shine on the other side of the world!”

It is now up to each of us to continue to illuminate and shine this light!

Sincerely,
Sydney