The Data-Driven Salon Summit returned bigger than ever in May. With excitement around the new host city of Nashville and the addition of the SALON TODAY 200 celebratory dinner and awards ceremony, DDSS tickets sold out a month before the event to a record attendance of more than 400 people.

Owners and managers gathered at the peer-driven event to dive deep into the metrics of salon success to understand their challenges and identify new opportunities for growth.

“While we continued to focus on the conference around the KPIs of Percentage of Guests Purchasing Retail, Productivity, Average Ticket, Client Retention and Client Count, the knowledge we gained from this year’s SALON TODAY 200 essays pointed to a need for content that focused around salon culture, staff recruitment and retention and how to address burnout,” said SALON TODAY’s Stacey Soble. “While the overall theme for DDSS is “Understand Your Data. Own Your Success,” the secondary theme for this year was “The Year of the Team” as owners and managers shifted their primary focus from needs of the clients to the needs of their team.”

Forty-six salon owners, managers and industry experts took the stage to share their wisdom as speakers and panelists:

Entrepreneurial Operating Systems’ Justin Cook helped owners understand how to get the right people in the right seats in their organizations. Phorest Salon Software’s Verna Wall and Rich Cullen revealed research that showed what today’s clients want from their salons. Salon Leaders Liz Arridell, Erin Bruce, Tony Gordon and Michele Savell shared their favorite KPIs and strategies for improving performance on them.

In “Pivot or Plummet,” Frank Gambuzza discussed how he’s leading different post-pandemic. Boulevard’s Shanalie Wijesinghe suggested ideas for owners and their teams to work smarter, not harder. Canvas Me’s Jen Groover helped owners understand how to increase the energy, mental clarity and emotional control of their team members. Vagaro’s Charity Hudnall demonstrated how to boost client retention. And Strategies’ Michael Yost moderated a panel with Owners Marian Sang, Sarah McGee Mariman and Michell Bartlein around the financial health of a salon business.

On Monday, Salon Leaders Rebecca Ezolt, Chris Knudsen, Karen Gordon and Amy and Rudy Moser talked about their salons’ succession plans with Kopsa Otte’s April McDaniel. Owner Caroline Dodig demonstrated how extension service is dramatically growing her business. Owners Heather Yurko and Jen Baudier showed the audience how they pay their businesses a profit before they pay other costs.

Owner Daniel Mason-Jones discussed how he’s reinvented his salon culture and why he has a waiting list for new hires. Zenoti’s Alyssa Venere discussed three critical metrics with Owners Penny Jaskolka and Tony Gordon. John Palmierei and Jen LeBlanc showed what the numbers are telling us now about client count. And, to close the main stage, Owners Bobbi Zmiewskey, Kip Dodson, Jack Panico, Larry Kane, India Bertin and Virginia Meyer brainstormed some best practices that are helping their businesses get ahead.

A number of breakout sessions helped attendees design their own experience. Harry D. Wood IV, Kati Giles and Lauren Fennel-Cutter revealed how salons can help their clients with cancer look themselves. With Mindbody, Lisa Starr helped owners design an action plan for a cautiously positive future. Inovshop’s Matthew MacLeod and Owner Jack Panico demonstrated how salons can transform themselves digitally. CLICS’s Leilani Macedo and Charles Brown showed salons how they can revolutionize their hair color. Salon.Marketing’s Lucas Renfroe revealed the digital marketing metrics owners need to understand and follow. Meevo’s Tanya Reece demonstrated how data can be used to execute an efficient marketing strategy. DaySmart’s Andrea Miller introduced tool that help team members increase their KPIs. And, Kopsa Otte’s April McDaniel, CPA, CRSP, answered attendees’ burning accounting questions.