Future Pro Expo 2012: All You Need To Know
Here at Empire, we are gearing up for another fun and exuberant weekend ahead of us…Future Pro Expo 2012. This is one of the largest student beauty competition and trade show events in the world. The weekend will begin on Saturday as we welcome nearly 2,000 students from 22 states plus industry guests, alumni and staff to the “sweetest place on earth” Hershey, PA. Students will vie for top awards, attend top notch educational events and network with some industry partners and icons.
What to expect at FPE?
After an early Sunday morning breakfast students begin their day at 9AM as the trade show floor opens and the educational classes begin. As students head to each of the events you can feel the excitement as they chant, dance and rally in support of their school and classmates.
The trade show floor will host over 50 vendors like Sexy Hair, Andis, Joico/ISO and so many more, opening the door to professional product introductions, product usage, tools and tips to our future professionals. If you have never been to a beauty trade show event click here for tips to walking the floor.
Education is our heart and soul and we want to encourage all the students attending to take advantage of the numerous workshops and presentations. This is a vast opportunity for students to meet and talk with well known industry partners and to be on top of the latest techniques.
At 10:00am, the morning competitions begin. This part of the competition is closed to spectators because of the intricate detail that is involved. However, we will be inside getting some good pictures to post on our social media sites. (Follow us on Twitter @empire beauty hashtag #fpe2012). The categories they will be competing in during the morning competitions are Nail Artistry, Men’s Marketable Salon Cut, Make-Up Artistry and Red Carper Experience (new this year). Competition will run for an hour with judging to immediately follow.
During the afternoon hours students who are not competing in the morning will continue with the educational classes and trade show floor. Outside the trade show floor there is an area set up called the Network Café. This is a salon and industry networking venue where Future Professionals have the opportunity to meet with hiring managers of top salons. The Network Café will host 8 venues: JC Penney’s, Great Clips, SmartStyle, MasterCuts, Holiday Hair Salons, Sports Clips, and Arrojo Advanced Education. Students can talk to the representatives about the type of career paths available and the skills and training necessary to become part of these selected salon organizations. We encourage students to dress appropriately and bring copies of their resume.
Around 4:00 the anticipation and excitement starts to fill the hallway for the Evening Competition. The doors will open at 4:30 allowing all the students to rally with their signs and props cheering on their competing classmates. The energy from the room is AMAZING every year. At 5:00 the time starts for our competitors to begin. They will be competing in either…Long Hair Evening Design, Female Cut &Style with Color or Artistic Braided Design Style. They will have 1 hour to complete their look. Then it is time for our judges to take the floor. Some of the judges this year will be Michael O’Roarke, founder of Sexy Hair Concepts and new line “Rock Your Hair”; Shannon Lamm, elite Stylist and Goldwell Guest Artist; Francis Sorem, ISO Artistic Creative Team member; Fernando Fischbach, Vice President of Cinderella Hair, just to name a few.
After the competition and judging event is over, students will then be invited to a social event at Hershey Park, open exclusively to Empire, for a thrilling night of roller coasters and rides.
Monday morning begins with an early presentation from TV personality, industry friend, and star of our Masters of Beauty Program, Nick Arrojo. Nick along with his team as they demonstrate his newest trends, tips and techniques.
At 1:00 the Award Ceremony begins…we honor all the winners in the 7 competing categories plus Regional Future Professional of the year and National Future Professional of the Year. Two exceptional educators will be recognized as Regional Educator of the Year and National Educator of the Year and two outstanding performing schools will be awarded the Future Professionals Expo-Total Quality School and Total Team honors. Winners will walk away with professional products, tools, educational trips, as well as thousands of dollars in cash prizes not to mention the bragging rights as the top future beauty professionals in the country.
During the award ceremony we have the anticipated announcement of the winner of the Master Apprentice Contest. One lucky Empire student’s dream will come true…they will work as an apprentice with Nick Arrojo at his trendy New York City Salon, Arrojo Studio, as well as $10,000 in living expenses. The top 3 student finalists who will be competing for the coveted title, Master Apprentice, are Sasha Brown, Boston; Maritza Velazquez, Paradise Valley and Kristie McGunnigle, Williamsport. Who do you think it will be?
Click on our FPE 2012 Program Book below to learn about the different categories the students will be competing in, competitor names , judges, sponsors, etc.
You can still be a part of this exciting event even if you can’t attend… follow us on twitter (twitter.com/EmpireBeauty) using the hashtag #FPE2012 for live updates and photos. Also watch the LIVE Stream this Sunday from 5pm-7pm here.
If you have been to Empire’s FPE in the past please share with us what your favorite part of the whole event was.
