BY LISA STARR

SPA PEOPLE ARE COMMUNITY PEOPLE . We are huggers ; huggers of trees , yes , but of other people too . We love to be with each other , and so many of us look forward to the ISPA Conference & Expo every year , when global spa and wellness citizens gather in one place and celebrate our industry . So it was doubly hard to miss not one but two opportunities to gather in person under the ISPA banner over these past 16 months . In that time , however , our generally not-so-tech-savvy community sharpened their skill set and learned how to gather on Zoom , Google Meet , Microsoft Teams and other platforms . And while nothing compares to being together in person , we found that seeing each other onscreen was better than not seeing each other at all .

Thus , the ISPA 2021 Stronger Together Summit came at a great time . In addition to being more comfortable with technology , we were also so excited to see each other ! While there are pros and cons for both live and online events , the Stronger Together Summit ’ s virtual platform provided attendees with a number of advantages , such as the luxury of a schedule with built-in breathing room , the ease of welcoming speakers from around the world and an added sense of intimacy in the panelstyle Knowledge Builder Sessions and Town Halls . The “ All About You ” sessions really did feel like they were all about you , as you could enjoy them on your own , when and where you liked . For that matter , the ability to watch all of the sessions on demand without missing a minute and having the chance to interact with other attendees in chat feeds and send questions to

Our Godmother of spa , Deborah Szekely , welcomed attendees to day one of the Summit .

speakers in the moment gave the event her sage advice on how you get to be a unique sense of comprehensiveness 99 : “ It ’ s what you eat , act , think .” and connection .

Another amazing segment was the Another advantage of the virtual welcome for the opening Power Session , which was sponsored by Em- setting is that the godmother of spa , Deborah Szekely — who hasn ’ t aged a inence Organic Skin Care and delivered day in many years — was able to greet by company founder Boldijarre Koronczay . In typical Boldijarre fashion , attendees from her home and share this

24 PULSE ^■ AUGUST 2021