Refocusing on the Business at Focus 2022

Published in Women's Health on May 10, 2022

Focus Conference held for the first time in person since 2020

After two years of being apart, Focus Conference 2022 was held in-person on May 1-3. Essentially Women members and vendor partners gathered at the Sheraton Sand Key Resort in Clearwater Beach, FL for education, networking, and re-energizing their businesses. Usually held in February, this was the first time since February 2020 that EW members and vendors have gathered together.

“It was so good to meet together with everyone again face-to-face,” said Nikki Jensen, vice president of Essentially Women. “Meeting in person allows our members to really connect with each other and our vendor partners at a deeper level.”

Each year, the Focus planning committee’s goal is to not only put on an educational and memorable event but to enhance the conference from the year before. This year’s conference featured both Retail Roundtables and a Vendor Connections event. Moderated by Rob Baumhover, director of VGM Retail, the Retail Roundtable session allowed for attendees to candidly discuss product, experience, and marketing and ways to improve their businesses. Baumhover will also be presenting this same session, Brick-by-Brick Workshop: The Foundation to Operating a Profitable Business, at Heartland Conference, June 13-15, 2022.

The Vendor Connections event allowed for each vendor to have dedicated time with each attendee, giving attendees ideas to complement or diversify their existing portfolio of products.

“The Vendor Connections event was one of the most exciting and successful sessions at Focus Conference,” said Jensen. “We know that our vendors have great products and business opportunities for our attendees. This was just one way we could make sure attendees could hear about each one of our vendor partners. Our intent was to have each person walk away with at least one new connection that they would not have otherwise had.”

Day two consisted of eight different education sessions with topics ranging from back-office operations, emotional intelligence, billing and reimbursement, lymphedema treatment, custom breast prosthetics, accreditation, and certification.

“We’ve heard so much positive feedback about Focus Conference,” said Jensen. “Many of these women have been working in their businesses due to staffing shortages, issues with supply chain, or other reasons. Focus is one way that our members are able to work on their business, focusing their attention to ways they can improve business operations, billing and reimbursement procedures, creating new business opportunities, and also connecting with other like-minded people from across the country.”

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