What a wonderful time President Sharon Ortiz, CPE, Sheila Ahern, CPE and I had representing the American Electrology Association's members at the annual AARP convention held in Las Vegas, Nevada from October 22 -24, 2009. Over 23,000 people registered for the event and we personally had visitors from 36 states and the District of Columbia to our booth. It was our pleasure to educate the consumer and promote the profession and our members. We were there from open to close each day to answer questions, hand out "Why Choose Electrolysis" brochures, referrals to our members, gifts of AEA logo lip balms and even a couple of "Career" brochures.

To draw attention and bring visitors into our booth, we held a drawing to win a $100 gift certificate good toward electrolysis treatments with an AEA member in the winner's area. Just one hour before the close of the Exhibitor's Hall on Saturday, the winner's name was chosen from over two hundred entries. She comes from Ashland, Oregon where, happily, we have an AEA member.

This was the first time the AEA has attended a consumer event such as this and it was such a perfect target group for us. The attendees, who travel from all over the US, have age-related hair issues, have interest in receiving information about how to deal with it and learn what makes electrolysis the best option over other hair removal methods. Another plus for us is that they are a group of folks who will share what they learn with their families.

It was fun to watch people's faces as they took in what we were all about. Men were notorious for laughing, reaching for the tops of their heads and saying "Thanks, I just want to keep what I've got!"

Often, it took a moment or two for the word "electrolysis" to register. As women walked right on past the booth you could see the bulb light up over their heads as their hands would unconsciously travel to their chin or lip and their heads would turn back to look and contemplate coming back for information. Then we had them!

It wasn't unusual to hear women say that they had always wondered about electrolysis, they just never knew who to talk to about it. They were grateful for the opportunity to have their questions answered. The popular queries were those we hear all the time -

• Is it permanent?
• Will it work on white hair?
• Does it hurt?
• How much does it cost?
• How long does it take?
• Do you have someone in my area?
• Will it scar?
• Is this electrologist certified?

It was fantastic when we were able to refer individuals to electrologists in their area. Sadly, there were those occasions when we could not find anyone in their vicinity. If a visitor already had an electrologist who was not a member, we gave her an AEA business card and encouraged her to go back to her electrologist and let her know that the AEA was out there working to promote the profession and to encourage her to become a member!

We will be contacting electrologists to whom we referred so that they might be on the alert. We would like feedback from anyone who does hear from any AARP members who attended the convention. It will be great to have a sense of how truly successful our efforts were.

A great many people who attend the AARP convention are annual goers and because of that, we feel that it would behoove us to attend again next year in Orlando, Florida. As marketers will tell you, it often takes a number of times for a person to hear or see your message before they will finally take that step to action. We look forward to being seen and heard for our members and our profession once again in 2010.

Sally McAleer, CPE