By Stacey Soble | 06/14/2010

..."To me, the most valuable learning often comes from people who practice what they preach—who actually use these strategies daily and understand, from experience, what works and what doesn't," says Finger. "Here at Oribe, we deal with the country's top echelon of salon owners, and they all have developed practices they know work really well. Who better to teach salon owners that the owners themselves?"

While the creative jam drew more than 1,000 hairstylists, the Owner's Forum sought some quieter space on the second day, so the 200 salon owners in attendance could gather and focus on business practices. During the forum, Khiem Hoang of Umbrella Salon in San Jose, California, took the stage to explain how he built his own iPhone app to help drive traffic to his salon and create a community among his clientele. Sandy Poirier, owner of Boston's Shag salon, share how he's using social media, including Twitter and Facebook, to promote his salon. And, Jack and Joelle Ray of Samuel Cole Salon in Raleigh, North Carolina, detailed their forward-thinking compensation strategies and how to deploy them. As an added bonus, the Rays gave away an in-salon business review session, valued at $3,000, to one lucky salon owner...