2025 SCHEDULE

SUNDAY, MAY 18TH

2025 Excursions include Ultraceuticals Spa Experience, Riverboat Cruise on Lady Bird Lake, Sunrise Strolls, Guided Meditation, and more!

11:00 am – 4:00 pm (CST)

A Celebration of Lightbulb Moments

Join us for an evening of celebration and recognition, where we’ll honor top salon owners and leaders for their 2024 business achievements. Register here.

5:30 pm – 7:00 pm (CST)

MONDAY, MAY 19TH

12:00 pm – 1:15 pm (CST)

Lunch (included)

3:15 pm – 4:45 pm (CST)

Workshops: Session II

5:00 pm – 5:30 pm (CST)

General Session: PLAYBOOK Power Up!

OPTIONAL: Sunrise Stroll or Morning Meditation

6:30 am – 7:30 am (CST)

Registration, Networking, Light Breakfast

8:00 am – 9:00 am (CST)

  • We heard you loud and clear—last year’s most highly rated speaker is BACK! Gaylen Paulson, Associate Dean at Texas Executive Education, is returning to The FiLL with two powerful sessions designed to push your thinking, challenge your assumptions, and unlock your best ideas. Prepare to stretch your learning and open your mind to breakthroughs that go beyond “good enough.

  • What does profitability really look like in the professional beauty industry?

    Join the Qnity Institute Data Team as they unveil exclusive findings from the 2024 Profit & Loss Study, featuring data from over 300 locations and $500 million in revenue. This deep dive into industry benchmarks will help you separate fact from fiction when it comes to financial success.

    Key Takeaways:
    📊 The latest profitability trends shaping multi-location businesses
    💰 Where top-performing businesses are maximizing revenue—and where money is slipping away
    ⚡️ The financial levers that set thriving businesses apart from the rest

    Expect data-driven insights, actionable takeaways, and a fresh perspective on financial success in the professional beauty industry. If you're ready to decode the numbers and make smarter business moves, this session is for you!

  • What’s holding your business back? Every salon and spa faces gaps—areas where potential is left untapped. In this powerful session, we’ll tackle the five biggest gaps that stand between where you are now and where you want to be:

    ✅ Leadership – Are you leading with clarity, confidence, and impact?
    ✅ Engagement – Is your team fully bought in, motivated, and aligned?
    ✅ Growth – Are you scaling smartly and sustainably?
    ✅ Execution – Do great ideas turn into action, or do they stall out?
    ✅ Profitability – Are you making money—or just making noise?

    This session will help you diagnose your gaps, close them with strategy, and unlock new opportunities for your business. Whether you're looking to refine your leadership, strengthen your team, or increase your bottom line, you’ll leave with a game plan for lasting success.

  • Play is hardwired into your brain. It’s not frivolous, it’s a biological necessity across our lifetime that fuels creativity, resilience, empathy, authenticity, and well-being. In this keynote, you’ll learn about what happens in the brain when we play. Understanding the science will give you the permission to add play back into your life and your business, and to make it your competitive advantage.

9:00 am – 12:00 pm (CST)

General Session: Welcome to The FiLL!

Monday Workshops – Select 2 of the following workshops to attend Monday

1:15 pm – 2:45 pm (CST)

Workshops: Session I

  • Start with the System That Works

    New to Qnity? This high-energy session introduces you to the core principles and visual tools behind Qnity’s proven success model.

    You’ll leave with a clear understanding of how to:
    ✔ Boost profitability using simple, visual systems
    ✔ Drive team performance with clarity and structure
    ✔ Lay the groundwork for transformation across your business

    Whether you're brand new to Qnity or need a refresher, this is your essential starting point.

  • Know the Numbers That Matter

    What if your numbers told you exactly where to go next? In this eye-opening session, Qnity Founder Tom Kuhn reveals groundbreaking findings from our latest P&L Study, covering over 300 businesses and $500 million in revenue.

    Plus, hear directly from salon leaders who are crushing it, and learn how to:
    ✔ Apply benchmarking insights to your business
    ✔ Spot hidden opportunities in your financials
    ✔ Drive profitability with confidence and clarity

    This isn’t theory—it’s real data, real businesses, and real success stories.

  • What if the real barriers to growth weren’t strategy or skill—but how we make sense of the rules we think we're following?

    Led by acclaimed leadership and communication expert Gaylen Paulsen, this interactive workshop is designed to stretch your thinking around culture, change, and alignment in the most unexpected ways.

    You’ll engage in a group activity that will challenge your instincts, communication habits, and adaptability. What starts off feeling simple will quickly become more complex, mirroring the real-world dynamics leaders face when navigating unclear expectations, shifting environments, and clashing interpretations.

    This session isn’t about theory—it’s about experience. And through it, you’ll uncover insights that stick.

    🔹 Learn how misalignment silently disrupts even the strongest teams
    🔹 Discover the hidden forces that drive confusion, friction, and resistance
    🔹 Walk away with five powerful tricks to build clarity, consistency, and cohesion in your culture

    If you're ready to lead through the messy, human side of business—and come out stronger on the other side—this session is for you.

    Come curious. Leave aligned.

  • Play is a vital part of human life. Work is too. How can we infuse the benefits of play into the expectations to meet the bottom line? It starts with reflecting on our own unique play nature, what playing unleashes within us, and how this vibrance adds value to those around us. In this interactive workshop, we will dive deep into Dr. Stuart Brown’s eight identified play personalities and provide practical methods to add play into your life, your leadership style, and your company culture. 

  • Discover Austin and enjoy an evening of conversation and connection with other FiLL Attendees. For many, the greatest joy in attending a gathering like this, comes from the conversations they have with peers. Groups and restaurants are assigned to offsite locations and participants cover their own food and beverage costs.

7:00 pm (CST)

OPTIONAL: Dine & Discover

TUESDAY, MAY 20TH

8:30 am – 9:45 am (CST)

General Session: PLAY Smart

  • LIVE PODCAST! Ever wonder why PLAY isn’t just fun—but essential for growth, creativity, and leadership? Join us for a live taping of NPR’s hit podcast, Two Guys on Your Head, where Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke dive into the science behind PLAY—and why it’s a game-changer for business success.

    This engaging, thought-provoking, and laugh-out-loud session will challenge you to think differently about how PLAY impacts your mindset, your team, and your bottom line.

  • Be a GPS, Not MapQuest

    Great leaders don’t just talk—they move people. In this powerful main stage session, discover how to become a persuasive communicator who doesn’t just give directions but guides others with clarity, confidence, and influence.

    Learn the difference between being a GPS—adaptive, responsive, and trusted—versus being MapQuest—rigid, outdated, and disconnected.

    You’ll walk away with tools to:
    🗣️ Communicate with purpose and precision
    🧭 Guide your team through change, resistance, and uncertainty
    💬 Influence outcomes without over-explaining or micromanaging

    Whether you're leading a team, managing up, or connecting with clients, this session will help you navigate tough conversations, inspire action, and keep everyone moving in the right direction.

    Because in leadership, how you say it matters just as much as what you say.

  • Description text goes here

12:30 pm – 2:00 pm (CST)

Workshops: Session II

11:30 am – 12:30 pm (CST)

Lunch (included)

2:00 pm – 3:00 pm (CST)

General Session: PLAY On: Your Next Move!

3:00 pm (CST)

End of Program

OPTIONAL: Sunrise Stretch

6:30 am – 7:30 am (CST)

Networking & Light Breakfast

8:00 am – 8:30 am (CST)

Tuesday Workshops – Select 2 of the following workshops to attend Tuesday

10:00 am – 11:30 am (CST)

Workshops: Session I

  • From Vision to Action

    Strategy without execution? That’s just a dream. In this hands-on session, Qnity Director Heath Smith walks you through tools to bring your plans to life.

    You’ll learn how to:
    ✔ Lead a powerful, engaging planning session with your team
    ✔ Layer Qnity’s execution tools for real traction
    ✔ Align your vision with day-to-day reality

    If your team has great ideas but struggles to follow through, this session is a game-changer.

  • Build Intrapreneurs, Not Employees

    What if your team thought and acted like owners? That’s the power of intrapreneurship. In this dynamic workshop, Qnity Director Candice Gliatto shows you how to lead an inspiring team meeting that sparks:

    ✔ Motivation
    ✔ Accountability
    ✔ Personal and professional growth

    You'll leave with a ready-to-run framework that boosts engagement, retention, and your top-line revenue. If you want a fired-up team, start here.

  • Led by Shana Merlin, founder of Merlin Works and a master of applied improv, this interactive workshop will help you:

    ✅ Think faster & communicate better in high-pressure situations
    ✅ Turn challenges into opportunities with confidence & ease
    ✅ Build stronger, more engaged teams through trust and collaboration

    Whether you’re leading a salon, managing a team, or looking for ways to bring more creativity into your business, this workshop will equip you with practical, playful tools to elevate your leadership.

Tickets are selling fast. Don’t miss out!