EVENT: KAILO WELLNESS SUMMIT

KAILO Wellness Summit

The inaugural KAILO Wellness Summit proved people’s increasing focus on their own wellbeing, says NADINE DILONG

I’ve reported on Brisbane based KAILO Wellness Medispa since its beginning back in 2018. What started as a beautiful, small medispa at the Calile Hotel, has turned into a beauty, wellness, and aesthetics brand that is slowly but steadily growing and going global! Founders Kath Merlo and Kristy Morris have developed a holistic one-stop shop for modern women and men, offering aesthetic services such as lasers and injectables, medical services such as IV infusion therapy, as well as Ayurveda, Naturopathy, and Nutritional services.

Our aim was to educate and inspire the audience to look at new ways to live better lives

So it didn’t come as a surprise when the power duo announced an event, the KAILO Wellness Summit, for clients and anyone interested in the ever growing world of wellness to learn from the experts in the field. After a few pandemic-induced postponements, the event finally took place in October 2022. Over 200 guests, some flying from interstate, made their way to beautiful Calile Hotel in Brisbane for a day of wellness presentations.

“Our aim was to educate and inspire the audience to look at new ways to live better lives,” says Merlo. “Our intention was always to bring a range of topics to our existing guests, and to anyone who is interested in their health and wellbeing.” And that, they did, attracting over 250 wellness enthusiasts to the Brisbane event.

For VIP ticket holders, the day started with a 6am Yoga class, sponsored by Lululemon, and taught by ‘Assembly by Aiko’, who guided us through a Flow Yoga class with Sound Bowl Healing. While it was hard to get up at 5:30am, I didn’t regret it for one second as the yoga class perfectly set the tone for the rest of the day. It was followed by a light breakfast with author and nutritionist Lola Berry, who talked about ‘failing fearlessly’ and why we all need to stop worrying about things not working out.

Keynote speaker, Samantha Bloom

After a quick freshen up, the summit kicked off in style with none other than Lisa Wilkinson welcoming guests and speakers to what would be an incredible lineup of speakers and fascinating presentations. The aim of the event, it felt, was to introduce attendees to a variety of different wellness treatments and approaches to a longer, healthier life – not in a salesy kind of way, but in am empowering, educating way.

KAILO Founders Kath Merlo (second from left) and Kristy Morris (middle)

Speakers and topics included Dr Zac Turner, who spoke about peptides and psychedelics, the power of NAD+ explained by Mary-Lou Condon, the importance of sleep with Dr Olivia Lesslar, and Dr Charlie Teo, who captivated the room with his insights on brain health and the importance of a healthy lifestyle to prevent brain damage. Keynote speaker Samantha Bloom didn’t leave a dry eye in the room and received a standing ovation after sharing her healing journey, both mentally and physically, ever since an accident in Thailand left her paralysed from the chest down.

The audience was engaged and seemed genuinely interested in improving their wellbeing, with many people keen to book in for NAD+ infusions at KAILO post-event. It was great to see healthy, vegetarian food at lunch and tea breaks in line with the event’s wellness messaging.

Dr Charlie Teo

“We have had incredible feedback from guests, speakers and sponsors,” says Merlo. “Everyone loved the event and was impressed with the calibre of speakers we had. Feedback includes that they loved the diverse topics covered, the level of experts we had presenting, and that they left feeling inspired and ready to take on some new wellness habits into their lives.”

While smaller, often after-work events put on by spas and clinics are quite common and a good way to grow your clientele and introduce clients to new treatments, a big event like the KAILO Wellness Summit hadn’t really been done before by industry. Given the great turnout and positive feedback that Kath and Kristy have received, I am sure it will not be their last event. In fact, they have already hinted at early 2024 for their next KAILO Wellness Summit.

“This was not a money-making exercise, and we invested a lot of time and money into making the event world-class,” says Merlo. “We are passionate about wellness and helping people to live their best lives – so we were incredibly happy with the outcome, and I think we were successful in achieving our goals for this event. We hope the next Kailo Wellness Summit will be bigger and better!

While it may not have been a profit-focused event, the team did gain new clients and bookings post-event. “We have had increased interest from existing and new clients from the event,” explains Merlo, “in particular people had not realised the amount of things we offer at Kailo such as nutrition support, ayurvedic and vitamin therapies. Many of our existing clients have booked in for treatments they had not previously had.” We call that a big success!