Nashville is a wonderful location for events for a variety of reasons – a thriving, thrilling downtown with a convention center surrounded by miles of bars and restaurants certainly isn’t the least of them, but one thing might be even more important. You know the saying – location, location, location. Centrally positioned to the majority of the U.S. population, and with three major interstates converging around its core, Nashville is within reasonable driving distance of thousands of indoor tanning businesses.

With tight budgets, pricey last-minute plane tickets, and big groups attending, many salons are deciding to make the drive to Smart Tan Nashville, Oct. 7-9, 2016. Even a 12-hour drive from Philadelphia or Houston can be made pretty reasonably and comfortably in a single day, especially with several people to alternate driving duties. Derek Peterson of Celebrity Tan in Wisconsin has made the 12-hour drive several times and will do so again this year. “It’s really not too bad at all,” he says. “I usually take a day extra. I visited the caves in Kentucky last year, then another time I just took my time and went across the country side and took my time a little bit.”

While flying might be more convenient in some ways, driving is almost certainly the more economical choice, plus it definitely makes it a lot easier to drag all those lotions samples home! And some wouldn’t have it any other way – especially for big groups, the car ride provides an added team-bonding experience and the opportunity to discuss what they want to get out of, and did get out of, the Smart Tan Nashville experience.

Nashville veterans Amy Ringler and The Midas Touch Golden Tans typically fly from their Kansas location, but have had scheduling conflicts that led them to make the 10-hour drive to the Music City. “I made the trip out with my dad. It was a long drive, but we had a good time with it. The drive was so pretty. The show was in later October or November that year and it was really nice to see all the fall colors along the way,” Ringler says.

But whether you drive, fly, bus, bike or run to Smart Tan Nashville, it’s of course worth the trip. No other industry event features every major equipment provider, nor do they offer a celebrity keynote speaker or the type of educational conference you’ll get in Nashville. Superstar magician and entrepreneur Justin Flom will kick off the educational conference that will prepare you to take over your market in 2016, with session tracks on sales, sunless, marketing, politics and more.

Need help planning your trip? Give us a call (800-652-3269), and one of our membership service reps will help you figure out the best way to get there. Rooms are still available, so register now at the pre-registration price rate.

Click here to register now.