Registration opens today for the world’s largest indoor tanning convention—Smart Tan Downtown Oct. 14-16 in Downtown Nashville. Full conference and trade show details were posted this morning on the official convention web site, www.SmartTanDowntown.com, which is also accessible from the SmartTan.com web site.

Smart Tan on Monday announced that North America’s leading consumer journalist, 19-time Emmy-winner John Stossel (ABC’s 20/20 and Fox News), will be the convention’s keynote speaker for a program designed to “Give UV a Break!” That program is only part of business development conference featuring case studies and interventions of existing tanning businesses, looking at business models that will lead the industry’s leading salons into the future.

Smart Tan today unveiled details for the rest of the convention—including a revolutionary multi-part program breaking down case studies of successful tanning businesses with an expert team. Smart Tan Consultants Jerry Marfut, Rich Kizer and Georganne Bender will join Smart Tan’s Matt Russell and Joseph Levy in reviewing case studies, makeovers and interventions that began this winter. A total of eight workshop sessions will explore details and analysis from these case studies.

“Business models for what Smart Tan calls ‘The Fifth Generation’ of professional indoor tanning businesses are changing—there’s no doubt that the businesses that are succeeding right now and that will succeed in the next few years are doing things differently than those who succeeded 10 and even five years ago,” said Smart Tan Vice President Joseph Levy, who serves as conference chairman. “It’s Smart Tan’s mission to help the industry’s best players get better—something that’s better for the industry as a whole and for each business individually. In that respect, I’m as excited about what we’re doing this year as I’ve ever been.”

The business conference compliments a trade show featuring every major tanning supplier—the only event in the industry this year that will have everyone under one roof.

A totally new program this year will be a four-hour pre-convention scientific symposium on Friday afternoon featuring UV and Vitamin D researchers. The program, titled “UV, Vitamin D and the Whole Truth: The Scientific Symposium” will include several world-leading scientists for the first-ever scientific symposium held as a pre-conference symposium at a Smart Tan convention. UV and Vitamin D research have created mixed messages in the news media in recent years—pitting dermatology groups against vitamin D scientists in an oddly tangled mixture of science and politics. A distinguished panel of UV and Vitamin D experts presents research that makes the case for a new, balanced message more compelling than ever.

“This is a program that serious owners will want to attend—it will be an excellent chance for you to hear first-hand what’s really going on with the science of UV and Vitamin D from the researchers themselves,” Levy said. Look for full details this spring on this symposium, which will be adjunct to the rest of the convention and will involve a separate fee.

The convention also features Smart Tan certification programs, Red Light Therapy sessions and a closing session featuring $100,000 in product giveaways.

Registration is open online at www.SmartTanDowntown.com or by calling a Smart Tan team member at 800-652-3269 or 866-795-3755 in Canada.