Most of the 128 attendees at the Cocktail evening

Every year the New Zealand Society of Cosmetic Chemists (NZSCC) holds a conference to educate, inform and provide a platform to network. This conference brings together suppliers, academics (University of Canterbury and Auckland), chemists, business owners and brand developers. This year is was held over three days from the 24th to the 26th July, was the biggest in our history with 128 attendees and marked our 40th Annual Conference. We were honoured to have the support of the IFSCC to make this event even more memorable.

Perry Romanowski

As part of the IFSCC International Speakers Programme, Perry Romanowski joined us and gave an enthusiastic presentation that both educated and entertained. He spoke about the day-to-day function of a Cosmetic Chemist and focused on 5 key areas where we could get detailed information on how to better formulate for the target markets. These included:

1. A review of open innovation resources

2. Specialized search engines that go beyond Google

3. The productive use of Social media

4. Using blogs and forums for consumer research

5. How to test products before inventing them

A number of delegates have reported that his talk has thoroughly enriched the conference, provided superb advice and new avenues for New Zealand Cosmetics to learn from. The Society is very grateful for his contribution and wish to thank the IFSCC for their support.

Since 2016 the New Zealand society has grown from 88 to 118 members. The majority of growth has taken place in the last year. This is attributed to the successes of the past but also to the recent IFSCC support of our Society. We have over 300 members in our online database, which we will continue to communicate with and hopefully bring into our membership.

The conference attendance has, similarly to our membership, grown over the years. We are now in a very interesting place in our growth. The normal choices for venues are too small for our conferences and over the next few years we will be looking to grow the attendance to over 150. The next conference will be held at the Chateau with a maximum capacity of 140. Let’s hope we fill it!

Whilst the conference does focus on new science, ingredients and innovations, we also take time to plan activities to ensure everyone meets new people in the industry. This year we hosted a GPS race for teams to work together to unlock challenges all around Queenstown. The winners were announced at the Cocktail evening, high above Queenstown.

Perry with Travis (President) and Maree (Past President). Yes, that is how we normally dress in New Zealand