Therapists Unite for the Red Cross Bush Fire Appeal

The Australian spirit has never been more amplified than in the wake of the tragic bush fire disaster in Victoria. It feels like everyone is trying to do their bit to help the Victorians who lost their homes and loved ones, and the massage therapy industry is no different.



















I received an email this week via the Australian Association of Massage Therapists, announcing a national fund raising event whereby massage therapists offer massages to the public, with all proceeds going to the Red Cross Bush Fire Appeal.

Endeavour College, in conjunction with ANTA, ATMS, RAoA, AAMT, AACMA and IFA has organised a fundraising event to take place in the following locations (more locations are being confirmed):

• BRISBANE Queen Street Mall – confirmed 8am to 4pm Friday February 27, 2009
• MELBOURNE City Square – confirmed 8am to 7:30pm Friday February 27,2009
• PERTH Murray St Mall - to be confirmed

If you do happen to see the armies of massage therapists and reflexologists out at these venues, pop in for a treatment and help support a really worthy cause.

Generating interest at events with seated massage

It was my pleasure to spend an action-packed few days last week doing seated massage at one of the year's big IT Trade Shows - Cisco Networkers.
One of the exhibitors at the event, APC by Schneider, decided to offer free seated massages for visitors to the company's booth. It proved to be a great addition to their stand, with people queuing up for massages for pretty much the entire time - we got through 100 seated massages in 2.5 days!

While the massage was by no means the main focus, APC used it, and a Wii playstation to attract visitors to their booth. This gave the APC sales team a chance to engage with their visitors, and created a fun and lively atmosphere.

Curiously, while other exhibitors offered an array of prizes and competitions on their booths, there were no other seated massage therapists at the event. This surprised me, but it worked out well for APC, who were able to claim another yet unique point of differentation on their booth.

APC's Channel Manager, Joyce Sl Ng, said, "We recently engaged Melanie for a 3-day exhibition in Brisbane. A free 10-min shoulder & back massage was offered to everyone who visited our booth during this time. It has been a fantastic experience for all who took up the offer. The free massage was an absolute winner at this event; attracted a lot of traffic to our booth during the exhibition time. Melanie's service is fabulous & professional. Highly recommended for corporate events."

If you are planning an event - large or small, consider offering seated massage as a way of generating interest, saying "thank you" to customers, staff or guests, or just providing a little something different.

Seated massage is extremely versatile and requires minimal space. If your guests are seated, for example at roundtables or business meetings, the massage therapist can massage them in those seats. Alternatively, the purpose-built massage chair can be set up in the corner of a room, meeting or board rooms, booths etc.

Feel free to contact me to discuss the possibility of seated massage at your next corporate event.