By Alex R. Thiersch, JD, CEO of the American Med Spa Association (AmSpa)

Here at AmSpa, we're often asked about the difference between our Medical Spa & Aesthetic Boot Camps and The Medical Spa Show, our annual event in Las Vegas. If someone attends a Boot Camp, is it roughly the same thing as attending The Medical Spa Show? How are they similar? How are they different? Here's a quick look at what makes each one essential for medical aesthetic professionals.

Medical Spa & Aesthetic Boot Camps

AmSpa's Medical Spa & Aesthetic Boot Camps are two-day training opportunities designed to provide attendees with the information that's essential to creating a successful medical aesthetic practice. These events focus on knowledge that all medical spa owners and operators need, particularly when they are just opening their practices. At Boot Camps, the focus is on issues of compliance, marketing and operations, and as the name suggests, they're intense educational experiences.

And while Boot Camps do feature a select group of vendors demonstrating their latest and greatest products and services, they are not trade shows, as the primary focus is on education. AmSpa offers several Boot Camps per year all over the U.S.—we try to hit as wide a variety of locations as possible, so that if you want to attend a Boot Camp, you can hopefully make it to one without too much trouble. Click here to see all the upcoming Boot Camps on the AmSpa schedule.

The Medical Spa Show

The Medical Spa Show, meanwhile, is a conference and exposition that features a wide variety of vendors and numerous educational opportunities. Held annually in Las Vegas, this show is much more in line with what one would typically consider to be a trade show.

The Medical Spa Show presents a different type of education than what is presented at Boot Camps. Instead of one general-interest educational agenda in which all attendees participate, The Medical Spa Show features four concurrent tracks of educational opportunities that dig deep into more specific topics; in 2019, the four tracks were Business, Clinical, Legal and Sponsored Education. Within each track is a variety of 30-to-90-minute sessions that focus on trends, techniques and technology, and attendees can create their own schedules based on their needs and interests.

What's more, The Medical Spa Show provides a much larger selection of vendors than Boot Camps, and the vendors have more time and space to provide attendees with information about and demonstrations of their products and services. So if you're in the market for a new piece of equipment or want to see new software in action, there's a very good chance you'll find what you're looking for at The Medical Spa Show. Keep an eye on this space for more information about the 2020 convention and expo when it is released.

Both the Medical Spa & Aesthetic Boot Camps and The Medical Spa Show offer attendees a great deal, but they are very different in form and function. We are extremely proud of both, and we hope you can join us at one or both in the near future.