Show report
HairCon: The trade show that’ s cutting through the noise
Gina Kay reports from Manchester on the 2026 edition of HairCon and finds a show that is definitely putting on the style
here’ s a moment at
T most trade shows where you look around and think: this could be anywhere. Same floor plan. Same shell schemes. Same coffee. HairCon was not that show.
The venue was the O2 Victoria Warehouse in Manchester, a raw, industrial venue more well known for its music shows than trade shows. HairCon is three years in and already rewriting what a B2B event in the creative sector can look like. I took along to the June 2026 edition a target attendee( my mum) who’ s been a hairdresser for the past 30 years and owns her own salon, to give me an extra pair of expert eyes. I caught up with one of the show founders, Michael Dynan at the end of a busy two days.
Dynan has been in the industry for over 20 years and had seen enough trade shows to know what isn’ t working anymore.
“ A lot of floor plans look the same. A lot of buildings look the same. I don ' t think they ' ve evolved enough to keep up with the top brands.”
In hair and barbering, that gap was impossible to ignore. The big creative brands aren’ t as interested in a traditional trade show format, it simply wasn’ t how they promoted themselves.
HairCon was the answer.
The venue is the strategy Choosing the O2 Victoria Warehouse wasn’ t just an aesthetic decision, it was a commercial one.
“ The building adds soul to the event,” Dynan explained.“ The walls, the pillars, the lighting, it’ s all there. Brands don’ t have to spend millions creating an atmosphere. They can keep their costs down and focus on their activation.”
The result was a floor where brands showed up differently, where education spaces didn’ t look like seminar rooms. The main theatre wouldn ' t have looked out of place at a fashion week. The main stage, doubled in size this year to 200 square metres, hosted what Dynan described as full fashion weeklevel production.
“ Some of the biggest names in the world are doing their biggest show of the year on that stage. The production has to match it,” he said.
The Fresha deal: a masterclass in partnership Four months ago, HairCon announced a five-year headline partnership with Fresha, the booking and payments platform that powers hundreds of thousands of businesses worldwide. www. exhibitionworld. co. uk Issue 4 2026 45