Sauna Summit 2024 Recap
On Monday 20th May the British Sauna Society hosted its first Sauna Summit, attracting some 250 delegates from all over the UK and Ireland, the US, Norway and Finland.
The event started in bright sunshine on a beautiful spring day up on the roof at Netil360, overlooking the London skyline. The team were live on Monocle Radio to report that whilst thrilled to host so many of the UK’s sauna owners and practitioners, the venue had a limited capacity and could not fulfil the demand for tickets. Overwhelmed, more than 100 were left on the waitlist. Lessons for next year, already learnt…
Frantic but ultimately successful preparations by the team to turn a bar into a conference room in around 2 hours meant that at 09.30 we were ready to start, and not withstanding a minor technical hitch with sound, the day got under way with a recap of the first 10 years of the evolution of the BSS by co-founder and Chair Mika Meskanen, and vice-chair Katie Bracher. Mr Viljar Lubi, the Estonian Ambassador to the UK, rounded off the opening remarks and the panel presentations and keynote speeches began in earnest.
A full day of presentations covered topics including the challenges faced by a rapidly growing UK sauna scene. Keynote speaker Dr Susanna Søberg jetted in from Copenhagen to promote her courses in Thermalism (BSS members can sign up at a discount) and a packed day of panel discussions ranged from sauna as an engine for regeneration and tourism in Norway and Finland, the do’s and don’ts of operating a sauna business, to a deep dive into the emerging scientific research backing sauna as a preventative and curative health practice. An engaged audience were shepherded through the day by the BSS’s own MC Mr Barry Sykes, who’s tiny egg shaker became a noted presence as speakers ran out of time during a jam-packed day of learning and sharing. Finally, lucky lad Robert O’Brien won an all-expenses paid trip to Tampere in Finland courtesy of Visit Tampere, and the hotly awaited Awards Ceremony began, with the winners announced in nine categories following a huge survey of more than 3,500 sauna lovers in these isles. Well done to all the nominees who made the shortlists – and huge congratulations to the Winners, who went home with well stocked goodie bags.
A sunset to die for and an outdoor evening of fluffy clouds, fantastic music courtesy of Rob da Bank and hot saunas at the Rooftop Saunas led everyone into a fabulous finale, with the beers and pizza flowing freely. Practitioners who felt the urge picked up whisks and did their thing, and 30 people squeezed into Sara Dance’s tent sauna (a record, we think), chanting ‘ice balls, ice balls’ as she cranked up the heat.
Judith Dunlop, panellist on the day and founder of Elie Seaside sauna in Fife commented: “Thank-you to everyone for all their hard work and for connecting us more with The Nordic and The Celtic world, as well. I received invitations to go and visit people all over the place. What an incredible energy…I found the whole thing overwhelming.”
So did we! What a fantastic day. Thank you all for coming and thanks to all our sponsors without whom it wouldn’t have happened in the first place. We will be back…and will be back bigger in 2025.
