Aromatherapy conference and festival

On Saturday 15th September, the second year of the Aromakonference Brno is taking place. It will present four professional aromatherapists and authors − dr. Petra Ratajc from Slovenia, Ingrid Kleindienst-John from Austria, doc. Stanislav Sekretár from Slovakia and ing. Helena Pluháčková from the Mendel University in the Czech Republic. The programme will be simultaneously interpreted. On Sunday, the festival Aromatherapy & Herbs will draw on the professional part.

Petra Ratajc is a rising star of European aromatherapy. A biologist, researcher and teacher, she aims to pass on her expert knowledge of aromatic herbs to broad public. In her blog entitled the PhytoVolatilome (phytovolatilome.com) she publishes her articles on plant biochemistry. In Brno, she will present her paper on hydrolates and other types of the herb extraction. She will explain why hydrolates are special and so effective.

Her presentation will be followed by Austrian aromatherapist Ingrid Kleindienst-John (kleindienst-john.at). This author of many books on aromatherapy also is the owner of the Aromaexperten-Institut and the KräuterKraftKreis school where she teaches aromatherapy and phytotherapy. In her conference contribution she will share practical recipes and present various uses of hydrolates.

The next part of the conference programme is devoted to plant oils. Their oxidation stability and the possibilities of prolonging their shelf life will be discussed by doc. Stanislav Sekretár from the State Technical University in Bratislava. An author of over 150 specialised publications, he focuses on the use of natural substances in the food, cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries.

The Brno academic environment will also be represented: ing. Helena Pluháčková will talk about the most commonly cultivated medicinal herb in the Czech Republic - the milk thistle. Helena Pluháčková's work at the university focuses on the cultivation of medicinal and aromatic plants and the processing of spices. There will be a tasting of pomace and herbal oil.

At the sumptuous lunch reception, the guests will taste vegetarian specialities by the Prameniště bistro and functional beverages and coffee by the Aromatik barista duo. The interpreting of the programme will be managed by Hana Tisserand, an expert in this area. Petra Ratajc and Ingrid Kleindienst-John will hold their talks in English and will be interpreted into Czech, while the Slovak, respectively Czech, talks by Stanislav Sekretár and Helena Pluháčková will be interpreted into English. The guests will receive practical textbooks with the texts in the original languages and a space for notes.

The conference takes place in the Břetislav Bakala Hall on Žerotínovo náměstí in the centre of Brno and the organisers are planning an all-day programme from 8.30 a.m. to 8.00 p.m.

The registration fee is 1,800 CZK and the first 100 registered will receive a free ticket for the Sunday festival Aromatherapy & Herbs. Registration must be made in advance at the conference website: www.aromaterapieabylinky.cz, which also contains information on the Sunday festival that takes place in the nearby Open Garden (Otevřená zahrada). There will be an aroma-market, lectures, workshops, herb and aroma zones, massage presentation, expert advice from herbalists and aromatherapists and children's programme. The tickets are available at www.smsticket.cz - and last year, they were gone two weeks before the event.

Aromakonference Brno: 15th Sep 2018, Břetislav Bakala Hall, registration: 70 EU

https://www.aromaterapieabylinky.cz/en/ticket/

Festival Aromaterapie & Bylinky: 16th Sep 2018, Otevřená zahrada (Open Garden), entry: 50−900 CZK

https://www.smsticket.cz/vstupenky/13174-festival-aromaterapie-bylinky