If you saw your neighbor’s house on fire, what would you do? Most people would warn their neighbor, and then help her fight the fire, even if bad blood existed between the two of you. That’s called being an empathetic and good person. It’s also self preservation. After all, if the fire at her house spreads, it could engulf your house, too.
COVID-19 isn’t a fire, but it is continuing to spread, and its burn is being felt around the globe—and most intimately at your fitness facility and at the facilities of your competitors.
It’s been inspiring to see so many health club operators band together to form state alliances that are talking with local, state and federal policymakers initially about how to safely reopen clubs, but now about how essential clubs are to the health of communities and how to keep clubs open despite an uptick in COVID-19 cases.
Industry organizations are also coming together during this time to better serve you. No better example exists than the fact that UKactive, Europeactive, IHRSA, FIT Summit and Mercado Fitness have all come together to contribute speakers and sessions to the global Future of Fitness virtual event Nov. 16-18, hosted by Club Industry and Sibec, and focused on how to reinvent the fitness industry. (Register here.) These groups are participating in this free virtual event because they know that for the industry to survive this crisis and thrive afterwards, we need to band together to educate the industry about how to move forward in challenging times.
Our conversations with UKActive and Europeactive led to David Stalker, president of Europeactive (and former CEO of UKactive as well as existing CEO of Myzone EMEA), offering the first day keynote, “Power Is Local: Influencing Government Strategies,” at 8 a.m. Eastern U.S. on Nov. 16. It also helped us secure Jennifer Halsall, international retention and member engagement manager for Basic-Fit as well as a board member of Europeactive. She will sit on two panels: “Why a Hybrid Model Is a Must for Your Club’s Survival” and “Ask the Experts about the Fitness Industry’s Future.”
Guille Velez, founder of fitness news site Mercado Fitness, also pulled together top club executives in Europe (Angelo Desidera, owner of Lanciani Il Club; Pedro Ruiz, co-founder of Personal 20 and Vivafit; and Jose Antonio Sevilla, founding partner and general director of AltaFit Gym) to serve on a panel that he will moderate, “European Clubs Offer Insights to Latin America on Challenges from the COVID-19 Pandemic,” which will be conducted in Spanish at 8:55 a.m. Eastern U.S. on Nov. 16. (Note: Desidera is also on the board of Europeactive.)
IHRSA came through in two ways after cancellation of its European Congress due to the COVID-19 spike. Brent Darden, IHRSA interim CEO, and Alexandra Black Larcom, IHRSA senior manager of health promotion and health policy, will present a session on “The Latest COVID-19 Era Research: Making the Case for the Industry.” In addition, Helen Durkin, IHRSA executive vice president of public affairs, will moderate the session “The Fitness Industry Needs a Political Movement – Impacting U.S. Legislation and Regulations,” at 10:25 am Eastern U.S. on Nov. 18. On that panel is Jennifer LaTourette, vice president of Van Scoyoc Associates, one of the lobbying firms for IHRSA. Also on that panel is Chris Craytor, who is a member of the IHRSA board as well as president and CEO of acac Fitness & Wellness and CEO of Welld Health. Merritt Club COO Mark Miller fills out that panel.
And finally, Ross Campbell, founder and CEO of FIT Summit, helped educate us about the Asian market, securing several speakers for us. He will even moderate the keynote panel at 8 a.m. Eastern U.S. on Nov. 18, “How the Asian Fitness Market Is Innovating and What the Rest of the World Can Learn from It.” His panelists are with some of the top brands in Asia: Ronnie Cai, managing partner and China COO, Orangetheory Fitness; Sean Tan, director, True Group; and Nad Myan, director of growth and innovation, Evolution Wellness.
As Club Industry Director Marty McCallen said: “As a partner to the industry, we’re pleased to be able to provide our community with ideas and strategies that will help them thrive during this turbulent time.”
And we are pleased that so many fitness organizations around the globe are a part of this free virtual event, made even better by their participation.
Register for the event now by going here. Even if you can’t attend all sessions live, by registering now, you will get access to the on-demand versions of each session.