A
delegation of FIA staff and myself travelled up to the Birmingham NEC last week
for three packed days of everything health and leisure: LIW
2012 – the biggest
annual trade show for our sector.
And once
again, the show didn’t disappoint this year – it is great to see how members
continue to innovate and develop solutions to gaps in the market, with
suppliers showcasing some amazing pieces of new kit, including a personal
favourite opposite us on the Life
Fitness stand – the
Synrgy360 which ran a demo loop to keep us
entertained.
A big thank
you as always to the LIW team who did such a great job on creating our excellent
FIA stand – a hub in the middle of all the activity, showcasing the FIA’s
achievements and current projects.
It was great to see so many members visiting our stand to find out more about the FIA, to hold meetings or just grab a seat (and a drink – kindly provided by VitaCoco and UltraBody) and relax for five minutes.
My personal
highlights included having the opportunity again to give a keynote, which
showcased the FIA’s passion and drive for delivering on an Olympic and
Paralympic physical activity legacy;
seeing some of our brilliant Team GB athletes at the show including the
UK’s most successful gymnast Beth Tweddle, rower Greg Searle and the
inspirational weightlifter Zoe Smith (who I made sure I had my pic taken with); and our drinks
reception (sponsored by Life Fitness) on Wednesday night, which I think
personally was the best yet, with a great atmosphere and band, and a successful
raffle for our chosen charity, the Matt
Hampson Foundation (see below for the winners).
The IOU seminars in the education village were also a huge success, covering a
wide range of relevant topics. But the best thing about LIW is always for me
and the team to meet our members in person – thank you to everyone who took the
time to come and visit our stand.
The FIA
stand was a hive of activity throughout the three days, hosting an afternoon
tea sponsored by TRX, a lunch for Sporta members, a speed networking session
and a dinner and lunch for the leaders in health and fitness hosted buyers’
programme.
We also
launched the process for the Flame Awards 2013 at LIW, kicking off with a series
of popular seminars presented by myself, David Monkhouse and Mike Hill on what
Flame is, how to enter and how to stand the best chance of success. Following
on from the success of this year’s awards, we are encouraging operators from
across the sector to enter, no matter what their size or business model.
Going back
to my keynote speech, I spoke about how together we can achieve more and work
towards an ambitious aim of making the UK the most active nation in the world. This is not the
FIA's legacy to deliver but the sectors. The FIA is the facilitator, creating
partnerships and pathways to help deliver more people, more active, more often.
This was reflected in our recent rebrand consultation, which returned an
overwhelming ‘yes’ to our keeping this as our mission. I know many of you are
very eager to find out more about our new name and brand identity, but you will
have to wait until the big reveal at the
Summit in November.
At such a
busy time for all of us working in this sector, it is so rare to be able to
have the opportunity to socialise and network in an informal atmosphere. The
next time we will see all our members together again now will be at our Summit in
November – have you booked yet? The 300 or so of you who came
along to the Summit when it re-launched last year will know what an interesting
and thought-provoking event it was, and this year we have set ourselves a
target of exceeding those expectations with our line-up of high profile
speakers. Don’t miss out on being there – if you are an FIA member and you book before 25th October you
can also take advantage of an early-bird booking discount. Look out for guest
blog posts from some of our speakers, coming soon.
And
finally, if the LIW piqued your interest in education and professional development,
you can now book for the FIA’s upcoming seminar series on accessing funding and also watch
out for our upcoming webinar series– a new membership benefit for FIA members
covering topics as wide as retention,
social media, music licensing and public health structures. Whether you are an
independent operator, manager of a single site or a PT, we will have something
for you. Keep up-to-date one what is really going on in the sector.
I look
forward to seeing you at one of our upcoming events soon; if there were any
questions left unanswered at LIW we are only a click or a phone call away – please do
keep in touch.
LIW FIA
raffle winners:
Congratulations
to all our winners and thank you to the company’s who generously donated the
prizes.
Matt
Hampson Rugby Ball (MHF) – won by Juma Abdullahi
Book –
Engage – The rise and fall of Matt Hampson’ (NHF) – won by Duncan McSporran
Lifecycle
GX Bike (Life Fitness) – won by Patricia Carswell
Three courses/workshops
from Lifetime – won by Sharon Clare
TRX
suspension pack – won by Peter Gilpin
5 x ‘London
2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games: The Official Commemorative Book’
(spogo.co.uk) – won by Harry Sanders, Pete Todd, Steve Roberts, Jon Nasta and
Chris Gledhill
Two
conference and ball packages for the Flame Conference 2013 (FIA) – won by Jenny
Wildi
