FIA delivering more campaigns

So SIBEC Europe is over for another year and this was the third and busiest I have attended since I began working with the FIA.

Having attended over 20 meetings and made many more contacts it has been incredibly productive to inform both FIA members and those that are not (yet!) of the great work being carried out by the FIA from protecting the industry to delivering more campaigns so we can increase the industries penetration rate.
So what are the next steps?

Well over 500 FIA members are taking part in the Department of Health’s ‘Know Your Limits’ campaign which begins nationally on Monday 16th November. The campaign highlights and educates the general public on the number of units that they consume daily, weekly and how this affects their health. FIA members who have signed up to the campaign have received free collateral packs with information leaflets to use in the clubs and centres as well as t-shirts for staff to wear and educational information they can learn from to deliver to their members.

This to me is a fantastic example of how clubs / centres utilise their membership with the FIA to deliver a Department of Health campaign that works as a retention tool to help add diversity to members programmes and the information they receive. It targets lifestyle changes and position the clubs and centres at the hub of community wellness programmes.

Year 2 of MoreActive4life is also in place to begin January 1st 2010 with the creation of the More Active Health kits from Mend.


The More Active Health kits are a 64 page programme offering 3 exercise and 7 nutritional activities over 6 weeks the general public can engage in their everyday lifestyle. Whether it’s drinking 8 glasses of water or completing 30 minutes of exercise daily the programme is delivered in a way which recognises and promotes behavioural changes.

The More Active Health Kit includes wristbands (I haven’t taken mine off for two weeks and is a great reminder of what I should be doing), key rings, 64 page diary and physical activity wheel. For more information contact Alex Smith.

Delivered over a 6 week period clubs and centres can use the programme to attract new or re-awaken existing members through the change4life branding which research has now shown to have a 90% recall rate.

Richard Blackmore
Sales & Membership Director
Fitness Industry Association

Meeting of minds in Croatia

I must be getting old. I’ve just returned from SIBEC in Croatia and I have added ‘meetings fatigue’ – as opposed to just the ‘traditional’ fatigue usually induced by the inevitable excess which accompanies any industry event to my list of post event ailments.
Twenty meetings in two days is a lot – ask Richard Blackmore who was too ‘fatigued’ .......... but that’s another story.

I met some smart people, some good people, some dreamers and thankfully, no time wasters. But there was one meeting which really excited me, not only because the guys were interesting and had a clear idea of what they wanted and how ‘it would work’, but because the outcome will be a significant milestone for our industry.

The meeting was with Craig McAteer, Chairman of SPORTA (the trade body for the leisure trusts and social enterprises in the culture and leisure sectors) and Ian Kendall another SPORTA executive. True Blaine Dodds sits on the FIA Board and passionately represents the views of the Trusts however, this was probably the first time our two organisations have sat round a table and focused entirely on how we could work together to grow the industry’s market share and consolidate our ‘public health delivery partner’ status.

To give this meeting context Blaine, as part of the FIA Board, focuses on a wide spectrum of issues – from Governance and strategic issues, to financial accountability. However, the last time our two organisations sat around the table and brainstormed more tactical delivery plans was probably when someone at the FIA thought that we needed a SPORTA representative on the Board. That was before Change4Life redefined our industry’s relationship with Government and before there was greater acknowledgement of the role of our industry in the minds and strategies of those responsible for ‘disease prevention’.

Its early days yet but I am really excited by the thought of SPORTA and the FIA really turning our individual talents into a highly effective collective campaign and helping both sets of members achieve their own corporate goals whilst beginning a new era for both our organisations and our industry, just listening to Craig and Ian gave me a great insight on how much we can all learn from there success in delivering quantifiable positive health changes to the heart of communities.

That, I’m afraid is another sign of age ...... being excited about two trade bodies working together.

Is there no hope for me!

David Stalker
COO
Fitness Industry Association