Sprinting into 2012

Well, our Olympic year is finally here. And whilst it we may only be three weeks in to January, it’s all systems go at the FIA, where we already have lots to look forward to over the coming months.

Amid the predictable media flurry of January fitness fad stories, the FIA has sprinted into the new year, with the nationwide launch of a health and wellbeing programme with a difference.

A fantastic corporate partnership kicked off this month between the FIA’s Shift into Sports programme and the UK’s largest entertainment and communications company, Sky - a partnership that delivers a newly engaged audience to health and fitness operators across the country. 

We launched Shift into Sports in 2010, in partnership with Sport England, the Mayor of London, Addison Lee and our technology partner Haulmont. The programme offers sport and fitness activities supplied by FIA members, at reduced cost and off-peak hours to suit shift workers. The involvement of Sky now takes this nationwide – rolling the programme out to nearly 17,000 Sky employees.

It really is a win—win situation for all: employees can access brilliant fitness deals which fit around their shifts; their company benefits from happy, healthy and productive employees as a result and FIA members gain the opportunity to increase their footfall during off-peak hours.

Partnerships such as this will be key to the work of the FIA and our industry over the coming year, as all eyes turn to the UK to see whether we can deliver on ambitious Olympic legacy targets. Watch this space for announcements about future projects and partnerships which will mean we can rise to the challenge.

This month we also announced the dates and venues for the FIA’s annual Flame Conference, which will take place on 27th June. Any previous Flame Conference delegate will tell you – this is an event not to be missed! This year Flame is coming to Sheffield – where the magnificent Magna Centre will host the main conference. Of course, there is also the FIA Golf Day on 26th June (start practising that swing now!) and the Ball of Fire – I am already looking forward to being on stage to announce the winners of this year’s Flame Awards.

Finally, as the now world-renowned and instantly iconic London 2012 brand takes over the UK as the Olympics hots up, the FIA’s rebrand exercise will be in full swing, as we look to better position ourselves for what the physical activity sector can achieve in 2012 and beyond.

I hope you will follow myself and guest bloggers from the FIA team over the next 12 months. You can also join me on Twitter and LinkedIn – remember folks, the future is digital!

Are you the crème de la crème?

There is only a week left to get a 10% early-bird discount on entry to the FIA & Matrix Flame Awards 2012. Have you entered yet?

Established in the 90’s and receiving more and more entries year on year, the longevity and desire to win a Flame award is plain to see. But what is it that makes these the hottest awards in our industry?

Delivered by the FIA for over 15 years, the Fitness, Leadership And Management Excellence (Flame) awards are our crème de la crème industry awards that recognise excellence and best practice within the health and fitness sector.

The strict Flame award criteria and in-depth three stage Flame assessment process offers clubs and centres a rigorous independent business assessment to help benchmark their facility and honour the people who make such a profound contribution to their communities and organisation.

The assessment process may be tough going but this gives the Flame awards their credibility and therefore any club or facility who succeeds in getting a Flame award knows that they are delivering the best quality service in their category.

The 2012 FIA and Matrix Flame process encompasses; stage one qualifying information through an online entry form and participation in a Net Promoter Score (NPS) survey, stage two, the formal assessment through an onsite visit by an independent auditor, Leisure-net Solutions in partnership with Right Directions and stage three a customer satisfaction survey. The winners are announced in front of a large audience of over 800 industry peers at the prestigious Ball of Fire at the Flame Conference in the summer.

You may have seen that earlier this year the Health Club Awards, run by HCM and the National Fitness Awards, run by Workout magazine were launched. These are consumer awards voted by members, which are valid in their own right but do not follow the in-depth and diverse Flame award assessment process. 

To enter or to find out more about Flame, visit www.fia.org.uk

Together we can build an Olympic health legacy

I am still on a high following the great success of the FIA & IMSPA Industry Summit: Winning in 2012 and Beyond, which was held at the Congress Centre in central London this week.

Over 350 delegates from 241 organisations came to discuss, debate and network with their industry peers, and I am happy to say that the venue was buzzing throughout, as we engaged on the subject of working together as an industry to create a health legacy post 2012 Games.

As I mentioned in my previous blog, we were lucky enough to be joined by a great selection of high-profile guest speakers from the worlds of sport, fitness, politics, medicine and economics.

Highlights of the day included the brilliant John Inverdale, who expertly hosted proceedings, an announcement from the Public Health Minister Anne Milton about the Government’s national ambition for physical activity, and a fascinating talk from the Chief Medical Officer for the Olympics and Paralympics  Dr Richard Budgett, who provided an insight into looking after our athletes as well as our nation’s health during and after the Games.

Also, for the first time at an FIA event we had a Tweet Wall, which was a tremendous hit. Over 200 Tweets were sent in the run up to and during the event with the hash tag #LegacyReady. I hope that you will continue to keep in touch with me and the FIA team using #FIA and #LegacyReady to tell us how you are preparing for 2012.

The theme of partnership was highlighted by all of the speakers, and I look forward to the FIA collaborating with new partners in both the public and private sectors in the New Year. The next twelve months really will be key for establishing priority status for our sector on the political agenda, and we must all work together to achieve this.

With 40 million adults in the UK still not taking part in just one 30 minute session of exercise each week, we really do have our work cut out; but I am game for the challenge, and I hope that you are to.

The feedback on the Summit from those who attended has been extremely positive, and we look forward to welcoming this year’s delegates and plenty of new ones as well to our next Summit and other key events in 2012.

Be part of the health legacy – join us at the Industry Summit

Did you know that ever since the modern Olympics started in 1896 there has never been a health legacy? Maybe not so surprising during the 1800’s/ early 1900s but nothing within my lifetime? Nothing from Beijing, Athens, Barcelona or Sydney? I find this most surprising, but also am itching to change it - to change history and make the UK the first country to host the Games to be health legacy ready. 

This is why, in partnership with IMSPA, we are running the Industry Summit “Winning in 2012 and Beyond”, which will showcase how, by working together, the UK health and fitness sector will do what has never been attempted in the past and create an active nation post Games. And, although I don’t like to name drop, with the list of high profile speakers already attending, the summit is an opportunity you cannot afford to miss.

Ok, so I lied…surely the odd name drop can’t hurt, so to name a few, guest speakers include;

Rt. Hon. Anne Milton MP - Public Health Minister
Rt Hon Tessa Jowell MP - Shadow Olympics Minister
Richard Lewis - Chair of Sport England
Miles Templeman - Chair of the Institute for the Management of Sport and Physical Activity
Dr. Richard Budgett OBE, Chief Medical Officer for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Not to mention that the event will be hosted by TV and radio sports broadcaster John Inverdale - you must have seen him on the telly while enjoying a rugby match or two. 

In summary, everyone who is serious about their own 2012 strategy and a sustainable health legacy for the nation should attend. So I look forward to seeing you on the 29th November at the London Congress Centre to tap into the knowledge and expertise of our speakers and drive the health of the nation. So what are you waiting for - book today

FIA at LIW 2011

This year’s LIW was abuzz with activity and camped at the heart of hall 19 was the FIA team.

At times, the was a sanctuary of calm for members to meet, and at times members and non-members were clambering over each other to reach us… or was that the bar at the drinks reception? Whatever your reason for coming over it was great to see so many familiar faces and some new ones interested in becoming FIA members!

As hinted in my last blog, I opened the show, (although it may have been stolen by Wenlock and Mandeville) with the launch of ‘Our Greatest Team' - the Industry's new Olympic & Paralympic Initiative.

I truly believe that since this is the only time, in our lifetime, that the Olympics and Paralympics will visit our shores, the impact on our country, our economy and our industry will be phenomenal. ‘Our Greatest Team’ has the potential to be the landmark industry initiative which will propel us into the hearts and minds of every consumer’s health and wellbeing consciousness. So what are you waiting for…pre-register now to be part of the movement.

Of course the Games are not the only exciting event happening next year – launched at LIW, the 2012 FIA & Matrix Flame awards are now open and with some new categories thrown into the mix, we look forward to even more, and an even better level of entries. 

Across the three days, the LIW seminar programme and range of Q&A sessions provided thought provoking discussions. CMO John Searle continued to ‘infect’ us with the benefits of physical activity in the prevention and management of diseases and it was great to hear that the industry is really benefiting from our Code of Practice with examples from across the sector.

We hope your time with us at LIW answered your questions and you can now go away, enthused to get more people, more active, more often throughout the autumn. Remember we are never more than a click or phone call away so visit us online or contact the team.

Get Set Go for LIW 2011

- David Stalker -

Tuesday – Thursday next week sees the return of the biggest annual event in our sector – Leisure Industry Week 2011. Based at the NEC, LIW is a fantastic opportunity to catch up with new ideas, suppliers and the wit and wisdom from those in the know… myself included!

This year, my keynote speech will focus on a major industry opportunity…clue: it might have something to do with the greatest sporting event in history. The other exciting news is the integration of Quest and our Code of Practice, as well as updates on industry wide initiatives such as Shift into Sport (a Workplace Activity programme), Data and Consumer Insights and the skills agenda.

This year’s seminar theme is "Exercise is Medicine Too!” and I’m pleased to welcome the industry's leading experts - including Prof. Alfonso Jimenez, Ben Jones and our very own CMO John Searle. The agenda: the role of physical activity as a routine part of the prevention and management of diseases.

The sequel to last year’s successful IOU seminars and, based on the feedback received, will be an even bigger and better programme for FIA IOU members. The wide ranging seminar programme, which reflects your interests/requests, will help you enhance your business offer.

Finally, the epicentre of the show must be the FIA Industry Lounge, staffed by our team trained to provide you with all the answers to everything related to physical activity, the 2012 Flame launch, Shift into Sports and best practice – if they don’t have the answer, then they’ll know the person who does. Tim Waller, from Right Direction will also be hand to answer any questions around Quest & the Code of Practise.

So please pop over and see us, in the centre of the Fitness Hall (Hall 19)…..and, pre-register to enjoy the FIA drinks reception with a glass of wine (or two) and a touch of jazz.

If you think ‘..there’s so much to do and see and not enough time to do it all…’ don’t worry, check out the new free smartphone app…. developed specifically to help you get the most out of your LIW.

For more info on all the FIA events visit our website, or ask the FIA team or myself

We‘re all looking forward to seeing you.

My plans to prove Exercise is Medicine at LIW

- John Searle -  

As anyone who has read my blog before will know that in my role as Chief Medical Officer I work to bridge the gap between the fitness sector and medical profession and ultimately establish exercise as part of the routine prevention and management of chronic disease.

I am pleased that we are making progress with both of these aims, however it is important that we take time out to remind our members and the wider physical activity sector of what every club can do in their own local community to work with the health service…………….and what better place to talk to the industry than LIW?

This is why I will be working with Prof. Alfonso Jimenez and Ben Jones to deliver the FIA’s “Exercise is Medicine” seminar! The seminar has not come about by chance rather we have carefully selected our topics and speakers based on what the sector needs to do in order to move forward. From when I first took the role as Chief Medical Officer and even when I first trained as an exercise professional it seemed clear that there were three areas (at least) where we needed to concentrate our efforts:

·         The role of exercise (and the fitness sector) in the prevention of disease

·         The delivery of exercise in the management of chronic disease

·         How to adapt our programmes & professionals to work with patients

Alfonso will kick the seminar off and will answer the first question with some in disputable evidence. Since the 19^th century we have known about how exercise is essential to maintaining a healthy lifestyle  and this has been proven in a number of peer reviewed journals, however there is little on how the fitness sector is effective in delivery it. In short during the journey from the laboratory to the gym floor we seem to lose our evidence base and then struggle to convince commissioners of our ability to create long term physical activity change. Alfonso, will explain how the work of the newly created FIA Research Institute with the University of Greenwich is set up to change the evidence base, and how operators can get involved.

I will follow Alfonso (no easy task), and will discuss an issue I am very familiar with – the delivery of exercise in the management of chronic disease. For the last 10 years I have used a structured exercise programme to help manage my own Rheumatoid Arthritis, and I have also delivered exercise for my own patients with chronic disease, and most recently I have chaired a group with the medical community, the Joint Consultative Forum, attempting to develop National Standards for Exercise Referral.

This leads nicely into the final presentation to be delivered by Ben Jones. I first met Ben when he delivered my training to become a personal trainer many years ago, and he has been involved in writing training programmes to enable professionals to work with patients ever since. Ben is a founding member of the Joint Consultative Forum and will explain how professionals must change their communication, planning, and programmes when working patients. Patients expect a different service to the traditional gym user so we need to deliver one, and Ben will tell us how.

Lastly, we will all be on trial as Technogym will conduct a panel session and get things started with a few case studies showing what the fitness sector can do!

I hope to see you at 2pm on Tuesday 20^th, so we can review the progress made and more importantly plan for the future.

If you any questions regarding the details of the event please visit http://www.liw.co.uk/education