Another IHRSA Annual Conference and Trade show has come to a close and it was by far one of the best show's I have ever attended!

Two weeks ago I shared with you about what I was looking forward to regarding the show and the ILC experience being my number one driver around my anticipation of the show.   I will tell you, the ILC experience was by far one of the best investments I have ever made!  If you have not looked into this lovely opportunity, I would highly recommend it.  Not only is it an elevated way of attending the show, having access to the keynote speakers but also having a quiet place to sit in the ILC lounge was a huge plus as well.  Especially being 5 months pregnant, having a meeting place to sit for a few minutes and then re-join the show, was a fabulous bonus!  

The trade show floor was buzzing, the energy as always is so high and positive and the education sessions were so very insightful.  I really enjoyed the Women's Leaderships Summit event, both empowering and inspiring with female leaders from all over the globe.  Another highlight was that my friend Bryan O'Rourke was welcomed to the IHRSA Board of Directors, a very exciting accomplishment for him,  IHRSA is lucky to have him.  An event I have now come to look forward to is the annual Augie's Quest Bash to defeat ALS, and this year was beyond exciting where over 3 million dollars was raised at the event to apply towards research to find a cure!  Two and a half years ago my father passed away from ALS and being able to put my energy towards this important cuase means a great deal to me. 

Outside of all the other excitment that came with this year, I am beyond grateful that I was recognized as a IHRSA Rising Star and was able to share in this video.  Please check out the video and share if you'd like. 

As always IHRSA is such an enjoyable event, seeing people that you only get to see once a year is such a pleasure!  

What about you? What are some of your favorite IHRSA moments this year? Please do share, I would love to hear what the show meant to you! 

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Lindsey Rainwater, also known as Lindsey RainH2O, is a sought-after business consultant, leadership coach, writer and presenter to the fitness and wellness industry. For more information about Rainwater, follow her on Twitter@LindseyRainH2O

IHRSA 2015 was certainly one for the books!  What a show! new friends, amazing new technology driven initiatives and amazing education sessions! 

I have many favorite highlights to mention and I want to keep it simple! so here are my top 4 favorite moments of IHRSA 2015. 

1. The Fitness Technology (Fit-C) Meeting. 

Wow!  

Success through collaboration, the room was buzzing with engineers, manufacturers and many other executives that are very interested in moving the needle on technology driven initiatives impacting the fitness industry. 

This particular group is definitely one to watch! they are making huge waves and I look forward to whats to come!  

2.  Education Sessions! 

 Bryan O'Rourke , Rasmus Ingerslev and  Mel Tempest just to name a few had absolutely incredible content to offer! Click on each of their above names to learn more about their individual roles in our industry.

Bryan is very diligent about making sure he provides relevant and purposeful content in his messages.  For more info on this session in particular click here. 

3. The Tradeshow! 

My goodness! what a show, from shiny treadmills to new technology embedded right into the equipment, there were many exciting things to see! 

4. All of My Favorite Fitness Friends! 

I had so much fun walking the tradeshow floor and meeting and greeting with all of my fellow industry friends. I was able to reconnect with folks I have not seen in a while and also meet friends in person that I have been connected with virtually for years.  

Pictured above: Kelley Sweeney, Drew Surprenant,  Josh Trent, Sarah Pellagrino, Ingrid Owen, Robert Dyer, Harry Reo 

Thank you for reading my recap! Looking forward to IHRSA 2016 in Orlando Florida!

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Lindsey Rainwater is an experienced consultant and coach  to the fitness and wellness industry.  She specializes in business development and leadership. Currently she is working with the Fitmarc Team helping Health Club owners all over the south central region of the united states propel their business forward via group exercise solutions.  For more information about Lindsey, follow her @lindseyrainh2o

My Top 4 Reasons to be at IHRSA 2015

1. Amazing Education Sessions, like these two! 

 Two education sessions that I am especially looking forward to are Mr. Bryan O'Rourke's sessions on Thursday and Friday!  Seeing that my favorite topic is technology merged with fitness trends, you can imagine why the two below sessions are top of my list!  

Click the picture below to get more information about the sessions.   

Click here to register for this session 

Click here to register for this session

2. Key Note Speakers like, Arianna Huffington!

Read more here 

As an avid Blog reader, when I found out Arianna would be joining us this year I was beyond excited! Her thoughts on Success Redefined positions itself perfectly within the Fitness Industry and rally's a cry for participation! 

“Earlier in my career, I operated under the common delusion that burning out was the necessary price one paid for accomplishment and success. However, recent scientific findings have made it clear that this couldn’t be Less true. In fact, performance actually improves when our lives include time for renewal, wisdom, wonder and giving. ”

— Arianna Huffington

3. One Word. Tradeshow. 

4. People, of course People!

My favorite reason to go to IHRSA is to see all my fitness friends in one place at one time!

Will I see you there? 

Message me Here so we can meet in person! 

cheers!

Lindsey

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Lindsey Rainwater is an experienced consultant and coach  to the fitness and wellness industry.  She specializes in business development and leadership. Currently she is working with the Fitmarc Team helping club owners all over the south central region of the united states propel their business forward via group exercise solutions.  For more information about lindsey, follow her @lindseyrainh2o

Pretend with me for a moment that you are a person that just joined a health club to start working towards your fitness goals in the new year.  You purchased a wearable fitness device, you are tracking  daily nutrition and activity.  Now, you walk up to the elliptical, select an option and start moving.  Then a disconnect occurs, the machine is reporting to you what is happening on the monitor and so is the wearable on your wrist, the activity is being tracked twice, but not syncing. You begin to wonder why?

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At the center of what I am discussing is connectivity ability.  Consumers are purchasing wearable devices and measuring their daily activity while exercising at health clubs and at this point the consumer is not able to easily connect or sync their device with equipment in the gym.  

This presents a large gap in our industry and consumer understanding.  The places to go exercise are not connecting technologically to what the consumer is using to track their activites.  What an incredible opportunity!  to create apps and systems within fitness equipment that starts to connect actual workouts with tracking systems.

I am not the only one thinking about this dilemma.  Thought leaders at the Fitness Technology Council (Fit-C) are working hard to develop and promote technology standards for fitness equipment.  You can team up with them by joining their council.  

In an era where Quantified Self  is becoming a highly used term, the internet of things is driving consumers activity.  The Fitness industry has room to respond with connected equipment and more technology centered functions to meet the consumers needs.  

If you are interested in purchasing a wearable device it is becoming easier to decide which one to go with.  The Warby Parker Style try on system  for wearables, Lumoid gives you the ability to check out each product individually to see which one fits your fancy! 

It is very exciting to be a part of the ever expanding fitness industry, wearables and connectivity is a large opportunity and one I look forward to seeing traction in the coming months and years. 

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Lindsey Rainwater is an experienced consultant and coach  to the fitness and wellness industry.  She specializes in business development and leadership. Currently she is working with the Fitmarc Team helping club owners all over the south central region of the united states propel their business forward via group exercise solutions.  For more information about lindsey, follow her @lindseyrainh2o