Last year at IHRSA (International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association) annual event, I partnered with one of the most exciting groups in our industry! I want to share with you about the Industry Leadership Council. My friend Meredith Poppler can help you learn more if you would like to join us! The picture below is of Meredith and I last year right after I joined this exciting group of people in the fitness industry.

Here are my top three reasons for being a part of the ILC.

The ILC Experience offers up an opportunity to be involved on a very granular level and participate in events you might not otherwise be able to attend. A few highlights I am looking forward to is time with the keynote speakers and networking in a more intimate environment. The trade show floor can be so busy and bustling that it can be difficult to really connect with your industry peers. The ILC experience offers up a more intimate environment to connect and meet new people.

Secondly, but not more importantly is the causes that the ILC group has taken on, most specifically the PHIT act.

The PHIT Act, which stands for Introduction to Get PHIT Personal Health Investment Today, is federal legislation that would allow any American to use pre-tax accounts like Health Savings Accounts (HSA) and Flexible Savings Accounts (FSA) to pay for qualified fitness expenses. Currently, the IRS code only allows these accounts to be utilized for medical expenses.

Why is PHIT Important? "64% of American adults and 34% of American children suffer from overweight, obesity, and physical inactivity. These rising rates of obesity and Americans’ proclivity for inactivity are resulting in double digit annual increases in healthcare costs to the government and business". -http://www.ihrsa.org/phit

Another reason that the ILC group is so wonderful to be a part of is it can help you to identify a path around being at the show and what could be valuable as a professional in attendance. Conference and trade show settings can be so daunting if you are not sure how to best use your time, you can end up not having a clear direction and wasting your time wandering about. The ILC group offers a "path" providing an experiences like none other. Intimate roundtables with the keynote speakers and meetings keeping you informed about pressing industry news. They can also point you to some of the best education sessions to attend like my friend and colleague Bryan O'Rourke 's session, he will be presenting Thursday at 3:30pm, Poised for Expansion: The Future of the Industry - 300% Globally in 10 Years?, Room 403-B LACC, I hope to see you there!

What an exciting time to be a part of our industry, see you next week at IHRSA!

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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

Upon returning home from IHRSA each year I take time to reflect on the trip and capture the most meaningful take away's to share with you.  This year the event was in San Diego, such a great place to hold the event, you can't beat the sunshine and coastal breeze! not to mention yummy fish tacos that are walking distance from the convention center!  

Two of my favorite speakers this year were Mrs Sally Hogeshead and Mr Bryan O'Rourke. 

Mrs Sally Hogesead delivered a compelling talk about fascinating your listener in 9 seconds or less. She engaged the audience with many different suggestions to better enhance the delivery of who you are as an individual. 

Mr Bryan O'Rourke spoke on the impact of mobile technology on the fitness industry and how important it is to have a mobile ready website and apps to improve the member experience. For more information on his presentation, click here. 

And of course, the trade show! what a lovely show it was this year.  I always enjoy the buzz of the trade show, so many club owners and operators making impactful decisions on their equipment and programming options for the year.  You will see some pictures below of the event!

Be sure to share your IHRSA 2014 thoughts with me if you desire! 

cheers,

Lindsey 

Tradeshow floor, showing several equipment providers booths.

Ms. Sarah and Myself at the Les Mills booth

Mrs Rebecca Cofod and myself

Your's Truly :)

IHRSA2013

It is that time of year Fitness professionals! IHRSA 2013 is two short weeks away, will I see you there?

Let's connect at IHRSA 2013 

A few highlights I wanted to share with you, and also extend an invitation to connect.  I will be meeting with many fitness professionals in the south central region seeking gorup fitness solutions within their health and fitness environments.  If you would like to meet with me, message me here, and we will make a point to connect.

I am thrilled to share that this year, IHRSA has supported those of us attending with a smart phone APP! that's right, all of your appointments, education sessions, booth locations, etc, are all available on your smart phone. Fantastic, right?! Here is the LINK if you would like to utilize this resource.

IHRSA 2013 APP

Second, my friend Bryan K. O'Rourke will be delivering content you DO NOT want to miss! click here for more information on the panel Bryan will be a speaking on and get all of the content from industry leaders.  Also, he will be presenting Thursday at 1:30pm specifically on Trends Transforming the Health and Fitness industry, click here to see more info. 

IHRSA 2013 - Las Vegas - Trends Impacting The Health Club Business from Bryan O'Rourke Business Leader In Fitness, Wellness & Technology

And last but not least, Booth #825 - Less Mills - please stop by and say hello! The whole Fitmarc Team will be at the event.  To speak specifically with me about how I can help you with your group fitness solutions, message me here.  

Fitmarc, Les Mills South Central

Looking forward to meeting you!

-Lindsey Rainwater

Today, we are going to continue the discussion I started last week with: First Impressions - From the Front Desk.

Last month at IHRSA, Travis Wood , VP of operations for Sky Fitness and Wellbeing of Tulsa OK, delivered a wonderful lecture highlighting his take on customer service within the Fitness Center environment.  I have asked him to join this conversation regarding the front desk position; here are his thoughts:Travis Wood, VP of Ops. w Sky Fitness and Wellbeing

“In the fitness industry, I find it ironic that the position that we say can be the most valuable is also the position we put the least amount of emphasis in to the hiring process.  Think about this.  If you want to hire a trainer you look at certifications and experience.  You want to hire a childcare worker then you might submit a background check.   But if you want to hire a front desk worker, often the main question is “Can you work these shifts?”

I have to admit that I’ve been guilty of this numerous times and sometimes I’ve been burnt because of it.  While I still don’t think there is a full proof method, we’ve started a new approach that is allowing us to find the right people at a much higher rate.

Before you can find the right person, you have to outline what you are looking for.  For us, we’ve narrowed it down to three discernible criteria:

1.     Connector.  We are looking for someone who is engaging, an extrovert, and genuinely likeable.

2.     Regulator.   We want someone who can enforce the rules without being uneasy or off-putting.

3.     Contributor. We look for someone who is willing to help make a good thing better.

Once you outline what you are looking for, you have to create a way to identify that person when you see them.  The following are some examples of how we weed out prospects:

• Group Interview.  We try to put a group in a room for a first interview.  It is usually led by the desk manager and the questions are meant to be open-ended.  While the applicants may be stressing over WHAT they are saying, we are actually spending very little time with that aspect.  What we want to know is WHO is answering.  We want the person that is willing to speak out when the pressure is on. 
• Ask them a question that isn’t black or white.  After the group interview, the ones we’ve identified as prospects get a second interview.  This is where we start to press them a little bit.  What I’m looking for here is their ability to deliver when the pressure is on.  A potential role-play question?  “After all of the membership team has gone home, a good, active member brings in a guest who is underage.  Tell them no. Go”.  We judge on their presentation, their ability to communicate clearly, and their body language. 
• Finally, we ask the candidate a few “company line” questions to get a feel for their ability to mesh with what we are trying to do.  Things like, “from a member’s eyes, what do you think is the most important aspect of the desk?” or “what would you look for in a health club?”  Our goal here is to get them to speak their mind and not what they think we want to hear.

Front desk, Sky Fitness and Wellbeing

I think so much time and effort is spent trying to train the wrong people in our industry.  Take a good look at your desk and ask yourself a simple question, 'If I were starting a health club tomorrow, would I want the person I have?'” 

Travis has really developed a tested and true system for on boarding talent within his environment!

Thank you so much, Travis for sharing your wisdom with us.  

Please share with me, Lindsey Rainwater your thoughts on this topic, hiring and recruiting for your front desk!