RECAPPING SIBEC 2024
PLUS PLANNING YOUR FALL FitFest
This year’s summer 2024 SIBEC Event was on point! One of the best events of this type I’ve ever attended and certainly the best attendance from both Suppliers and Buyers. The location was fantastic, the Langham Huntington Resort, in Pasadena, California. Robert Shannon and his team from SIBEC did a great job organizing and coordinating the event. The logistics and scheduling of this sort of event is no small feat, but they did it flawlessly. These are my main takeaways:
Spent valuable time with colleagues.
There are too many to name them all, but some of my good friends and colleagues that I was able to say “Hi” to and spend time with were: Jeff Skeen (ReEnvision), Christina Cabrera (LaQunita Resort and Spa), Lynne Devaney (Health and Fitness Association), Danny Dulkin (Arch Amenities Group), John Ruyak (Corporate Fitness Works), Jeff Jeran (Power Wellness) and Sheldon McBee (Universal Athletic Club), among others.
One of the evening highlights was when we went to the Rose Bowl and had dinner on the field! Some brave attendees attempted field goals and played ball. Fun stuff.
Learning from the best.
The supplier/product lineup was robust, to say the least. Virtually every product I wanted to get an update on or learn more about attended the event. Some of the highlights for me were:
Final Take-Aways.
As health and wellness professionals, it’s vital that we stay up-to-date with current equipment, products and trends. The SIBEC event does that very thing, and I’ve found it to be invaluable. I learned so much in such a short period of time because we had so many 20-minute “face-to-face” meetings set up for us. I met in person with 25 suppliers. And, then, to be able to sit down for breakfast, lunch and dinner with colleagues and discuss their business and mine was so helpful.
Next year’s event will be in May in Orlando, Florida, and I highly recommend that you attend. I will be!
BONUS: Planning Your Fall FitFest
As health club operators, we all know the Fall is the most challenging time for driving revenue and new membership sales. For this reason, I have learned that we must create energy and events for our clubs to promote to the public and for our members. For this reason, I’ve always organized a Fall FitFest. The purpose of this event is to be the center piece of your external marketing campaign and to also drive referrals and retention.
HWLS specializes in health club ownership and operational consulting. With our multi-faceted approach, we are dedicated to helping health clubs thrive.