Our take on this year’s health and fitness shows: Elevate, The Balance Festival, The Allegra Health and Wellness Summit and BodyPower

Last week was a major week for the heath and fitness industry. With several of our favourite annual shows taking place, the Action PR team had to divide and conquer to make our rounds to all of them.  In this post, our team talks about their various experiences and the things they learned during last week’s events.

Allegra Health and Wellbeing Summit

On Friday I was privileged to meet and introduce six amazing speakers as M.C of the Allegra Health and Wellness Summit.  With first class speakers from across the health and wellness industry, we covered the latest research findings, how to attract investment, how to run a socially responsible company and why the future of fitness is highly personalised. The event was absolutely chock-full of insight and if you missed it, make sure you put it in the diary for next year now!

The best piece of advice of the day? Building the right team and creating the right culture is at the heart of building a great brand.  It’s an oldie but a goodie.

Cheryl Hersey, Director

Balance Festival Health and Wellbeing Summit

This was my first year visiting the Allegra Health & Wellness Summit, which was hosted by Balance. As someone who has always been interested by the health and fitness industry but only ever experienced it as a consumer, it was fantastic to have the industry insight this year. The presentation given by Jeffrey Young, the Co-Founder of the Summit was a real highlight for me. He showed data which indicates that, despite the huge growth and staying power of the health and wellness industry, only 17% of the UK’s population enjoy an active lifestyle. This is something I think gives people like us; fitness enthusiasts who enjoy being active, a real drive to encourage, enthuse and educate the rest of the population about why it’s so important to be fit and stay active. Not just for a great body, but also for a healthy mind and personal drive.

Annette Neto, Senior Account Executive

Elevate

‘People don’t want to buy PT’

Elevate is renowned for its impressive speakers and Paul Swainson from Future Fit Training (futurefit.co.uk) didn’t disappoint in his talk about how PTs and operators can drive more profit through PT.  Using characteristic humour and illustrations, Paul walked us through several ‘penny drop’ moments with examples that showed why PTs should sell solutions not time (i.e. stop the ’12 for the price of 10’ offers). ‘People don’t want to buy PT!’ he declared before showing a cute picture of his young son eating an ice cream. When you buy a drill at the DIY store you don’t really want a drill – you want a hole in the wall where you can hammer in a nail to hang the lovely picture that makes you feel good, he explained.  In the same way, people don’t want to buy PT – they want a fitter, healthier body that makes them feel good.  A great point beautifully made.

Katherine Selby, Account Director

EVO Bench Physical Company

At this year’s Elevate, which also coincided with the Elite Sports Performance & Rehabilitation Expo our clients were out in full force.

It was the first time our client Physical Company attended the show as an exhibitor and boy did they enter with a bang, launching their brand-new EVO bench a single-station multi-functional workout bench. What’s great about it is that it can store a whole range equipment including: dumbbells, kettlebells, a slam ball, battle ropes and resistance tubing. The perfect space saving solution for any boutique or mainstream gym operator!

The show was a great chance to network and catch up with some of our lovely media friends including the team at Leisure Media. We met with Steph Eaves and took her around some of our clients stands to show her their latest innovations and we even put her fitness levels to the test by getting her to try out FitQuest!

FitQuest at Elevate

We also heard from our client Duncan Jefford, Regional Director for Everyone Active. He spoke to the industry on how to increase revenue from your pool and gave some interesting insights, for instance did you know that 68% of pool revenue is generated in shallow water! During the session we also heard from Martin Symcox from the RLSS who spoke about some interesting initiatives and ways to generate revenue from deep water. One new exciting initiative which Everyone Active is currently trialling is Fin2Fit. The programme offers young children the chance to learn to swim like a mermaid or a shark through engaging and exciting lessons. I mean, who wouldn’t want to swim like mermaid?!

Ellen Rowles, Account Manager

Elevate Innovation Awards

Action PR were delighted to sponsor the Elevate Innovation Awards this year. Congratulations to everyone shortlisted. I was delighted to present the following winners with their trophies:

  • Best Start up: Smartlife
  • Best Health and Wellness Innovation: Kinetic Insight Pro
  • Best Facility Innovation: ECO-POWR Products
  • Best Workout Innovation: Total Gym Row Trainer
  • Best Innovation for Human Performance: Total Gym Elevate Encompass

Despite the innovation taking place in our industry, Jeffrey at Allegra Strategies revealed that free outdoor activities are the most popular amongst UK Consumers with 52% walking or hiking outdoors once a month and 23% running or jogging. Results showed that cost, unsurprisingly, was the biggest barrier to joining a facility. Maybe Rainer Schaller of McFit has the right idea with The Mirai.

Dawn Tuckwell, Director

BodyPower

I am an active gym goer however have never found my niche sport or discipline. At BodyPower I spent a great deal of time admiring various different athletes and competitors in cross fit, powerlifting, calisthenics and body building/modelling. I was amazed at just what the human body is capable of looking like and how far it can be pushed. I was in awe at each and every person I saw that day and walked away with a new-found motivation and drive to better myself and overall, it was fantastic to spend a day in the company of people passionate about improving themselves.

Rebecca Stevens, Junior Account Executive

BodyPower

The UK’s largest fitness expo is held annually at the NEC, everything is dialled up to 11 and with music blaring, lights strobing and everyone trying to grab your attention, being able to stand out is a hard task. One of the standout products for me was from Cryo Express, a handheld roller that is placed in the freezer and helps to alleviate joint and muscle pain by direct cooling and movement. Much better than a bag of frozen peas, with the frozen roller you can apply rolling pressure and sub-zero temperatures and really feel a difference after using for just a short space of time.

Harry Aitken, Account Executive

The Balance Festival

As a through and through coffee lover who thinks all flavoured teas taste like mildly flavoured hot water, it took a bit of persuading for me to try kombucha, a fermented tea. The latest in health trends, fermented food and drinks offer a whole host of benefits and I am always on the lookout for things which I can enjoy and feel good about doing so. I ended up trying all 4 flavours they had on offer and I am 100% a convert! Balance food hall overall was a fantastic experience and it was inspiring to see so many health and fitness focused companies.

Rebecca Stevens, Junior Account Executive

As Head of Industry, I spend a lot of my time at trade shows. Attending The Balance Festival this year was an interesting change in perspective and it was exciting to see the industry showcasing it’s best-of from a consumer point of view. I attended an interesting talk hosted by Welltodo founder Lauren Armes. She talked to Patrick Drake of Hello Fresh and Damian Soong from Form Nutrition about how to strengthen your ability to be strong in the world. The talk focused on expanding the definition of peak performance and advice on how to overcome adversity and become thoughtful, resourceful leaders. One of the most interesting takeaways for me was Patrick’s advice on how to pursue your career ambitions. Having quit his own job as a lawyer to pursue a passion in cooking, he said his advice is to talk less and do more. People spend a lot of time talking about what they intend to do, vs. actually doing it. He said to stop wasting energy on the talk and just make things a reality. That really stuck with me – great advice regardless of your industry

Miranda Markham, Head of Industry

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