IHRSA 2019 Thoughts from Jono Petrohilos
Hi! For those of you that haven’t met me, my name is Jono and I’m the co director at Fitness Education Online. We are an educational organization that provides professional development (CEC) courses for Personal Trainers.
I recently attended the 2019 IHRSA convention in San Diego. As IHRSA is well known as being the ‘premier convention’ in the Fitness Industry for gym / studio owners, I wanted to check it out and see what I could learn.
My viewpoint may be a little different to most others at the event as I don’t currently own / manage or even work in a gym / studio. However ALL of my clients, customers and prospects do, so I want to make sure I’m plugged into what’s going on.
Here’s my take on the event.
What was your IHRSA 2019 highlight – from an education perspective?
The highlight was definitely getting to see my good friend and the leader of the Fitness Business world in Australia – Justin “JT” Tamsett!
Along with that, the highlight for me was seeing how many different ways there are to add revenue to a fitness facility aside from the standard “gym membership” and “personal training”.
What are 3 Golden Nuggets you are leaving with?
- Using online personal training as additional revenue.
90% of gym members won’t take up Personal Training. Not because they don’t want it, but because it’s too expensive. Online Personal Training (which usually costs somewhere between $50-$150 per month) is a way to target the 90% of gym users who don’t do Personal Training.
A Trainer at the gym could prescribe a program for a member to do at the gym (using the gyms equipment) and then use Online Personal Training software (such as Trainerize) to keep track of the client and keep them accountable.
This means that online Personal Training can generate more income for the club, the trainer and provide the member with an enhanced experience at the club.
- Using “obstacle course training” as additional revenue.
Obstacle courses are a ‘thing’ that many casual gym exercisers want to attempt. If they don’t have a circle of friends that are also into doing something similar, they will probably never do it.
If a gym / studio / facility / bootcamp can put a team together and provide the training
- It will lead to additional revenue for the gym
- It will lead to additional revenue for the personal trainer running the program
- It will give these members an enhanced experience at the club
- You need to be “in it to win it”
I’m attending every IHRSA convention for the rest of my life, just for the people I meet and interact with. I’ve been on the “fitness convention” circuit for a few years now, so there’s quite a few people at these conventions that I’ve met “once or twice”, I was able to further these connection along with meeting some new people in the industry.
Just a few opportunities that arose from attending the convention
- JT asked me to be a guest blogger
- I met the individual who’s in charge of the Personal Trainer education at Goodlife (one of the biggest chains in Australia) and we are going to collaborate
- I met the CEO and COO of Trainerize, one of the leaders in online personal training software and we are going to collaborate
The only reason, I got these opportunities is because I attended the event and was “in it to win it”. Even if I didn’t learn anything from the presentations (which I did), just those three things above would have been worth the money and time investment for me!
Why should someone attend IHRSA2020?
If you’re in the fitness business industry, I can’t think of a reason why you shouldn’t attend?
Unless you’re not looking to run a more successful fitness business.
There’s no possible way that you’re not going to make a return on your investment (both time and money). All it takes is one idea or meeting one person and the convention is worth it.
And if all you get is ONE idea from the convention, then you’ve probably spent more time at the parties then you have at the convention (which is also fine :-p) because if you attend every session, you’re going to get a lot more than ONE idea!
I also believe the further away you live from San Diego the better. You may not feel comfortable talking business with the gym owner down the road from you as they could be your competition… but a gym owner on the other side of the world to you… there is zero chance of them stealing your clientele!
Feel free to follow Jono on social media:
Instagram: @jono_petrohilos
FB Group: www.facebook.com/groups/fitnesseducationonlinecommunity
Website: www.fitnesseducationonline.com.au
Read other insights from the IHRSA 2019 Blogs Read the insights from the IHRSA 2018 Blogs
Jono is the co founder and director at Fitness Education Online, an organization which specialises in providing professional development for Personal Trainers in the Bootcamp, Functional Training and Social Media space. Jono is a qualified Exercise Physiologist, published author (The Bootcamp Blueprint) and the host of the successful podcast “The Bootcamp Blueprint” and most importantly one of the biggest Game of Thrones fans in the world!