The Future Health Club Industry - Club Industry 2012 Roundtable

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It was an honor to have three important health club industry leaders agree to participate in the Club Industry 2012 roundtable: The Influence of Technology - A Glimpse at Tomorrow's Health Club . As shown above (from left to right), Kevin Laferriere CEO of FitPro, Chuck Runyon CEO of Anytime Fitness and Graham Melstrand VP at ACE, contributed to a standing room only crowd as they addressed 9 key questions about technology and the future of health clubs. Both FitPro and ACE are founding members of the Fitness Industry Technology Council as well.

There were many interesting and compelling responses to the 9 questions I presented to the panel  for their views. You can see a complete recap of the content with videos and a synopsis of the presentation and answers here (its embedded down below as well).

Let me know what you think about the presentation and content. I want to thank the leaders of Club Industry for including this important topic in the 2012 Club Industry Show. I also want to express my sincere gratitude for the panelist who went out of their way to share very important thoughts.

So what do you think about technology and the health club industry ? Do you agree or disagree about some of the answers to the 9 questions included in the content below ? I'd love to hear your thoughts. I'm asking leaders in the health club and fitness industry to join the Fitness Industry Technology Council to help shape this promising future. The future is here and we need interoperability standards to enable our industry to reach its promise. Will you please join me ?

 

About the author:

Bryan O’Rourke is a health club industry expert, technologist, financier, and shareholder and executive in several fitness companies. He advises several successful global brands, serves as a member of the GGFA Think Tank and serves as CEO of the Fitness Industry Technology Council. To learn more contact Bryan here today .

Why Are Many Executives Still Avoiding A Social Media Presence ?

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In a recent Club Industry post "Equinox President One Of Many Executives Taking On Twitter", Stuart Goldman correctly identified several leaders in the health club business who are active on twitter. Here is an excerpt:

News of Sarah Robb O’Hagan leaving Gatorade to become the first president of Equinox leaked last Wednesday night on Twitter. When that news was officially announced the next day, several people on Twitter sent congratulatory tweets to Robb O’Hagan. And, in the days since the announcement, Robb O’Hagan (aka @SarahRobbOh) has personally sent several responses. Interaction on Twitter from fitness club industry executives is becoming a growing trend. Earlier this summer during the Olympics, 24 Hour Fitness President and CEO Carl Liebert (@C3hoosier) sent out tweets and posted several retweets from London. Anytime Fitness CEO Chuck Runyon (@ChuckRunyon), an active Twitter user, responded to Twitter followers during and after his appearance on ABC’s “Secret Millionaire.” Recently, EvanCarmichael.com ranked Snap Fitness CEO Peter Taunton (@PeterTaunton) No. 27 on a list of Top 100 franchising experts to follow on Twitter. Twitter can be a source for personal news as well. Late Tuesday night, RetroFitness CEO Eric Casaburi (@ECRETRO) chose Twitter to announce the birth of his son, Andrew Robert, No. 4 in the Casaburi clan.

Kudos to the executives Stuart mentions for their leadership. In our company Fitmarc, CEO @Robertjdyer is a very active user of social media as am I and our entire company. Yet so many, particularly in the C Suite, are still avoiding having a presence and often even an adequately managed brand presence in social media. In fact this lack of participation by CEO's is even noticable in many other industries.

Ryan Holmes, CEO of Hootsuite, wrote a recent Fast Company article The $1.3 Trillion Price Of Not Tweeting At Work which substantiates the relatively low use of social media by executives. Even Larry Ellison, CEO of Oracle, a technology company mind you, hardly ever tweets! In fact, among CEOs of the world’s Fortune 500 companies, a mere 20 have Twitter accounts. Amazing. Ryan's article points to a new report from McKinsey Global Institute. According to an analysis of 4,200 companies by the business consulting giant, social technologies stand to unlock from $900 billion to $1.3 trillion in value. At the high end, that approaches Australia’s annual GDP. The McKinsey analysis isn't the only recent report that should raise some eyebrows.

IBM's recent report , Leading Through Connections, was based on interviews with over 1,700 leaders in 64 countries . According to the report only 16 percent of the CEO's participated in social media. The study reveals that social media is currently the least-utilized method for connecting with an audience. Today the hierarchy of connecting with customers still follows an old-school formula with first being face-to-face, followed by websites, channel partners, call centers, traditional media, advisory groups, and finally social media. However, social connecting will surge to over 57 percent within the next 5 years. I'd say it will be a greater percentage and faster than that.

So why the avoidance ? Fear in my opinion is the key driver and in four ways:

  1. Fear of the Unknown - Ignorance isn't the enemy of progress but the illusion of knowledge is. Many Non-Millennial executives just don’t get it, or refuse to even consider social media. They sure aren’t going to let some young up and comer tell them what to do or how to use social media either;

  2. Fear of Change - Apathy and stagnation go hand in hand. For many executives, social media seems like a lot of work and they're busy enough already. Taking on a new project let alone a whole new paradigm is just something they avoid;

  3. Fear of Technology - As the world embraces all things digital at exponential rates, many execs feel like they understand less and less about the underpinnings of their business; and

  4. Fear of Transparency - Being on social media as a C level executive means the world has access to you. This includes customers, suppliers, the media and others. Being accountable publicly is a scary thing for many executives.

So tell me, BryanO'Rourke, what do you think about executives using social media ? Is fear the key barrier to its use ? I'd love to hear your thoughts. Thanks for reading and if you like the article please share it on Facebook, Twitter or your other social networks.

Part Of The Solution Or Part Of The Problem ?

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It was an enjoyable time at the Florida Recreation and Parks Association Conference in Orlando last week (unfortunately I was worried as my wife and son were at home waiting out hurricane Isaac). The topic I presented on was Technology's Approaching Impact on Parks and Recreation. What is unique about the group of leaders I spoke with is that they work in municipal governments, managing everything from cemeteries and fitness facilities to child care centers and parks (as one leader explained from the cradle to the grave).

Our company fitmarc serves a number of fitness centers operated by municipalities by helping them deliver Les Mills group fitness programming, and therefore I was delighted to speak with the group. However, in learning about the challenges these leaders face I discovered a few things.

You've heard the saying before; Eldridge Cleaver is often cited as having coined this phrase in a 1968 speech, Charles Rosner, a renowned advertiser and marketer, actually wrote "If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem" for VISTA as a recruitment slogan in 1967. Why do I raise this question ? Because the idea that our governments are broken has as much to do with us as it has to do with "them".

Municipal, state and the federal governement are facing, like many of us in the commercial world, a decline in resources in the face of a spiraling demand for services. This dynamic exists in light of public policies and laws that sometimes are not practical or even relevant any longer. It also exists in a time when the opinion of Congress is at an all time low in the US. People look at government leaders sometimes like a "Monday morning quarterback". As the saying goes, if you're not part of the solution you're part of the problem. Enter projects like Code for America and its intelligent forward thinking founder Jennifer Pahlka (see the clip below). Check out the Open Government initiative. There are a group of activist citizens transforming the way that local, state and federal government can work by changing how things are done. In particular they are using inexpensive technologies to solve problems in ways that traditional governments have not and really cannot. I think the audience in Florida really liked the ideas these types of organizations are bringing to life all over America.

The solutions to many of our most pressing problems lie in the adoption of new methods and ways of thinking because the world has changed and the old ways of doing things often does not work anymore. We are after all in the midst of a revolution. But what about government ? How can these leaders really adapt these new methods given their predicament ? Check out Code for America and please review my FREE presentation on how technology is going to impact recreation and parks. Watch Jennifer Pahlka's talk on TED regarding her ideas of changing government. A special thanks to the Florida Recreation and Parks Association for allowing me the chance to share views with a special group of leaders. You guys rock and it was fun.

Tell me, Bryan O'Rourke, are you just going to complain about how things are or are YOU going to do something about it ? I'd love to hear from you and find out what you think.



About the author:

Bryan O’Rourke is a health club industry expert, technologist, financier, shareholder and executive in several fitness companies. He consults with global brands, serves as a member of the GGFA Think Tank, is President of the Fitness Industry Technology Council and a partner in Fitmarc, Integerus, Fitsomo and the Flywheel Group. To learn more contact Bryan here today .

New Wellness Business Models - Wellness FX

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I've been a fan of Tim Ferriss for a while; just ask my friends who've gotten copies of the 4 Hour Work Week from me. His last book, The 4-Hour Body, included mentions of a number of technologies and services that enable him to maximize his health and performance. So when I learned that my colleague, Jon Binder, who formerly headed up business and strategy for TRX, had joined Wellness FX as VP of Marketing, I had to give him a call to learn more (to learn more watch the video below).

The present delivery system of sick care and general "prevention" are not enough. What Wellness FX provides is testing, online resources and professional advice to guide people to optimized health; all at an affordable price. I can see a future where a certain segment of the health club business embraces these types of services to cover the gap that exists today and serve their members in new innovative ways. Here's my interview with Jon regarding WellnessFX:

Why is WellnessFX unique?
 
The current state of health care is set up to only manage catastrophic events - heart attacks, car accidents, cancer, etc. We want to change this paradigm from "sick care" to "well care." We shift the investment in your health to earlier in life - presenting you with personal bio marker data to understand how healthy you are on the inside as well as out - and a team of professionals focused on preventative care to optimize your health. We then provide a plan to ensure you are healthy for the long run - letting you be active into your later years.

We also empower you to own and understand your data - we give you access in an intuitive manner to your biomarkers and the ability to share them with anyone of your choosing. Rather than being owned by your primary care physician or insurance provider, you now own your data and will have it with you regardless of which plan or physician you choose.

You can’t improve what you can’t measure. WellnessFX helps you measure, track and improve those biomarkers that are critical to your underlying health.

Why did you join the company?
Jon: I joined the company because I believe WellnessFX will be a disrupter in the personal health and wellness space. The amount of actionable information you can get from a simple blood test about the state of your health is truly amazing. Having come from the world of fitness, I now appreciate that being fit and being healthy are not always correlated.

And as more and more people demand that they control and own their health data, WellnessFX is setting the standard for how people will be measuring and tracking their  health, a process that has been traditionally left in the hands of their doctors.

What is wellness and what is the opportunity for services like WellnessFX?

Wellness is not only being free from disease, but also feeling your optimal self - having the strength, vitality, and overall health to be active throughout your life.

WellnessFX helps busy people optimize your health through preventative and active measures. In 1970 American families had %26 more free time than now. Technology is racing forward helping us do more faster but free time is shrinking.  People want health solutions that are quantifiable.  They want them quickly and conveniently. WellnessFX helps people to be ahead of the curve.  Instead of just waiting for your body to fall apart you can actively identify and seek to reduce the micro damage that can occur everyday.  Everyone is different so that is why personalized and quantitative data is important.  Eventually we will be able to optimize our health.  There is a huge potential to extend the length and quality of life by careful and actively managing our health.

The current system often is reluctant to invest in the longer term health and wellness of people because they don’t want to invest money in you only to have you switch plans in the next 2 years.  This leads to a “I hope you don't get sick on my watch” mentality where treatment is measured out carefully. Eventually I think we will only go to the actual doctors office when we are desperately ill because we will be actively managing our health all the way along.  We will know what's going on and be able to treat it before it reaches crisis levels.

For the health club and personal training industry, the WellnessFX service will allow gyms and trainers to move beyond just helping their members and clients get in better shape to helping them improve their overall health and wellness.

Learn more in the video below; Kudos to my friend Jon Binder and hellos to his lovely kids and bride Tania Binder as well.

So tell me, Bryan O'Rourke, what do you think about WellnessFX ? Do you see this company as being a player in the bricks and mortar fitness business ? What do you think about wellness in general ? Are these types of services going to be a part of the future of preventative care ? I think they certainly could. Thanks for sharing your views !

About the author:

Bryan O’Rourke is a health club industry expert, technologist, financier, shareholder and executive in several fitness companies. He consults with global brands, serves as a member of the GGFA Think Tank, is Chair of the Medical Fitness Association’s Education Committee, is President of the Fitness Industry Technology Council and a partner in Fitmarc, Integerus, Fitsomo and the Flywheel Group. To learn more contact Bryan here today .

Is Innovation Missing Its Purpose ? Often The Answer Is Yes; Health Clubs Should Take Note

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I've referenced Brian Solis before. During a recent interview with (famous in tech circles) Jesse James Garrett (below) he explores the notion of innovation and user (aka customer) experience. Garrett is a thought leader in the emerging world of user experience (UX) and wrote the book The Elements of User Experience (check it out). Leaders in the health club and fitness industries should take heed. Here are some exerpts (paraphrased):

Innovation often comes from Gorilla Movements in organizaitons that bubble up to people at the top.....Is Innovation missing its purpose ? Quite often it is....People that are really good at user experience and innovation are good at distinguishing "Innovation" from "Novelty".

Its very hard for leaders to see what is coming, given the rate of change today. So I thought the Solis interview came at the perfect time, following my read of the @IHRSA Club Business International , article Fresh Face of Fitness. In that article my friend and colleauge Rasmus Ingerslev, CEO of Wexer and Health Club chain Fresh Fitness was deservedly featured. Here's a slice of the article on Rasmus Ingerslev:

Just as in any other industry, ours keeps evolving faster and faster. In the process, competition is intensifying. As a result, there will likely be even more segmentation, which will create clear value propositions in the niche, low-, mid- and high-end markets. On the positive side, I believe this will help attract more members, growing the overall market. My concern is that we’ll see bubbles in segments that grow too fast, specifically the low-cost sector, and collapses in the middle-market. The latter may be the toughest position, as it’s at risk of being viewed as neither fowl nor fish. But, as in any industry, there will always be room for best-in-class.

In a business where many leaders are still focusing on differentiation in simple ways, more forward thinking pros like Rasmus are combing new delivery methods and customer service models that are completely different (live group classes and digitally deliivered classes are an example). I think what Rasmus says is very on target. His vision reflects what its going to take to achieve success in the fitness and health club industry in the years ahead. Deeply understanding customers and their emerging needs are critical to success in the future. Unfortunately many in the business think novelty is innovation and they will soon discover how wrong they were to do so. This is particularly true when it comes to blending bricks and mortar and digital technology solutions as Rasmus has.

Watch the interview below with Brian Solis and Jessse James Garrett as they discuss UX. Congrats to my friend Rasmus Ingerslev for his success and vision. What do you think about Fresh Fitness and Wexer ? Do you see this type of innovation as more than a novelty ? How do you think leading brands could improve UX ? Please share your views with me, Bryan O'Rourke. Thanks for your thoughts.

About the author:

Bryan O’Rourke is a health club industry expert, technologist, financier, shareholder and executive in several fitness companies. He consults with global brands, serves as a member of the GGFA Think Tank, is Chair of the Medical Fitness Association’s Education Committee, is President of the Fitness Industry Technology Council and a partner in Fitmarc, Integerus, Fitsomo and the Flywheel Group. To learn more contact Bryan here today .