Club Industry 2007: Chicago

Thursday, October 11th, 2007

Spent the day in Chicago at the Club Industry Show. It is always good to get a look at the state of our industry. It is customary for me to take a walk through the whole show and get an overview of what is there. Some of the stands are occupied by the regular attendees, but it is the new and different stands that I search out. The new piece of equipment or the new product to make our clubs the latest and greatest. I always look to see what is there to keep our club on the cutting edge or what project we can bring back to challenge our staff.

As I ended my tour, it occurred to me how few booths there truly where and how few attendees were there. The latest number that i have read stated that there are over 27000 health club in the US and realizing how easy travel from Canada would be to these shows, why are there only a few hundred attendees. If every club only sent one person to stay in touch with the state of the industry the number would be hard for any event to coop with.

Are we so in touch with the industry with the publications and internet presence that we don't need to attend these shows. Personally, it should be a required event for every General Manager in every club. The speakers and the networking that is available is beyond the capability of our in house training ability.

We need to keep the progressive, entrepreneurial spirit flowing in the health club industry. It is said that we need to keep growing or we die. One of the best pieces of business advice that i ever read, told me to "sharpen the saw" everyday. Strive to learn something new everyday and implement the best of these ideas. It is better to try and fail then to not grow. This industry needs the consistent push to challenge the norms, and by doing this we in effect will continue to challenge and involve our members. Involvement equals longer retention.