For three days (15 to 18 August 2014) the city of Perth went fitness crazy, with Active Management’s FitnessBiz Brunch, Australian Fitness Network WAFIC event and The Fitness Show, organised by Diversified Exhibitions Australia.
The fitness weekend started on the Friday with a mix of business and pre-convention workshops. For the business people, they could attend as part of their registration Active Management’s FitnessBiz Brunch where 31.5 retention strategies were discussed.
For the more active people, there was an aqua program with aqua legend Kerri Parkinson, cycling with Andrew Conolly, olympic lifting with Robert Yang, a program design workshop with Derek Vandenbrink, and Kettlebell training with the Australian Institute of Kettlebells.
The WAFIC Convention launched on Saturday with an opening address by CEO of Australian Institute of Fitness (QLD) Steve Pettit. He had the crowd standing, whistling and clapping as he shared powerful and profound leadership insights.
The main convention had strands for business, personal training, nutrition, small group training and group training, It also had some of the countries leading speakers in their areas of expertise: Nardia Norman, Katrina Cochrane, Cameron McDonald, Claire Norgate, Michael Jordan, Nigel Champion, Ryan Hogan and others.
The people who attended WAFIC 2014 received enormous educational value; they walked away with two full days of quality practical and theoretical information, that will enhance their business.
At the other end of the convention centre was the Perth Fitness Show and from my observations this was an impressive expo. The exhibitors maintained their usual high standards, providing the industry attendees with every component of the industry at their fingertips.
Of course, there was a great range of equipment for people to try. My personal favourite stand design was the Precor stand. Others must have agreed with me as there were constantly people checking out the AMT and their other products.
Eye Fitness had people running up and down the ‘alley ways’ between booths, so they really took their experience 3D for clients.
There was music cranking, clothes being tried on and industry people exploring opportunities. While not new as a supplier MyZone, found the show very worthwhile. “We made a sale on the first day, which is exciting for us,” said Michael Jordan.
The big new splash in the supplier side of things, was the first public outing for FitnessU, Australian’s newest brand of training provider for personal trainers (although it’s backed by 25+ years of industry leadership, being powered by Australian Fitness Network). Their booth was very cool and funky, and seemed to have a constant flow of people going in and out.
Add into the mix, the celebrity factor, and there’s no surprise that the Fitness Show attracted a record attendance of 8,400 visitors across the weekend, which equated to a 24 per cent visitor increase on last year. Attendees appeared to be a mix of industry people who didn’t attend the conference, gym members, and people wanting to know more about what the fitness industry is all about.
As usual, a huge crowd was lining up for Steve “The Commando”, from The Biggest Loser. Steve was also launching his new online fitness program, “Commando Fit”, and with an opportunity for autographs and pictures, the line at 11am on Sunday was over 50m long! In fact, it appeared people were more interested in Commando than even WA’s own Danny Green, who was in attendance to promote his own new gym “Green Zone Fitness”.
The other celebrity citing was Teresa Cutter, the Health Chef. Her stand was constantly packed with visitors, and just as much as the big supplement booths. And yes, the visitors to those supplement stands were largely those with the stereotypical bodybuilder type physiques; however, The Healthy Chef booth was filled with lots of differently shaped people. It was a really pleasant change to see people from all walks of life, embracing the healthy eating concept and wanting to know more.
The biggest crowds seemed to be in the area where the public events stage was. Here, they had Zumba classes, body shaping contests and lots more. Just around the corner was where all the noise was coming from, was the CrossFit competition, which had competitors of all ages and shapes competing. It was great to see (and hear) everyone receiving boisterous support from friends and rivals! All of this, of course, contributed to creating a truly buzzing atmosphere where anyone teetering on launching their CrossFit working out regime would have been tipped over the edge, and by now would be doing their WOD (that’s “workout of the day” in CrossFit-speak!).
Of course, at The Fitness Show the overall INBA WA Supershow Champions were crowned, and congratulations goes to Jasmine Chia and Fabio Goncalves for their victories. You can view all the winners from the Bodybuilding competitoins on the INBA Facebook page.
The most exciting display for me though, was the martial arts and wrestling area. This is not because I am ‘into’ such activities. I was at this area on Sunday morning and watched kids – little kids and big kids – compete. It was so wonderful to see Australia’s next generation enjoying themselves exercising. It really reminded me that it doesn’t matter what activity kids do, what’s important is that they are doing some type of activity; so this was fantastic to watch.
I would suggest the weekend was a huge success for all the stakeholders. Some people walked away with a trophy, others an expo bargain, others with product sales, and others with knowledge. And no doubt, everyone left with some new fitness friendships.
Article by Justin “JT” Tamsett, from Active Management for WNiF.