The Independent Gym Owners Conference - Doing Things Differently

The biggest and best gathering of independent club owners and operators took place on 1st December 2022. While there were some excellent speakers, and it’s important to have supporting suppliers who help the event to happen, the real value was within the delegates in the room. 

It’s a chance for independent clubs to get together, share their ideas and learn from each other. A lot of sharing happens in the group online, but people connect properly in real life at the event or after-party, forging partnerships, alliances, and friendships.  

The panel debate at the start of the conference encouraged delegates to make the most of the value in the room, talk to each other, be curious, find out about each other’s clubs, and get new ideas or momentum for old ones.

Panel Debate: Independent Clubs Doing Things Differently

The plucky panellists were:

• Rik Anderson – Operations Manager at Beckwith Health Club (Harrogate)
• Neil Fell – Owner at OnePT (Rochdale)
• Alexa Passingham – Lead Coach at The Training Shed (St Ives)

We spent 10 mins with each club, talking about what they’ve been doing differently, then opened to questions from the audience.

Beckwith – Harrogate 

Focused on the simplicity of just one membership, even for junior members, who benefit from additional safeguarding and exercise guidance. Staff are key to their member journey, and they have implemented the EGYM circuit to enhance programming & bring in new members. 75% of all their members have been inducted on EGYM.

onePT – Rochdale 

Placed a big emphasis on returning members’ safety, using the ClubRight app to enable members to see how busy the club was before they visit. Looking closely at member needs, they developed their 13-week challenge, and use MyZone and offer nutrition coaching and products. Miha Bodytec EMS brings in some new members, but is mostly an upsell to their existing member offering, with members able to achieve more in less time with a 30-minute session. 40% of onePT members buy additional PT, which most clubs would be extremely happy with.

Training Shed – St Ives

Have focused more on corporate fitness & wellbeing, bringing more people into their clubs, but also supporting corporate client members in the workplace with workouts (in-office clubs) and remotely with MyZone workouts and the Wellbeing Score. They have engaged with an amazing 85% of staff with the Training Shed on corporate premises and seen 2000+ responses to the wellbeing score. 

We look forward to the next Independent Gyms conference, and the chance to share more positive stories. Kudos to Rob Handy for all his hard work building the group and bringing everyone together!