The ANT+ Symposium 2013: The Importance Of Technology In Health & Fitness

Getting an invitation to speak at the 2013 ANT+ Symposium is an honor, to say the least. I am grateful to my friend Paul Lockington and the team at Dynastream, particularly  for their dedication and involvement in the Fitness Industry Technology Council . Dynastream continues to push innovation and develop new technologies, moving the industry forward. If you haven't registered for the ANT+ event yet please do here as soon as possible, since rooms are going to run out. Believe me, you do NOT want to miss it this year.

Having written extensively on the subject of wearable technologies and the looming explosion of opportunities for health and wellness that technologies will create, an event like the ANT+ Symposium is my kind of event. Speaking at this forum is even more important because the players in health care, health clubs and wellness are about to watch the emergence of a New Era of Wellness unfold at a rapid pace (the recent ANT+ integration into the Samsung Note 3 is an example of what is to come). This will be a time wrought with risks, changes and HUGE opportunities for forward thinking leaders and companies.

What I'll be sharing during my talk at the ANT+ Symposium is how industries like Banking, Computing, Publishing and others at one time and presently all faced huge disruptions. I'll share how these industries either embraced or ignored technologies and the implications of those choices. If leaders fail to embrace what technologies like ANT+ and others will enable for the health club business, for example, they will likely be punished severly. This is not just a risk for individual players its a risk for whole industries as the new dynamic of competitive "ARENAS" emerges. As I've written before, industries will increasingly see competition from other industries. How an industry like fitness applies vision and embraces collaborations that create new standards around these emerging technologies will enable us to take advantage of them. Failing to do so will likely mean missing one of the greatest opportunities that ever existed for making a real impact on the quality of people's health through primary prevention. Its up to us to collectively do what it takes to take advantage of this opportunity or miss it. This is exciting to me because I see this new Era happening and attending the ANT+ Symposium is like being at one of the "ground zero's" where that future is happening now.

The opportunity of bringing health care, fitness and wellness together around consumer needs is going to be created by technologies and smart leaders who see what will be possible. Are we ready to embrace this new era ? Spend some time at the ANT+ convention and I'll tell you what I think and how. I hope to see you there.

So what do you think about ANT+, the symposium and how technologies will revolutionize, health and fitness ? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

About the author:

Bryan O’Rourke is considered by many as one of the most prolific thought leaders on technology, health club and wellness trends. He has been quoted in periodicals like the Wall Street Journal, and has been published in journals around the world on his views of how technology will create the dawn of a new era of opportunity for the health club and fitness industries. In addition to being an industry expert, Bryan is a technologist, financier, shareholder and executive in several fitness companies. He has spoken on a range of business and trend topics on four continents. As a contract executive and advisor, Bryan wears many hats, including working for Fitmarc, which delivers Les Mills programs to over 700 facilities in the US. He advises successful global brands, serves as a member of the GGFA Think Tank, on ACE's Industry Advisory Panel and is CEO of the Fitness Industry Technology Council. To join FIT-C visit www.fit-c.org . To learn more contact Bryan here today .

Marketing Your Fitness Business - Do You Care Enough ?

Thanks to my colleague Eleanor Hisey at Fitsomo who shared a post that I just had to use from Gary Vaynerchuk, and to my partner Robert Dyer who spent so much time with me last week. These two along with my conversation with some of Gold's Gyms leading franchisees at the GGFA roundtable on social media last week led to this post.

By the way it meant a great deal to me to be invited by Ginger Collins and the great bunch of GGFA professionals, who I love, to discuss social media marketing at the Gold's convention. Thanks Ladies :). I was particularly excited that Gordon Johnson, along with several other leading Gold's franchisees, were there and asked so many relevant questions. They wanted to know about using social media, yet the conversation was less about technology and more about being human. I'll explain.

In a world where brands are accustomed to only broadcasting or as Gary Vaynerchuk puts it, presenting their message, now consumers want engagement (see his video below and thanks again Eleanor :)). They want to interact. Consumers want to be relevant. Everything we used to think about marketing has ended because now marketing is the consumer's experience. Its not our message and what we want to tell them; its all about what is important to THEM and our recognizing that fact. The "Connected Consumer" trend has really accelerated this because of technology.

This is a very hard thing for many brands to grasp and execute. In a world where many old school CEO's still worry that having a twitter account opens them up to having to answer to consumers, well what can I say ? Anyone who would have to ask if they should have a twitter account demonstrates they do not understand. You see people who don't understand this, at least 90% of the time, must not really care because if they did they'd want to have customers be able to let them know when they are happy and when they are not. Right ?

This leads to my partner Robert and I having many conversations with customers and industry leaders last week both during the Gold's convention and following it. For those of you who know him, Robert is one of the most sincere and caring people you'd ever meet; he's very human and it shows. It was instructive to hear the comments from a highly respected industry leader who following our meeting asked, "Is this how you conduct all of your meetings?" Well Robert was unclear as to what the person met. They went on, "You see I am so used to getting pressured and sold and you did not even have a presentation." (So I might have paraphrased a bit :)). Get it now ? Its not about us its about them.

The bottom line is this, if health club and fitness brands keep broadcasting content around what they do, what they have, and who they are consumers aren't going to connect. We can't use social media effectively if its not centered around the customer and we must reengineer our businesses accordingly. If the DNA of your organization can't "GET IT" then you've got a real problem on your hands.

Watch the video above from Gary Vaynerchuck and tell me Bryan O'Rourke, what is your marketing strategy with social media ? Do you agree with Gary that you've got to change from presenting to working the room ? Thanks for your thoughts and for reading the post.

About the author:

Bryan O’Rourke is a health club industry expert, technologist, financier, shareholder and executive in several fitness companies. He works for Fitmarc, which delivers Les Mills programs to over 700 facilities in the US and heads up the firms Integerus and Fitsomo. He advises successful global brands, serves as a member of the GGFA Think Tank and is CEO of the Fitness Industry Technology Council (To join FIT-C visit www.fit-c.org ). Recently Bryan was named to the ACE industry advisory panel.  To learn more contact Bryan here today.

The New Era Of Ideas - Is The Health Club Industry Ready ?

Creativity, innovation, disruption; you know the buzz words. I and many others have written extensively on the topic; from the creative destruction of health and wellness to the latest innovations in fitness and health. Why ? I hear it from many well respected and highly touted professionals almost daily, "The Fitness and Health Club Industry have got to change." The purpose for writing on these subjects is to reassure my colleagues that yes things are going to change and its going to be sooner than later.

That notion was reinforced this Sunday morning, as I paged through the latest content streams for the week ahead, I saw something that reinforced the views of one of my favorite business leaders CK Prahalad and indirectly bolstered my thinking that the new era of ideas is going to take hold very soon in the health club and fitness industry. What did I see ?

A new company called Tile ; (video is below), is launching a matchbook sized Bluetooth device that aims to ignite a community movement around keeping track of items in life. They used Crowdfunding with the Selfstarter platform and raised over $1.8 Million . The device is really cool and it was started by two guys. That's it. Something was created that could not have been possible only a few years ago. The idea was funded by thousands of strangers via the Internet. Amazing. Yes, the new era of ideas is here and to the extent two people can figure out how to track stuff in the manner that Tile does, well there are going to be many equally cool ways to do things in the health club and fitness space that no one has consider or was possible just a few years ago.

What this means for the health club and fitness industry is that just like Tile, groups of open minded people armed with new business tactics like crowdfunding and an understanding of technology are going to be able to deliver new products and services that are revolutionary. I meet entrepreneurs like them all of the time. They will create entirely new possibilities and usher in a new era for health clubs and fitness . In the era of new ideas, the past means less and less and that means a whole new era of opportunities lies ahead. Who you know and what you did before will not matter in a world of ideas where the freshest and brightest approaches will be able to get to market faster and with less objection than ever before.

CK Prahald noted the two key barriers to innovation: not accepting that things have REALLY changed and anchoring yourself in the logic of the past instead of embracing the new. When one sees a solution like Tile, it only goes to prove the point that true innovation in the health club and fitness industry will come from a similar place. Is the industry ready ? I think it is because it doesn't have a choice.

Tell me, Bryan O'Rourke, what you think about the new era of ideas. Is the Health Club and Fitness Industry ready for all of this potential ? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

About the author:

Bryan O’Rourke is a health club industry expert, technologist, financier, shareholder and executive in several fitness companies. He works for Fitmarc, which delivers Les Mills programs to over 700 facilities in the US and heads up the firms Integerus and Fitsomo. He advises successful global brands, serves as a member of the GGFA Think Tank and is CEO of the Fitness Industry Technology Council (To join FIT-C visit www.fit-c.org ). Recently Bryan was named to the ACE industry advisory panel.  To learn more contact Bryan here today.

Gold's Gym 2013 Convention - Building Stronger Connections

This year was my fourth Gold’s Gym convention in a row. Its always energizing to see the franchisees, executives and vendor partners who attend the event because so many wonderful people are a part of this legendary brand. The opening event included CEO Jim Snow, followed by the head of the Gold’s Franchise Association Mike Epstein, and finally Gold's VP of Fitness Tim Keightley. I appreciate all of these leaders for different reasons and attending the opening remarks is a great way to learn details about where this iconic brand is heading.

Gold’s has been around for nearly 5 decades and this convention’s theme, which CEO Snow shared, was about “Building Stronger Connections”; connecting with members, communities, vendors and each other. Jim emphasized 3 golden nuggets. First , participating in the Gold’s vendor program saves franchisees money; second, better customer satisfaction results in higher profits; and third new marketing tools and Gold’s new web site will enable higher lead flows that will enhance revenues.

Jim shared the brand’s goal of becoming the number one franchisor in the health club industry. Using an annual survey of franchisees he showed how the satisfaction level with the brand had improved significantly with franchisees in the last year. The CEO also set forth its growth plans, which has brought the brand to 675 locations today. Gold’s has been active in acquisitions and more aggressive in its plans for the express club model as well as international expansion.

Mike Epstein, a leader in the Gold’s Gym Franchise Association, spoke of the importance of community and addressed the commitment of Gold’s Franchisees to its members and communities. We love the GGFA and their team of folks including of course Ginger Collins. The franchisees are the heart of the organization and Mike had an inspirational video that displayed his Gold’s Paramus work with Sandy relief and Mike and his partner Art and their team was named Best Tour de Cure Team for 2013 at the Convention! See the video below, my partner Robert Dyer loves the Bruce Springsteen song We Take Care Of Our Own, and so do I.

Finally, Tim Keightley, always a profound and warm speaker, shared the inspirational stories of Gold’s members and their families . This moving and emotional introduction of members and their stories as shared by Tim brought more than a few tears to my eye. What a great and motivating presentation that was.

It was another great Gold's show and I've got to give a shout out and thanks to the many many friends we have with the Gold's brand. What a privilege to be there and here's to an even better 2014 show.

About the author:

Bryan O’Rourke is a health club industry expert, technologist, financier, shareholder and executive in several fitness companies. He works for Fitmarc, which delivers Les Mills programs to over 700 facilities in the US and heads up the firms Integerus and Fitsomo. He advises successful global brands, serves as a member of the GGFA Think Tank and is CEO of the Fitness Industry Technology Council (To join FIT-C visit www.fit-c.org ). Recently Bryan was named to the ACE industry advisory panel.  To learn more contact Bryan here today.

The Line Between The Physical And Digital Worlds Continues To Blur

Four years ago I began writing about how the physical and digital worlds are merging . Little did I know I'd be wearing a pair of Google Glass so soon. This has profound implications for the delivery of fitness, wellness and health in general. Consistent with the law of accelerating returns, technology that is enabling this blur continues to roll out at an exponential pace and its becoming quite fascinating. The implications and possibilities are only going to be limited by our imaginations.

Enter MYO, a new control devices that enables the movement of your hand and arm to control displays, devices, whatever. The video is worth a look believe me, and thanks go to my son Shawn for sharing.

This is only the beginning of what is to come and its why I share this recent Ted Talk below by researcher and engineer  Jinha Lee. The border between our physical world and the digital information surrounding us has been getting thinner and thinner and Jinha Lee wants to dissolve it altogether. In his short, gasp-inducing talk, he shares ideas that include a pen that penetrates into a screen to draw 3D models and a computer desktop prototype that lets you reach through the screen to manipulate digital objects.The future isn't coming, its already here. Please share with me your ideas and what you think about these technologies. I'd love to hear from you - Bryan O'Rourke.

About the author:

Bryan O’Rourke is a health club industry expert, technologist, financier, shareholder and executive in several fitness companies. He works for Fitmarc, which delivers Les Mills programs to over 700 facilities in the US. He advises successful global brands, serves as a member of the GGFA Think Tank and serves as CEO of the Fitness Industry Technology Council. To join FIT-C visit www.fit-c.org . To learn more contact Bryan here today .