Retreats are designed to allow us to step away from our daily responsibilities and see each other and our work with a wider lens and new perspective. That’s exactly what happened at the 2023 Club Solutions Leadership Retreat.
This year’s Club Solutions Leadership Retreat took place September 10-12, 2023, at the Omni La Costa Resort and Spa in Carlsbad, California. It brought together 60-plus operators and 26 sponsors with the goal of creating a space to help industry professionals leave rejuvenated and inspired, allowing them to make an even bigger impact on the people they serve.
Roundtable topics included:
- Marketing for a Competitive Advantage — Sponsored by Success Play
- Overcoming Hiring Challenges
- Member Experience — Sponsored by JK Products & Services
Each roundtable, moderated and led by Blair McHaney, the CEO of MXMetrics, allowed attendees to connect with one another, hear how different facilities navigate challenges and dig deeper to come up with solutions to the industry’s biggest challenges.
One of the takeaways from the member experience roundtable for Greg Maurer, the vice president of education for Workout Anytime, was talking through improving the cancellation process at fitness facilities.
“Going through and saying, ‘Let’s really dissect the cancellation process, and getting feedback from other people,’ I think I got some executable ideas that can better optimize our cancellation process which can bring big dividends,” said Maurer.
Attendees weren’t the only ones who walked away with takeaways from the roundtables.
Dylan Crane, the national sales manager for InBody, said hearing firsthand from attendees about their staffing challenges during the hiring roundtable really put into perspective what they need to be discussing as a vendor.
“We have a product that typically takes someone manning that device so for us, that’s extremely beneficial,” said Crane. “That’s going to help us talk to our clients that are using it. We can preempt a struggle they’re already dealing with. I think it brings more value to our product and to them as well.”
These are just two of many ideas and knowledge shared over the 2.5-days. In addition to the educational roundtables, attendees also enjoyed a live Q&A on hospitality from Dustin Irwin, a 25-year veteran of the hospitality industry and the esteemed club director at the Omni La Costa Resort and Spa, and a panel discussion on wellness and recovery. Fun was also had with three activities throughout the event — Extreme Music Bingo, Survivor Games and a pool party.
None of this would have been possible without our wonderful sponsors, including Premier partner Freemotion Fitness by iFIT; our diamond partners ABC Fitness, Club Automation, Club OS/ASF, CryoBuilt, EGYM, HIGH Fitness, Human Touch, InBody, JKProducts & Services, Keiser, NetGym, ROR Partners, SuccessPlay, Technogym, TMI Sustainable Aquatics, UpSwell Marketing, WizeHire; and our platinum partners BeaverFit, Budderfly, The Cincinnati Insurance Company, InTouch Powered by Sindro, Matrix Fitness, Myzone, Vi and WellnessSpace Brands.
