An open letter to the England team

Dear Wayne, John, Stevie et al,

I am 38 years old and love football. I didn’t make it anywhere close to being a professional footballer (in fact Oakmeeds 1st team was beyond me if the truth be known) because I wasn’t talented enough. When you are playing for England you are playing for me and the, literally, millions, like me who would give anything to be lining up alongside you.

There is clearly a lot of pressure representing your country at the world’s biggest sporting tournament that only comes round every four years. However, it is a different pressure to that which large numbers of people experience every day (think of those with special needs, living below the breadline or coping with the loss of a loved one) and you can provide an alternative to that pressure. For those 90 minutes a lot of us lock away the disappointments or unhappiness we are experiencing and immerse ourselves in ‘our dream’. It isn’t that you are not under pressure but it is a different pressure and one you should embrace and enjoy as you stroll out onto the park.

One of the few upsides to the World Cup so far for an English supporter has been seeing the French implode so spectacularly and so publicly. Please do not take that upside away by being similarly selfish and disrespectful to the Nation. If you have grievances with Mr Capello please air them privately, confidentially and behind closed doors (like the rest of the world does when they have a management issue).

In my opening introduction I alluded to the fact that I would do anything to be lining up alongside you and I promise I would. I can also faithfully promise that if the camera paused on me during the anthems, as well as belting them out as loud as I could (I cannot promise it would be tuneful), I would be stood there grinning from ear to ear. It is a privilege that you are there in a beautiful country, in a beautiful hotel, playing the beautiful game – please look as if you understand that and are enjoying it. It is, after all, just a game.

Best of luck for the rest of the tournament. Apart from some malicious hacks, the whole of the football loving community wishes you well and is looking forward to some great memories from this tournament, as you should be too.

Regards,

Jonny

P.S. If you are bored in your hotel please get a video from the win against Croatia. That was magic.

The Gym Saga

Earlier in the year I spoke about the wish to be ‘retained’ by one of the two gyms I had recently been a member of. I thought you might like a little update.

I did rejoin one of the two gyms (it was the one with a favorite piece of equipment) for three months in January at a total cost of just over £50 a month. Despite going 4 days a week and trying a couple of classes I felt the same as I did when I finished the last stint. Throughout the membership I did not receive a call or inquiry as to how I was getting on but even so I was surprised that when my membership did expire I still didn’t receive a call. That said, a week later I did receive an email offering me the chance to renew. I replied but it wasn’t to renew.

Fortunately salvation was at hand because during the three months a trust owned gym was getting a significant refurbishment. Better still they were offering monthly prime time membership in the heart of London for £19.95 (excluding classes) if you joined online and there was no joining fee either. I took a peek and while it was not quite up to the standard of my previous gym it was pretty good and had over 100 pieces of cv equipment, clean changing rooms, a badminton court (might be useful if I dust off the 1980’s Yonex?) and a small functional training zone too.

I am now into my second month and enjoying myself immensely. No one has asked me how I am getting on or made a customer service call but at least I am only paying £19.95 a month to be ignored!

What a fag ash is for event organisers

There are hundreds of individuals who have suffered great hardship as a result of the Icelandic volcano and the chaos this has caused. From a more selfish perspective it is interesting to see how the events industry copes with this disruption. Major incidents that can effect events come round more regularly than you think and can vary from national issues like a terror attack or foot and mouth to more local issues like industrial action or a major accident on an approach road.

A photobook from @robertsharp59 http://bit.ly/blCeHE shows some of the problems the London Book Fair experienced. And our heart goes out to them.

LIW, like most exhibitions, only runs once a year and has a dedicated team that work on it all year round. Everything you do for 12 months is focused on three days where all your planning must come together to ensure your clients meet as many relevant buyers as possible. The immediate run up to the show is incredibly stressful without the added worry that visitors and exhibitors might not actually be able to get to your show and you could be looking at some empty aisles (always an organiser’s worse nightmare) and empty stands. Should you be an exhibitor in this situation and be concerned about your investment in the event then please don’t get frustrated with the organiser as whatever you will be feeling they will be feeling worse. A lot worse.

We are off to fellow health and fitness show FIBO (www.fibo.de) which opens Thursday 22^nd April. It looks like the skies have reopened but we know that a lot of visitors have already cancelled plans because they are concerned about being stranded should the lockdown return. We think our flight out should be ok and we are looking forward to seeing the show and we wish the organisers every bit of luck.

Why are there so many bouncy castles

This is a question I have had to answer many times during my life on LIW and is generally asked by those on the health and fitness side of the show. Alternatively I am also asked why there is so many treadmills on the other side of the show by those in Attractions Expo – although I receive precious few complaints regarding those in lycra demonstrating the treadmills!

The answer to both questions is the same. The middle part of the show (i.e. Leisure Facilities, Eat and Drink) would not survive if you were to take one of the others away. They want to see owners of sites from across the leisure sector and would not be able to justify attending a show where they only saw gyms or only saw theme parks.

However, I think that is only half the story and perhaps our audiences could learn from one another. After all, they all have the same objectives don’t they? These are to get more visitors/members, get them visiting more often, get them spending more when they are there and keeping them safe while they are on site.

So next time you are visiting LIW and afraid to go to the ‘dark side’ – go and have a look at what makes their businesses work as they could be ideas that could work for your business too.

Retain me why don’t you?

Those that know me will appreciate that I am no gym bunny. I am in the mass of people that go for a few months to achieve a specific goal (or simply because I have got fat) and then disappear off the radar. I am currently off the radar (and consequently getting fat).

When I join a gym I vary between a gym that has my favourite piece of exercise equipment and the one that is shiny and new and nearer my office. I have signed up for both of these gyms in the past 12 months. Although not by design, neither of these gyms happen to belong to one of the big groups.

Now given we are in recession and I have gone to these gyms before you would think I would be peppered with sales calls trying to get me back into the exercise routine wouldn’t you? Well you’d be wrong. I have in fact received absolutely 0 calls. Not one.

Being a sales man I am easily sold to and it would not have taken much to entice me back in. However now I almost resent giving them my business because it would appear that it means so little. Just to avoid purchasing a whole new wardrobe I am going to have to bite the bullet but I’d feel so much better if they called me.

We should all double check that we are doing everything we should be doing to win business before using the easy excuse (4b I think in the book of easy excuses) of the recession.

BHF taking aim at the good guys?

The recent broadside from the British Heart Foundation aimed at the leisure sector http://is.gd/4DZdO and the news that Taybarns all you can eat restaurants are booming (some are serving up to 10,000 customers a week!) http://is.gd/4E7GK shows that we have a long way to go in the battle against obesity.

Some of the leisure centres that are undoubtedly benefitting from the recent MoreActive4Life/Change4Life campaigns seem to be undoing their good work by vending calorific junk food. While it is correct that we should be revising our food offering to be more healthy at these places it does seem a bit unfair to target the leisure sector which is doing it’s best to get young people more active more often.

The fact is that young people visiting these leisure centres do see the benefit of exercise and that is part of the battle won. Would the studies commissioned by the British Heart Foundation and the Food Commission be better placed helping the leisure sector understand those young people that are not active, and therefore in far more danger of becoming obese than those undertaking physical activity?

UPDATE 28.10.09 Check out the FIA's thoughts http://thefitnessindustryassociation.blogspot.com/

It's good to talk

Great news http://is.gd/xGS1 from the FIA and the Leisure Database Company about the resilience of the health and fitness sector.

A few key facts from their latest piece of research:

3% annual growth
Market value of £3.77bn
Membership numbers have grown by 0.8%
12.1% of UK population are members of a health and fitness club/public owned fitness facility
114 new public/private fitness facilities
119,000 new members at these new sites

Let's hope this gives the private and public operators alike the confidence to keep investing in their facilities and their staff. It is too easy in these challenging times to batton down the hatches 'just in case' but qualified research like this should help justify a more 'business as usual' approach.

We have probably talked ourselves deeper into the recession than was necessary but equally we should be able to talk ourselves out of it too so spread the word.

Are we missing a trick?

At the LIW office today it is Digital Achievement Day (Twitter tag is #ubmdad) across the company where we are celebrating our digital successes. This is easier for some products than others as we run Technology for Marketing, Internet World etc. However, there is some impressive innovation from the less than usual suspects with Songs for Security (we kid you not), Through the Keyhole (from the Interiors Group) and a Venue Finding Competition (www.venuefinder.com).

LIW for it’s part has been blazing away on the digital trail for a few months and has built up communities across the breadth of the show on Twitter, Linkedin, Facebook and this blog.

During this exercise it has been interesting to note the differing levels of take up in these markets but none of them have really grasped the bull by the horns. This is surprising. The common factors that unite LIW visitors is that they want to attract more visitors, more often, increase secondary spend and keep them safe while they are there. Surely the ability to build up tight, loyal communities and engage with them regularly with their wholehearted permission should be leapt upon shouldn’t it?

We are no experts and are just finding our way but if we can be of any help at all we would be happy to try.

Nautilus UK MD, Alan Vickers

Shortly before witnessing the unveiling of the new Schwinn cycle, I take some time to chat with Alan Vickers, new MD of Nautilus, who shares his thoughts on the health club industry and what lies ahead for Nautilus in 2009. I'm sure that Alan's experience in strategic roles with global brands like Nike and Reebok, will stand Nautilus in good stead for the future.

Early morning Krank for LIW

Jonathan Monks, Tom Hammond, Jeff Davis and Jon Johnson, join Jonny G for an early morning Krank cycle. Jonny's passion and vision for the industry was inspiring and having worked out for 30 minutes on it I can assure you that it provides an effective CV and upper body workout!