[0:00:06] (Dori Nugent): Did you attend IHRSA 2023 or did you happen to miss this year’s conference? Well, don’t worry, because Allison and I will be recapping the highlights of the biggest trade show the industry has to offer. Listen along as we share a few AHA, moments from the conference as well as few laughs. This is all today on the fitness business podcast. Did you happen to listen to show number 489 with Jay Schwedelson?

[0:00:39] (Dori Nugent): Oh my goodness. I thought he was absolutely fantastic and I loved his advice on how to improve your open rate with your emails. But here’s the thing, I want to know what you think. So please share your thoughts on your social media page and tag us. Love to hear from our FBP family. Hello and welcome to the Fitness Business Podcast. I am your host, Dori Nugent, and I hope you’re having a great day. Are you ready for our show today?

[0:01:19] (Dori Nugent): Yes.

[0:01:20] (Dori Nugent): So am I. Rex roundtable chair. Allison Flatley is here to discuss all things IHRSA conference. The education sessions, the trade show, the sponsors. So sit back and relax and enjoy today’s episode. We’re going to get started in less than two minutes. First, a huge thank you to our newest partner, Bodymapp.

[0:01:42] (Dori Nugent): As we know in the fitness world, what you don’t measure, you can’t manage. In today’s world, it’s never been more important to show the impact your programs are having on your customers. If you’re looking to offer an affordable and accessible technology to measure your clients, we’ve got just the thing for you Bodymapp’s 3D body Scanning Technology. With Bodymapp, you can offer your customers a truly personalized fitness journey. The Bodymapp 3D Body Scanning app provides a complete picture of your customer’s body composition, allowing you to tailor workouts and nutrition plans that are customized to their individual needs.

[0:02:20] (Dori Nugent): The best part, there’s little to no upfront or committed cost to your business. That’s right, you can partner with Bodymapp and offer this cutting edge technology to your customers without any financial burden on your part. So what are you waiting for? Partner with Bodymapp today and unlock the power of 3D body scanning for your business.

[0:02:42] (Dori Nugent): Thank you, body map. And welcome aboard. Make sure you check out Bodymapp at www dot bodymapp. That’s with two P’s.

[0:02:51] (Dori Nugent): Com.

[0:02:52] (JT): Get your pen ready. Now for myzone’s Fitbizpiration, please share your.

[0:02:57] (Dori Nugent): Top three reasons why industry professionals should attend IHRSA in La next year, march 8 through the 11th.

[0:03:06] (Allison Flatley): One, to network and make connections so you can use those connections post IHRSA and trade show. Attend the trade show, buy stuff, or learn about what’s new and what you can bring back to your club, studio, place of business. And three, to set your strategy or confirm your existing strategy so you can reach more people and grow your business.

[0:03:38] (Dori Nugent): Here’s a question for you. Did you ever try a variety of marketing strategies just to see which one sticks? Next week’s, guest Debbie Oster calls this Ram random Acts of marketing. And while it’s easy to fall into this method of madness, debbie assures that taking this approach will only set you up for a disaster. Follow along next week, while Debbie gives her expert advice on how to avoid ram and the importance of developing a marketing strategy that will keep you within the rails.

[0:04:11] (ISSA Rep): Healthcare Leaders you work hard to ensure your members have the very best fitness experience, right? You need personal trainers who do the same. Become a preferred partner with Issa and we’ll deliver the best trainers in the industry to your club in a matter of days, fully certified and ready to work. And we’ll help you keep those trainers by offering them exclusive discounted pricing on Issa certification.

[0:04:35] (ISSA Rep): Because when your trainers stay, so do your valued members. Becoming a preferred partner with Issa is absolutely free. Click above or visit issaonline.com FitBiz to get trainers.

[0:04:47] (Dori Nugent): Now, let’s transition into this week’s interview.

[0:04:50] (Dori Nugent): With Alison Flatley, FEP family. Guess who’s joining me today?

[0:04:55] (Allison Flatley): That’s right.

[0:04:56] (Dori Nugent): Allison flatley is here. Allison is the Rex Roundtable Chair and she’s also an industry consultant. Thank you so much for joining me today.

[0:05:05] (Allison Flatley): Oh, happy to dory, though we have a challenging task. A lot of great stuff that happened in San Diego. Compliments to IHRSA and the IHRSA team.

[0:05:21] (Dori Nugent): Absolutely. You and I, we were both at there and we had this great idea. We thought you’re such an amazing representative of the fitness industry, so you’re just like the perfect guest to come onto the podcast. And hopefully we’re looking or I’m looking for you to inspire that younger generation of fitness professionals that maybe have not had the opportunity to attend IHRSA yet. I’m also looking for you to help convince and reengage the veterans of the fitness industry to get them to come back out for next year’s event.

[0:06:01] (Dori Nugent): So, again, you’re just a perfect guest. Thank you so much for taking time out of your day.

[0:06:07] (Allison Flatley): Thank you, dory for the nice compliment, but it’s great to have a conversation with you. It was fun to see you in San Diego, and I think I deemed you one of the best dressed in San Diego.

[0:06:21] (Dori Nugent): Right?

[0:06:23] (Allison Flatley): Exactly. But a lot of great stuff. I mean, from the keynote to the trade show to the networking opportunities. So really good stuff.

[0:06:33] (Dori Nugent): Really good stuff. I don’t know about anybody else out there. I’m really hoping I’m not the only one. But I get so excited for IHRSA every year, and I get excited for a variety of reasons. One, I think, like most people, we just enjoy seeing everyone, even though we see them on social our social media platforms. It’s fun just to see everybody face to face. And then two, I get excited for the education.

[0:06:58] (Dori Nugent): Three, I get excited for the vendors. And four, I can’t wait to see the release of the lineup for the keynotes. They always have a great group of speakers for the keynotes each day.

[0:07:10] (Allison Flatley): I agree wholeheartedly. The one thing I do every year is I look at the lineup of keynotes and decide whose book I’m going to read, because if I haven’t read the book, it’s hard to read them all. But I always look at the lineup and say, I’m going to read that one because I’m going to meet them. And that’s exciting if you haven’t been to IHRSA because they have such wonderful top notch keynotes.

[0:07:38] (Dori Nugent): Agreed. All right, well, let’s start with the education portion because really, at the end of the day, that’s a big part of IHRSA. And every year, IHRSA does their very best to find the most educated, most seasoned fitness industry expert to come and speak to all of the attendees. So I’d love for you to share maybe one, two, three, whatever you have. A couple of highlights when it comes to the educators this year at IHRSA.

[0:08:10] (Allison Flatley): Right. There’s so many and I have so many notes here, but some of the highlights I enjoyed. I went to Alan Leach’s session on pricing and he talked about the psychology of pricing, and I think that is critical and really fascinating because you could see it in your behavior. I could see it, my behavior as I am a consumer. So I thought his presentation was phenomenal. I really enjoyed Mark and Maria Miller from the Merit Club and they did Ten Team, but they talked about 25 topics and so it was just snippets of activity.

[0:08:57] (Allison Flatley): The first one was how careful to use your words. Be careful with your words. They use care team versus housekeeping and what a difference that makes in the listener. Care team versus housekeeping. And I thought that was interesting. And they talked about the power of a high five and using high fives in your facility, which again, so simple but easy for anybody to implement.

[0:09:26] (Dori Nugent): Good ones. Yeah. Hey, we’ve come a long way. We’re allowed to touch each other now with high fives, right?

[0:09:31] (Allison Flatley): Exactly. Yeah, definitely. Another one. That was phenomenal. Was the women’s leadership summit. I thought that was terrific. I think you were there as well. But one. It was so great to award the Julie Maine Award to Carol Nalavenko from the village health clubs and spa. And then also kind of the women’s leaders that were on the panel. I mean, they were so impressive, covered so many different types of facilities, and really the theme was just make sure your teams are diverse.

[0:10:12] (Allison Flatley): One of the things that I wrote down from that session is reminding leaders and companies that when you do a job posting, don’t close the posting until you get at least a woman. Applause and then on your interviewing team, make sure your interviewing team is diverse, that you have multiple people, multiple a man and a woman. On the interviewing team. And then lastly, pay for position rather than name, sex, age, whatever it may be. So, again, three easy take homes that I would recommend for all clubs and studios.

[0:10:52] (Dori Nugent): Can I just say that each and every year, the Women’s Summit is one of my favorite sessions to attend. IHRSA, the team that works on the Women’s Summit, they do such a great job at finding the most interesting people to talk. It’s always, like, a completely different topic from year to year. I love the Women’s Summit, and then this year and I think this was the first year, and I could be wrong, but they did like, a little happy hour cocktail hour afterwards, which really encouraged all the attendees to stay and mingle with one another and maybe just talk about what was being said during that session. Or maybe it’s just even something different about, like, hey, what are you doing tonight? Or what was the highlight of your day so far?

[0:11:41] (Allison Flatley): Yeah, no, I definitely love the change of that format to add the social part of it, because it’s powerful to be in a room with that many women. There were men, and men are always welcome in the room, too. But to be in a room with that many women is so powerful. Really some great leaders there.

[0:12:00] (Dori Nugent): I love the fact that they actually do get a couple of men that attend the Women’s Summit. I think that’s awesome. I’m always looking around like, I’m pretty impressed a couple of guys showed up for this.

[0:12:12] (Allison Flatley): Exactly. And I know you loved Rob O’Neill, the Navy Seal that spoke, but he did a keynote, and he was tremendous. And my favorite part of he had so many great stories, but my favorite part was that all stress is self induced, that it’s so important as a leader to set the tone. I mean, he has so many good stuff, but panic is contagious. Happiness is contagious. It really was great things that you could take home and use immediately.

[0:12:52] (Dori Nugent): Immediately. Very realistic, very relatable to everybody in that room. And I felt the response to his session was just overwhelmingly positive.

[0:13:04] (Allison Flatley): It’s fun to learn via stories. He told some great stories. Robin Bennett or Benicosa, I think, told great stories of her adventure racing and how creative you need to be in that sport and how you really need to rely on your teammates. I loved her comment. We don’t work for each other. We work with each other. I mean, it’s just really they emphasize so much about teamwork.

[0:13:37] (Dori Nugent): Agreed. And just kind of adding my two cent on education. What I found complete full circle is here at the podcast. I did a series I saw at last year’s show. I saw Dr. Sarah Marion. She spoke on Generations in the Gym. I can’t remember the exact title, but that was the premise. And I loved her. So I went up to her after a session. I’m like, you need to come on the Fitness Business podcast while brainstorming through a couple of meetups, we came up with this idea to break it down into the four generations and to do the four shows.

[0:14:12] (Dori Nugent): And I love the fact that one of our monthly vendor hosts, sarah Pallegrino, and her dad kind of continued the same conversation, kind of took what we did here at the Fitness Business podcast. Took it another step, took it to IHRSA, condensed it a little bit, but they also had Dr. Sarah Marion there in the audience, and you quoted her a lot. I just thought that was really cool to see Sarah and her dad, which is South Pellegrino, is a huge name in the fitness industry. It was fun. It just had a nice family, fun feel to it.

[0:14:45] (Allison Flatley): Yeah, no, I think Sarah is terrific and her data is so useful as you’re trying to reach your consumers. Another first time speaker at IHRSA was Mary Edwards from the Cooper Aerobics Center. She talked about small group training, and it was her first time presenting, so she was a little nervous. She nailed it. She had such a great presentation, so knowledgeable. She described personal training at Cooper with individualized attention and professionalized guidance, and I thought those were two great terms, but a rock star in personal training, so I would definitely check out Mary if you get a chance.

[0:15:38] (Dori Nugent): Awesome. Yes. I’m trying to think what else you know, who else they had as a keynote was one of we had her on as a guest was Cassandra Worthy. And she talked about change and making being enthusiastic about change, because most people are not enthusiastic about change. It makes them nervous and makes them uneasy. The unknown scares people. And she absolutely took a whole different approach to it, about embracing change. And I thought she hit it out of the park.

[0:16:14] (Allison Flatley): She did a great job. Definitely. I loved it, and I loved when she talked about accountability partner and how important it is to have accountability partner in business. And I’ve heard that a few other times throughout the week in the sense of having an accountability partner and your coworkers are wonderful, but who’s going to hold you accountable with work? Probably shouldn’t be somebody at work.

[0:16:44] (Allison Flatley): So I thought that was some great insight there.

[0:16:48] (Dori Nugent): All right, well, let’s shift and let’s talk about the second biggest part of the IHRSA conference, and that is the mega trade show. Holy smokes. The trade show floor was back post pandemic. It was alive and kicking.

[0:17:09] (Allison Flatley): Absolutely. I agree, too. The energy was so positive. I mean, everyone was so positive and visiting the different suppliers, and it was just kind of a welcome home positive. There was, I don’t know, at the beginning of the one keynote, the Don Kaiser, I believe, said, we’re not a sales team, we’re an education team. And when you were in the trade show, people were just educating each other. They were just sharing.

[0:17:42] (Allison Flatley): It wasn’t kind of maybe in the past when it had been more of a hard sell, it was more about educating everyone and really talking about how to level up everyone’s clubs, level up everyone’s studios. So that was exciting to see.

[0:18:00] (Dori Nugent): It was exciting to see. And I felt like there was a large amount of equipment vendors this year. So if you are a gym owner and you are coming to look for equipment, or you were coming to look for something new to bring into your gym, I just thought there was a massive selection in equipment.

[0:18:21] (Allison Flatley): Oh, definitely. And one thing that I saw that was very positive was in the past, maybe the suppliers were a little territorial on their space in the trade show, but this year I saw everyone kind of integrating and visiting other people’s booths and to me that was very positive. You just got a sense of collaboration and the industry is going to win together.

[0:18:49] (Dori Nugent): Yes. Now listen, I have to give a shout out because I love seeing our sponsors at IHRSA and I have to give a shout out to Issa. They had the best swag, they loaded my bag up, they were like, here’s a hat. And they had these cool they had the ankle bands and then they had them branded, of course, but Issa had the best swag. JT, I ran into JT and he was like, looking in my bag. He’s like, we’re just all this stuff from Issa. I’m like, you got to stop by their booth, they’ll hook you up.

[0:19:25] (Allison Flatley): I did a panel with Dan and I didn’t get some swag, so I’m going to have to hit him up for some swag.

[0:19:31] (Dori Nugent): Yeah, I got a towel, I got all sorts of stuff. It was like Christmas at the Issa booth. And then Papana, another one of our big sponsors, they had a killer happy hour, I guess, through IHRSA. They rented a bartender and he made all sorts of drinks. So it was so fun on the trade show floor to hang out, kind of. We stopped by at the end of the trade show and just to have a little glass of wine and just celebrate everything. But Habana did a really nice job having the bartender there.

[0:20:07] (Allison Flatley): I’m a big fan of their branding, their new colors, and it really looked great on the trade show floor.

[0:20:14] (Dori Nugent): Yes, I agree. And then Body Map is our newest sponsor and they were new to IHRSA, so we talked about new industry professionals coming to IHRSA. This was their very first IHRSA and their team was so giddy and so excited to be there. They worked really hard at their booth. I saw them talking to a lot of people, just getting the word out of who they were and what their technology was all about.

[0:20:40] (Allison Flatley): One of the best things that happens on day one is Nicole Johnson from IHRSA does a IHRSA orientation. It’s right in the morning and she talks about how people what they do in education sessions, that it’s okay to go up and talk to speakers, it’s okay to give business cards, to ask for slides. She talks about the socials that are available and the happy hours. And really, if you’re a new person going to IHRSA, there’s always some, what do I do?

[0:21:16] (Allison Flatley): I got a few texts prior to IHRSA, what do I wear? For people who hadn’t been. So that is highly recommended. I’ve attended it before in the past, but she does a great job at kind of orienting everyone for the week.

[0:21:31] (Dori Nugent): And speaking of what to wear, I do hear that question a lot. I would say it’s fair to say you see everything from athletic wear or athleisure wear to business casual because you’ll see some of the guys, like, in jeans that maybe they do have a sport coat on, or some of the gals, if they’re presenting, they might wear a skirt or a dress. But even some of the business owners that, again, business casual, I feel like it really varies. And you could really wear anything there except for maybe your prom dress or your wedding dress.

[0:22:04] (Allison Flatley): Exactly. And I do think it’s gotten a little more casual the last couple of years in the sense of people wanting to try equipment on the trade show floor and trying to get to as many events as possible. Put on those walking shoes, put on the tennis shoes. I definitely think that I’ve seen that trend as well.

[0:22:29] (Dori Nugent): I agree. Because I usually have heels on and there’s equipment, and I see and I want to try it. I’m like, okay, I’m going to break my neck if I try this equipment in my heels. Totally agree. You need to go to the trade show floor ready to if you’re looking to buy equipment, go with a workout outfit on and sneakers so that you can actually climb on the bikes. Did you see the truck there that you open the side panels and like a mobile boot camp?

[0:22:58] (Allison Flatley): Yeah, I thought that was cool. I saw that last year, too. So this was their second one. That really neat in the sense of a personal trainer. If they wanted to do their own business or even a club to take it to your community in different areas of the club.

[0:23:18] (Dori Nugent): I was fascinated with that. I was like, if that’s the route I was going, I think I could seriously invest in that. It was awesome. All right, let’s talk about everybody likes the social side of IHRSA, and there’s actually a Facebook group called IHRSA Parties. Are you not a part of the IHRSA party parties? Okay. Everybody, Allison and everybody, all of our fe family on Facebook, maybe two, three months before IHRSA starts, there’s a IHRSA Parties Facebook group, and everybody puts in what party they’re going to or word on the street that this vendor is having a party and this is where it’s at. But we get excited about the parties. But I Alison, you know as well as myself, yes, the parties are fun, but there’s a purpose to the parties and that’s called networking.

[0:24:17] (Dori Nugent): So tell us about what you’ve experienced with the parties and the social and the networking aspect behind them.

[0:24:25] (Allison Flatley): Yeah, no business people know how to have fun, so the parties are great. So I definitely encourage everyone to participate responsibly in all the parties. But two things is, prior to IHRSA, I think you need to look at your network and to see who you need to meet. Do you need to meet a studio owner? Do you need to meet a multi club person? Do you need to meet a woman or a man who owns a business or whatever it may be and have that kind of in the back of your head? So as you go to these parties, look for those people and you can add to your network so your network is diverse and you can reach back out afterwards. So I would definitely do that.

[0:25:16] (Allison Flatley): And then I have to highlight the Rex Roundtable event party that was at Petco Park the day before IHRSA. So on Sunday, for those that came in early, we have Leo Boteri speak and talk about teams and the success of teams and really the learning cycle. And he also talked about the accountability partner. And that when colleagues and business people get together, we tend to talk about our personal lives first.

[0:25:54] (Allison Flatley): That what we really should be talking about is our businesses, because that’s where we learn. So when you share as a business person about your business to somebody and they’re able to ask questions, that’s when the ultimate learning happens. And I know that’s hard on the dance floor and at the bar at some of these parties, but I think that’s a great learning to know. So, again, as you look at your schedule for the week, you can kind of identify where you’re going to get your best learnings.

[0:26:29] (Dori Nugent): And one of the things I’d like to let everybody know out there that’s listening, especially if they’re new to IHRSA, is they probably like, how do I get invited to these parties and these happy hours? I mean, there’s all sorts of things. There’s happy hours, there’s parties, there’s walk and talk, networking events. And I would say that reach out to your vendors. Most of the large name vendors usually have some type of event they’re more than welcome to have you join them, it’s not a hard ticket to get.

[0:27:03] (Dori Nugent): And also, once you get to IHRSA, ask people why you’re there, because, again, a lot of times, last minute, you can get on the guest list. It’s not like, what am I trying to say? Like the who’s who, they really want everybody to come.

[0:27:21] (Allison Flatley): Exactly. Yeah. And I don’t know if I can get a shout out to Active Wellness and Bill McBride for his party because what they do is they reach different vendors that probably can’t afford to have a big party on their own. So they get kind of the mid size and smaller suppliers together. Rex was one of them. And they have a party. They kind of pool funds and have a great party. And there was lots of country line dancing and dancing on the dance floor. And it’s always such a great event because of the diversity of the suppliers at that event and the people at the event.

[0:28:01] (Dori Nugent): I agree. I was at that party and Bill McBride does an amazing job. And you know what I love about Bill McBride? He literally, genuinely wants everybody to have a good time. I feel when he’s there, he’s like walking around and making sure everybody’s having a good time. That is important to him. If you’re a club out there or an instructor that has Les Mills or you’re Les Mills certified, they always have a party every year.

[0:28:26] (Dori Nugent): And again, you can reach out to your Les Mills representative. I’m trying to think who else had some of the happy hours in the WiFi? Had a walk and talk event this.

[0:28:37] (Allison Flatley): Year and that’s a great event. And so did fitness business podcast. So there were two walks, both in the morning and those are great events because it’s casual. You’re in your walking shoes, you’re walking down the water and the parkway and you get to chat with people. Actually, most of my follow up this week has been with people that I walked and talked with following up. So that’s a great way to kind of meet new people and casual. So if you’re a first time attendee, it’s less threatening and it’s fun.

[0:29:14] (Dori Nugent): I agree. And then also, IHRSA has a couple of they have the welcome reception that anybody that is an attendee of IHRSA can come to. That’s always jammed packed. They have good little or D’oeuvres and drinks. So I think that’s a good event to attend. And Auggie’s Quest is another great charity event that takes place there at IHRSA.

[0:29:39] (Allison Flatley): Absolutely. And it was an interesting Auggie’s Quest because unfortunately, we lost Auggie recently. But I think everyone’s committed to the Cure and so it’s such a uniting event for the industry and it’s really heartwarming.

[0:29:58] (Dori Nugent): Yes, I agree. And I think they’re going to do just as amazing job. Even though Auggie has passed, I think it takes on a whole new identity with just really trying to continue to raise funds for ALS. So I’m excited to see the future of Auggie’s Quest at IHRSA. Now, Alison, one more question, and that is, was there anybody there? Now, you’re an industry veteran, so I’m sure you know just about everybody that’s there, but was there anybody that wowed you or impressed you or that you just got really excited to meet this year?

[0:30:34] (Allison Flatley): Well, the person I was most excited to meet, she was in the Women’s Leadership Summit. She was sitting at a table listening, just like I was to the speakers. And she stood up, and she’s six foot five, and I was like, I’ve got to meet her. So I walked up to her. Desiree Gillard Young. She has an MDA. She’s with Sanctuary Fitness in La. So, Los Angeles. They have, I believe, four studios, if I recall. But she’s the chief operating officer and people officer and a wealth of knowledge. She was in other industries before she came into our industry. So she has a great perspective and then just amazing in the sense of her knowledge of people and teams and approaching a community and really having the studio be kind of a safe place for a community.

[0:31:42] (Allison Flatley): So, one, I love meeting her. She was awesome. Two. She’s in La. So I can’t wait to go see her clubs next year at IHRSA La in March. So I’m excited about that. But she was a standout to me.

[0:31:59] (Dori Nugent): Yes, I do know who you’re talking about. All right, so here’s who I have two people. I have one female and one male that giddy like a kid. The first one was Denise, and I hope I’m pronouncing her last name correctly. It’s either M. Bessie or MBC. Do you know Alison?

[0:32:18] (Allison Flatley): I do. I don’t know how to pronounce it, but I know exactly who you’re talking about. And I saw you and her dancing to the music because I used to teach group exercise with her cassette tape.

[0:32:31] (Dori Nugent): Yes. Wait, FBP family out there. Let me not get ahead of myself. So Denise is the founder of Muscle Mixes again, Allison, you were an instructor. I’ve been instructor my entire career. I was so giddy meeting her. We talked about how I started out, and I had my little suitcase of cassette tape of muscle Mixes. Then I graduated to my suitcase of CDs, and I talked about how going to some of the old school Group X conferences, and they would be there.

[0:33:10] (Dori Nugent): They would be there as vendors, and it would be like three for $30 or three whatever. Three for $50 whatever. And they’d have hundreds of these mixes and CDs with old school OG Group X, people like Rob Glick, Mindy Melroy, Leslie Bender, which is right up my alley. And I just couldn’t believe I met her. I was so excited.

[0:33:36] (Allison Flatley): Yeah. No, I’ve had the pleasure of meeting her as well, but brings back those memories of all the teaching. I never graduated to see these. For me, it was just cassette tape.

[0:33:49] (Dori Nugent): I told Denise at the last club that I was at in Pennsylvania, they would make the younger girls coming in would make fun of me because they’d go into the room, into the music system, and they would be like, see, one of my CDs I would have left behind. And they’d be like, oh, this must be Doris, because she’s the only one. Still using CD.

[0:34:15] (Allison Flatley): Like dynamics.

[0:34:16] (Dori Nugent): Like, remember with dynamics, power, music and muscle mixes. Those were the three. So that was a huge highlight. We did a 32 count block together. It is out there on social media, so lots of fun.

[0:34:32] (Allison Flatley): The great guys and the forward clap, back clap. A lot of memories with the knee up.

[0:34:39] (Dori Nugent): Yeah, right? And then the male, for me, absolutely highlight of my year was to meet Rob O’Neill. I follow Rob O’Neill before IHRSA conference. I’ve known who he is for the last, I don’t know, maybe eight years. I think I’ve said this before on the FVP podcast, but I’m a huge post 911 history junkie. I read all those books. I know a lot of times it’s the same stories over and over, but I don’t know why, but I just love them.

[0:35:11] (Dori Nugent): So I’ve met many of what I call the post 911 heroes, but never met Rob O’Neill. So I got a chance to meet him, talk to him. I got my picture taken with him. I sent it to my son because I told him, I’m like, I’m meeting him. My son’s like, there’s no way you’re going to meet him. Your mom is figuring out a way. So I did get to meet him. I did a selfie with him and sent it to my son who is ready to head out to the army here as soon as he graduates college. And I was like, look at your mom.

[0:35:45] (Allison Flatley): That’s awesome. I was with you, I think, the day before when you weren’t sure you were trying to figure out the strategy so you could meet him. I’m so glad that that happened.

[0:35:58] (Dori Nugent): I was working. I told JT. I’m like JT. I’m meeting him. JT’s like, what are you going to do? I’m like, if I have to stand outside the room and stalk and wait for him, I’m going to do it. And JT’s like, oh, my God. It was funny. It was like halfway through the day and JT texted me, goes, well, did you meet Rob O’Neill? And I just sent the photo. He was like, well, you did it. You were right.

[0:36:23] (Allison Flatley): That’s so neat. With your son going into the military or going into the army. And I believe he’s ROTC. Is that right?

[0:36:31] (Dori Nugent): Yeah, he’s ROTC graduates in May. He just got his assignment. He’s going to leave us July 9 for a seven year military career, at least to start. He owes them seven years. And I just laughed because it’s so him. I sent him the photo. I’m dying. I’m like telling it like a teenage girl. And his response was cool. All I got was cool.

[0:37:00] (Allison Flatley): I’m sure he was proud of mom and proud of him for being serving for us.

[0:37:08] (Dori Nugent): Well, Allison, that kind of concludes our recap. Like, I actually think we could talk for another 30 minutes about this.

[0:37:15] (Allison Flatley): We only got the three of my ten pages of notes I have so many notes from IHRSA. You always walk away with so much.

[0:37:26] (Dori Nugent): Good stuff, and you already mentioned it. But just to let our FBP family hopefully our job today was to get all of our FBP family excited and interested and maybe intrigued about IHRSA. And it is going to be next year, March 8 through the 11th. But they are changing locations. It’s going to be still in California, but it’s in La. Which should be fun and exciting.

[0:37:53] (Allison Flatley): Right? We all get to walk the red carpet. All right, Alex.

[0:38:01] (Dori Nugent): Go ahead.

[0:38:03] (Allison Flatley): I can’t wait. I’m like you get so excited up to IHRSA and can’t wait to see everyone again. Looking forward to La. It’s already on the calendar and already booked for me.

[0:38:16] (Dori Nugent): Yes. Oh, one thing I have to say is back to the parties. The Myzone, if anybody out there has Myzone in their club, the Myzone Breakfast. I don’t know what it is. It’s one of my favorite social events. It’s a little early in the morning, but it’s well worth it. So, again, reach out to your Myzone rep if you’d like to get a ticket to the Myzone Breakfast. But Allison. Thank you. Thank you so much for coming on. I hope we did our job, and I hope we got people excited for IHRSA 2024.

[0:38:50] (Allison Flatley): Yes, agree. And then one last thing. Compliments to the IHRSA team and staff, because that event is terrific. And compliments to everyone that attended and can’t wait to see everyone next year.

[0:39:16] (Dori Nugent): Would you like to continue the conversation with Allison or possibly learn more about Rex Roundtables?

[0:39:22] (Dori Nugent): Please feel free to reach out to.

[0:39:24] (Dori Nugent): Allison as her contact info is posted on our Show Notes. Show Notes can be [email protected], and when you’re there, click on the subscribe button so the Show Notes can be sent to you each and every week. In just a few seconds, I’ll introduce you to marketing guru Debbie Oster.

[0:39:43] (JT): G’day, it’s JT here. And I was talking to Blair Mckaney, the CEO of one of our sponsors, MX Metrics, the other day, and I gave him a hard time about his company’s tagline defeating Mediocrity. By definition, that means he’s excluding the majority of the market, but Blair just wouldn’t budge. He only wants to work with operators who want to punch Mediocrity in the face, really smash it. So I’ve talked to a few of his customers, like Joe Chearelli from Gainesville Health and Fitness, and, yeah, it’s for real.

[0:40:16] (JT): While Joe is a nice guy, he isn’t satisfied with Mediocrity either. He’s crushing it as well. So I’m still dubious about selling only to operators who want to defeat Mediocrity, but if this resonates with you, I reckon you should check them out. Go to Mxmetrics.com. But remember, only if you’re interested in smashing Mediocrity.

[0:40:42] (Dori Nugent): Quickfire five, sponsored by Hapana.

[0:40:45] (Dori Nugent): Let’s welcome marketing expert Debbie Oster.

[0:40:49] (Dori Nugent): It is time for our Quickfire Five questions where we are going to get to know next week’s guest. So I’d like to welcome at this time, Debbie aster Debbie, thank you so much for coming on to our quickfire five.

[0:41:02] (Debbie Oster): Thank you dori for having me. I’m so excited to be here.

[0:41:04] (Dori Nugent): Yes, we are too. So we’re going to get to know you. I have a couple of fun questions for you, and then our last question. You get to advertise your episode for next week, so let’s get started. Tell us what your top guilty pleasure is.

[0:41:21] (Debbie Oster): I have to say it’s wine and chocolate together. So every night after I have my dinner and I sit down and I relax, I love having a glass of wine and a piece of dark chocolate with sea salt, and I try to stop myself from doing it every single day, but sometimes it’s very challenging because it’s just my go to pleasure.

[0:41:40] (Dori Nugent): Well, it’s sometimes nice to have a little reward at the end of the day, I’m all about that. All right. How about an habit or an action that helps you be productive?

[0:41:51] (Debbie Oster): So every Monday, I love to plan my week ahead. I like to spend about an hour just kind of blocking off time, setting myself up, looking at the opportunities I have, and then setting my intentions for the week.

[0:42:02] (Dori Nugent): I have so many successful people that come on to the podcast. They talk about setting time, like, Sunday night or first thing Monday morning and kind of planning out their week. What is an activity that calms you?

[0:42:17] (Debbie Oster): Believe it or not, it’s riding motorcycles. I love riding on the weekends on my time off. It’s my favorite hobby, and it is super calming for me.

[0:42:26] (Dori Nugent): Good for you. We all need that. All right, how about a book that you can recommend to tell us maybe something you’re reading now or maybe something you’ve read in the past that you would definitely recommend to all of our listeners out there?

[0:42:40] (Debbie Oster): So I’m in the midst of reading buy Back Your Time by Dan Martel, which I love. It’s got so many actionable insights in it. It’s great for entrepreneurs.

[0:42:50] (Allison Flatley): Okay.

[0:42:50] (Dori Nugent): And that was buy your time.

[0:42:52] (Debbie Oster): Buy back your time.

[0:42:54] (Dori Nugent): Buy back your time.

[0:42:55] (Allison Flatley): Perfect.

[0:42:55] (Dori Nugent): We will put a link to that book in our show notes so our FDP family can check it out. That’s a good one. I don’t think we’ve had that one before. Oh, awesome. Yes. All right, so are you ready to take over the mic and invite all of our FBP family to your episode next week?

[0:43:10] (Debbie Oster): In next week’s episode, I’m going to talk about how I work with small businesses to help them with some of their key issues that they struggle with, including a lack of a marketing strategy, which drains their budget and their time. And it’s just frustrating. I help small businesses to develop a comprehensive marketing strategy and then a corresponding plan so they can save time, money, and energy, and they can move the needle in their businesses.

[0:43:42] (Dori Nugent): Never miss an episode again. Subscribe to the Fitness Business [email protected]. Remember, the one episode you miss could be the one that changes your business for the better. Hey, I’d like to send a shout out to our partners and our sponsors. We couldn’t do this show each and every week without them. So thank you to Active Management. Thank you to Myzone, ISSA, Hapana, and Bodymapp, as well as our Advertisers REX Roundtables and MX Metrics.

[0:44:14] (Dori Nugent): We believe what you leave behind is not what’s engraved in stone monuments, but woven into the lives of others.

END OF EPISODE