Network Magazine autumn 2016 | Page 9

Not just inspirational, but aspirational The way we were… 13 years ago, in early 2003, Network magazine pre-empted the explosion in popularity of Zumba when it featured Argentinian media personality and group fitness instructor Ulises Puiggros showcasing ‘Latin aerobics’. “The growing demand for Latin based group fitness classes can be attributed to the popularity of Latin music and Latino personalities that are emerging in the mainstream entertainment industry around the world. Latin aerobics is popular because it provides intensity, achieves results and has great entertainment value. A successful Latin aerobics class is a combination of fitness and dance. …The dance element in Latin aerobics provides participants with numerous benefits, including a unique experience of rhythms and an opportunity for self expression.” 1 thing I’ve learnt… Davin Miller, CEO Debitsuccess debitsuccess.com.au “The one thing I’ve learnt since joining the direct debit sector is that a gym or PT can improve their cashflow without increasing the number of clients. The easiest thing to do is to encourage clients to pay weekly rather than monthly. That’s it! A client’s weekly payment will reverse half the number of times that a client’s monthly payment does. Why? Because a weekly gym membership might only be $15 while a monthly membership will be $60. Naturally, your clients are more likely to have $15 available in their account than they are $60. If you are a PT the difference in reversal rates is more pronounced because you are dealing with larger sums of money e.g. a weekly payment of $100 vs. a monthly payment of $433. There are a number of other actions you can take to improve your cashflow, but moving your clients from monthly payers to weekly payers is a great start.” Next month in Melbourne, Australian Fitness Network will once again deliver FILEX, the fitness industry convention. I feel proud that over the past twenty years FILEX has grown from a small fitness industry event into a learning and networking experience recognised as one of the best of its kind in the world. A huge amount of work goes into such a large event, and I’m going take this opportunity to provide a quick overview of what you can expect in 2016. Before planning the FILEX program, the Network team spends many hours creating a theme that is not only inspirational, but also aspirational. This year that theme is ‘Realising Potential’, which can be defined as ‘helping people achieve the standards they are capable of’. Such a statement is hard to beat as a definition of capability. With this in mind, we have assembled a convention program that provides a wealth of opportunities to realise your true potential as a trainer, instructor or manager, so that you in turn can help your clients, members and participants reach theirs. The FILEX program comprises over 230 sessions delivered by leading international and local presenters, so there’s plenty to choose from, no matter what aspect of the industry you are passionate about. Business-wise, there are sessions covering modern day leadership, memorable customer service, adapting to relentless change, identifying your value proposition and much more. The Personal Training sessions, meanwhile, range in their content from the latest research into different training protocols and trends in exercise pr W67&