Earlier this month the NIHCA Networking Group gathered to tour two facilities and roundtable on what’s working and what’s not working in the fitness facility world. We were able to tour the Williston Fitness Center and then we regrouped and toured The Marsh! Wonderful tours; thank you to Dakota, Bud and Bruce. Drew Wurst from Johnson Fitness & Wellness talked with us about Fitness Equipment Trends.

We then had a delicious lunch from Davanni’s Pizza and then broke into smaller roundtables. Discussions did not lull for the 90 minutes we had to share what’s working and what isn’t working. We discussed many things from memberships to marketing and everything between.

Some topics that were discussed: memberships, pay-to-play, annual vs monthly, admin vs cancel fee, discipline and behavioral issues with members, lifeguards and staffing issues including hiring challenges, marketing and social media, special events to encourage more traffic, programming, creative revenue including indoor playgrounds, club software, pickle ball and so much more.

The NIHCA Networking group keeps in touch throughout the year via email and they come together in person up to twice a year! A member of the group will send out a question and get the feedback and insight from other members. This valuable knowledge, this toolbox we could all benefit from, is FREE with your NIHCA membership. If you are not yet involved in the NIHCA Networking group, email Holly to get added, holly@nihca.org.