It’s that time of year again when FILEX rolls around. This time it’s a little unique in that the world is more or less shut down. I love attending conventions because it can introduce you to so many new ideas and training modalities you were never aware of. It can help shape your career by pointing you down a different path to what you could ever imagine.
My approach to events like FILEX (and even my Fitness Australia CECs) is a one for me, one for the business. Because, when I first started it was always for me: strength training, kettlebells, Olympic lifting, technology, etc. All great and interesting things, but, none of them realistically help me get new members down to bootcamp, or new clients into my personal training sessions, or improve my small group training numbers. So it is important to share the knowledge around. Make sure you focus equal time towards things that maybe you don’t love, but are VITAL for your businesses success. It could be sales strategies, online marketing, business management or probably a popular one this year, online training/virtual training.
With this in mind here are my top picks for FILEX 2020:
1) Resilience in Tough Times: Kurt Fearnley?
Born with a congenital disorder Kurt Fearnley has no doubt experienced tough and trying times. A successful paralympian and someone who has CRAWLED the Kokoda Track, Kurt Fearnley knows a little about resilience. With plenty going on right now, I think this Keynote address could be really pertinent. I’m predicting that the following quote may appear throughout his speech; Hard times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. And, weak men create hard times.(G. Michael Hopf).
We’ve had it amazingly well in Australia for a very long time, things are tough now, but we?ll come through it, bigger, better and stronger.
2) Online Coaching 101: How to Coach People Online and Get Extraordinary Results: Jordan Syatt
Currently everyone in the industry has done a bit of a pivot and are now offering virtual sessions. I refer to them as virtual because they’re still being run in realtime by the trainer. This is different to online training which allows you as the trainer to step away and scale your business without taking too much extra time. The reason this is an important skill is because, I’m not convinced that virtual training is going to stick around post COVID-19, but one thing that will probably get a boost is people being willing to use high quality online training. Hearing from one of the world’s leaders is a great opportunity.
3) Building a Badass Toolbox for Change to Thrive in Globally Challenging Times: Emma Barry
Right now, times are challenging there’s no doubt about that! But, some businesses have been able to thrive and grow. If Emma can share some tips to get ahead I’m all ears!
4) The Neuroscience of Leadership in Challenging Times: Paul Taylor
Leadership skills never go astray. Strong leadership through tough times is exponentially more important. You are a leader to your clients, you can be a leader to your peers and you can be a leader in the industry. Why not try to polish some of these valuable skills.
5) Mastering Differentiation as a Virtual Trainer: Billy Polson
Now this session does clash with the #1 FILEX 2020 session: Boost Retention with Online Challenges by a couple of heavy hitting fitness industry geniuses 😉 But, I’d be making sure to catch this one on the replay. Like I mentioned earlier, I believe there is a clear difference between Virtual Training and Online Training. We’ve been working hard to share our knowledge of how to make sessions more interesting than just circuits and follow along, but any extra 1%ers can’t hurt.
SUMMARY:
I mentioned that I like to typically do a one for me, one for the business approach. This year, with things being very different, I have decided to focus all on the business side of things. This is more important than ever before for any fitness professional or business owner. I look forward to seeing your all in our session and then we can all catch Billy Polson on the replay 😉
