Adding Value: Tips to Implement Seminars, Specialty Classes and Community Events Part 1

Part One: Selecting the right event for your gym

So you want to provide more for your members, your brand and ultimately, your bank account? Seminars, specialty classes and community events are great ways to accomplish this. However, before you go running off emailing experts, building partnerships and buying party favors, there are a few things you need to keep in mind to ensure success.

Like with any program worthy of results, you need to have a plan…and a good one at that. Over the next three articles, we are going to share some tips to not only help you be more successful, but also steer clear of some of the mistakes we have made in the past. We will discuss the following three areas:

1. Understanding your community
2. Partnerships and pricing
3. Preparation and execution

Your Community Should Get What They Want

You’re the owner, so you always know what your community wants, right? Wrong. First thing’s first: get out of your own head. What we mean is, understand that what you think may be worthwhile, awesome or even necessary for your community, might not be what they want. It might not even be what they’re willing to attend. It’s easy to overestimate your feel on the community’s pulse. We’ve done it and still have to continuously remind ourselves that we don’t always know. So how do you know? Simple, ask and listen. How? We use surveys. They take little time and are free!

Here are some quick tips and steps to help you get started:

• Create free online surveys using Survey Monkey. By registering, you’ll have access to build a survey and analyze your results. The free version will only let you ask up to 10 questions. This is great, because you really shouldn’t be asking any more than that.
• Ask clear and concise questions. You want relevant data, so be sure that your questions are not confusing, misleading or asking something irrelevant to what you want/are able to provide.
• Be aware of your own biases. Be sure to develop questions that do not lead to certain answers. An example would be, Which of the following areas most interest you? (Give them a list of choices applicable to your business and allow them to select more than one).
• Test your survey before distributing. This is important! You want to make sure that you are collecting applicable and useful data. Plus, you won’t want to resend another survey one day after sending the first. So have a few people outside of your member base respond to your questions.
• Set a deadline for your responses. Once you’ve ensured that your survey is ready, give it a timeframe. You’ll want to give your community a heads up so that they know how much time they have to respond.
• Compile the data and make solid conclusions. Use this information to determine what your members want. Make a list of the seminars, specialty classes, etc. that you would be able to provide and organize them by how soon you would be able to provide them.

Now that you know what your community wants, let’s make it happen! In the next article, we’ll discuss the people involved and the price for admission.

Selecting the right seminars is a great way to keep your valued members engaged and can help with your overall retention strategy. Looking for additional retention tips? Get your copy of our guide, 7 Essential Strategies for Member Retention.

Guest post written by Beau Jackson, Axistence Athletics

From a small farm in Indiana to summiting Mt. Rainier, Beau has worked and participated in a variety of industries from the lowest to the highest of company positions. Currently, he is the Finance, Office, and Business Development Manager at Axistence Athletics, LLC and is hoping to pursue a Ph.D in Health & Behavior Sciences at the University of Colorado-Denver this fall. He enjoys pretty much every sport (especially soccer), has a passion for teaching, and lives an active existence with his fiancé Jennifer and dog Olie.