2018 World Gym Convention Highlights the Future of the Iconic Brand
Posted: September 20, 2018 in Chains
World Gym
LOS ANGELES, CA – World Gym International, the iconic global brand for bodybuilding and seriously fun fitness, gathered franchisees, vendors and partners from nine countries for the 2018 World Gym International Convention in Las Vegas on September 5 – 8, 2018. The annual gathering was held at the Aria Resort & Casino in Las Vegas with nearly 200 attendees, including gym owners and staff from Australia, Brazil, Canada, Egypt, Lebanon, Mexico, Taiwan, United States and Russia. The convention featured a “Beginnings” theme, letting members and franchisees know that no matter what stage you are in in life that World Gym is ready to get you started, helping everyone achieve their dreams with the best team, coaches and community possible.
“I look forward to the convention every year, which really feels more like a family reunion,” said Guy Cammilleri, CEO of World Gym. “Our global network comes to the convention to train together, learn together, support each other, share ideas and help each other improve our businesses. This year’s convention was our most successful yet.”
On Wednesday, the event kicked off with an opening ceremony led by Cammilleri, where he highlighted the growth of World Gym over the last year, the turn-key digital marketing platform for franchisees, exceptionally profitable results of the turn-key digital marketing platform at the corporate owned World Gym locations, new advertising campaigns, the new World Gym app with fitness tracking features and the enormous success of the World Gym Athletics program. Thanks in part to World Gym Athletics, Cammilleri is projecting that World Gym will grow to 500 gyms by 2023 which would be a mix of full-service gyms & World Gym Athletics Studios.
Over the next three days, franchisees had a chance to participate in different roundtable discussions and educational sessions hosted by the World Gym International team, including topics like business planning, developing your next World Gym, growing personal training, inspiring members to become athletes who want to train, and the latest digital marketing tools with industry leading experts.
At the trade show, World Gym owners were able to meet with a variety of different vendors highlighting their latest equipment, apparel and services. The trade show included Premier Vendors like Precor, ABC Financial and Matrix, as well as important service providers, who help with local and digital marketing, customer acquisition and member retention.
The keynote session this year by Olympian Nikki Stone was inspirational and highly memorable. Stone spoke about fighting back against insurmountable odds to become the 1998 Olympic gold medalist in aerial skiing along with numerous other prestigious titles and awards. Her speech chronicled her incredible journey and tribulations and she encouraged and motivated everyone that no matter what life throws at you, you are able to rise above it all and “spread your wings.”
World Gym Athletics growth was a focal point for the convention. Developed and led by Doug Katona, WGI’s Chief Operations Officer and Director of Training & Education, World Gym Athletics launched in 2017 as both a signature small group training program for members and a new ongoing education and training program for coaches. Over past year, WGI has held 10 certifications and certified more than 400 trainers at dozens of World Gym facilitates across the United States. Every gym that has implemented the World Gym Athletics program has seen a dramatic increase in personal training revenue and a notable decrease in membership churn. To highlight that success and demonstrate the program to all the franchisees in attendance, Katona and Cammilleri led group morning workouts and demonstrations each day of the Convention.
The convention is also where World Gym hosted their first certification for One Barbell, a new 30-minute class designed to get your Athletes all-over strong. Each class includes 10 minutes of prep, skill and technique and 20 minutes of all-out, fast-paced barbell and bodyweight movements. One Barbell is perfect for Athletes who want a fun, complete full-body workout in just 30 minutes. Over 50 coaches participated and are now certified to teach this exciting edition to World Gym Athletics programming.
The event concluded with the annual awards gala recognizing franchise owners, members, and staff for their achievements over the last year. The recipients recognized were:
- Best Social Media Marketing – WORLD GYM MILLSBORO;
- Best Public Relations Campaign – WORLD GYM AUSTRALIA;
- Best Charitable Initiative – WORLD GYM BRASÌLIA;
- Best Overall Marketing – WORLD GYM TAIWAN;
- Most Successful Ownership Change – WORLD GYM BARRIE;
- Best Rebranding – USA – WORLD GYM DALE CITY;
- Best Rebranding – International – WORLD GYM PENRITH;
- Best Gym Design & Branding – International – WORLD GYM ZHUBEI;
- Most Improved Gym – International – WORLD GYM BEAUPORT;
- Best New Gym – Canada – WORLD GYM GUELPH;
- Best New Gym – International – WORLD GYM KRASNOGORSK;
- Best New Gym – Australia – WORLD GYM BURPENGARY;
- Best New Gym – Taiwan – WORLD GYM TAIPEI DAZHI;
- Best Latin American Gym – WORLD GYM CURITIBA;
- Best Australian Gym – WORLD GYM TOWNSVILLE;
- Best Canadian Gym – WORLD GYM NEUFCHÂTEL;
- Best Middle East / African Gym – WORLD GYM ALEXANDRIA STANLEY;
- Best Russian Gym – WORLD GYM KRASNODAR;
- Best Taiwanese Gym – WORLD GYM TAICHUNG LIMING;
- Best World Gym Athletics Program – WORLD GYM MILLSBORO;
- Vendor of the Year – ABC FINANCIAL;
- Most Inspirational Member – JONATHAN SALAS, WORLD GYM INGRAM PARK;
- Most Inspirational Employee – AMANDA FREEMAN, WORLD GYM AUSTRALIA;
- Franchisee of the Year – WORLD GYM TAIWAN.
The World Gym Convention is made possible in part thanks to its sponsors, vendors, and exhibitors, including Premier Sponsors Precor, ABC Financial and Matrix Fitness, as well as featured vendors Accuiq, American Barbell, Cellucor, Club OS, Ecore, Europa, FitMetrix, Inc., HydroMassage, Main Street Hub, Muscle-Up Marketing, Real Ryder, Stages Cycling, U-Max, USI, TRX, web.com and X-Treme World Sport.
World Gym will announce the dates and location for the 2019 International World Gym Convention at worldgymconvention.com in the coming weeks.
