IHRSA EUROPE UPDATE
NEWS
Congress, which was held on 27–30 October 2011 in Milan, Italy. Industry federations from across Europe, as well as South Africa and New Zealand, were also represented at the event.
IHRSA European Congress 2011 N
early 500 delegates from a record 35 countries attended the 11th Annual IHRSA European
leaders who have done the most to advance both their own company and the industry. Together with her husband, Yusina
recognising achievement Among the highlights of the event was the presentation of the 2011 IHRSA European Club Leadership Award to two recipients: Anastasia Yusina, president of Strata Partners in Russia; and Franck Gueguen, chair and CEO of Club Med Gym in France. T e award recognises the European club
started Strata Partners 10 years ago with one club. Today, the company has 33 clubs across two brands – Orange Fitness and City Fitness. It has locations in three countries, 70,000 members and over €29m in annual revenue. In presenting the award, IHRSA president Joe Moore noted that Yusina, a founding member of the IHRSA Europe Council, “places a high value on industry education and continually encourages her colleagues to attend the Congress and other industry events”. Gueguen has been CEO of Club Med Gym for over six years. T e company was
It was an excellent event with a great agenda, which was fantastically well attended
company is constantly innovating in an eff ort to better serve the needs of members,” Moore said at the congress.
T e congress off ered many opportunities to catch up with colleagues in the health and fi tness industry 20 Read Health Club Management online at
healthclubmanagement.co.uk/digital
business ideas In addition to concurrent educational sessions aimed at both the strategic and operational levels, the Congress featured four general session presentations: Santiago Alvarez de Mon, professor of Managing People in Organisations at the IESE Business School, presented on ‘Leadership: T e Art of Engaging People’. He explained that leadership is the art of exercising infl uence over others that results in them changing their minds, thoughts and/or emotions. But you cannot lead until you build trust by having truthful, caring conversations where you are receptive to the ideas of others – conversations that may result in you changing your mind, he added. Andrea Guerra, CEO of Luxottica Group SpA, presented on ‘Competing in the NEW NORMAL Era’ (sponsored by Technogym SpA). Guerra’s company owns high-end glasses brands such as Rayban and Oakley, but he considers the iPod to be his biggest competitor. “I’m selling things you’ve seen on a catwalk, on a movie star – not a frame with two lenses,” he said, noting that innovation is something that allows your customers to have a diff erent experience. Simon Bolton, professor and director at the Centre for Competitive Creative Design at Cranfi eld University, and co-founder of Creative Resource Lab, spoke on ‘Building Equity and Business Value through Eff ective Product and Brand Development’. Bolton encouraged attendees to “co- brand” with compatible companies as a way of increasing business volume. He noted that it is important to stand for something, to own your space –
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started in 1980 with fi ve clubs in France and had grown to 22 by the end of last year. With the acquisition in February 2011 of Silhouette, the number one Swiss player, Club Med Gym now has 45 clubs in three countries, 107,000 members, and annual revenue of more than €80m. “Under Franck’s leadership, the
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