Leisure Industry Week (LIW) 2016 positioned itself as a hub for workforce development across all sectors, with a focus on education. Education streams were offered in spa and wet leisure, sport, play, facilities management, fitness (including practical coaching and a fitness business school) and health.
While the 2015 speaker line-up focused on big names from the world of sport – including Stuart Pearce, Ben Cohen, Kellie Maloney and Sally Gunnell – 2016 was all about business. The line-up included Warren Knight, CEO of Think Digital First; former head of digital at Microsoft Allister Frost; and former head of the John Lewis Intelligence Team, Andrew McMillan.
Learning from the best
Well-known names from the fitness and physical activity sector also featured in the speaker line-up this year.
As part of the sports stream, Fit for Sport chief executive Dean Horridge delivered a talk on how to improve participation by ‘engaging with the disengaged’ and even looking at why ‘sport is not for everyone’.
Meanwhile in the play stream, senior lecturer at Anglia Ruskin University Dr Lee Smith discussed ‘encouraging activity within the family unit’, while principal research associate at Cambridge University Dr David Whitebread discussed the ‘value of play for young children’s development’.
Spa & wet leisure also had a strong presence at the show, with exhibitors including the likes of AquaMat, ColdTub, SRS Leisure and many more. The education stream featured Invictus Games swimming champion Mike Goody discussing ‘how to turn your swimming teachers into champions’.
The facilities management education stream featured talks on smart energy strategy, employee engagement, interpersonal communication, recruitment, safety culture and sales. Speakers included Planday CEO John Coldicutt, Pure World Energy CEO Simon Wright, and DataHub director Alex Burrows.
A healthy education
Those attending the sporta Health Improvement Conference heard from Public Health England’s Dr Mike Brannan, in his session discussing ‘the challenge of getting everyone active’, and East of Riding Leisure’s Kevin Hadfield explaining a case study on GP referrals. Hayley Jarvis discussed ‘the role of physical activity in tackling mental health issues’ and Dr Dane Vishnubala of Core Fitness looked at how ‘the fitness industry can get more involved in the physical activity agenda’.
Meanwhile, the fitness stream covered three distinct zones – the Fitness Business School, practical coaching sessions and a nutrition zone. Fitness professionals had the opportunity to learn from a number of leading coaches and educators, while leading figures in the fitness industry led sessions which looked at the practical application of fitness training and nutrition.
Throughout the two days, energetic demonstrations of the latest classes were provided by Sosa Dance Fitness, BhangraBlaze and Hulafit. Urban Attack ran an assault course, and the Trampoline Park was once again a great place to let off steam.
