After a 30-year association with Chicago, the fitness conference known as Club Industry had a last event Oct. 9-11 at the Hilton Chicago.
This year's eventgeared for fitness professionalsfeatured talks on subjects such as facility-membership retention, online training, nutrition, workplace equity/diversity and many more. Other items included a club community breakfast, show floor happy hour and even a "sisterhood stride."
And, as always, there was the exhibit hall, packed with vendors pitching everything from ergonomic equipment to insurance. Just a few of the vendors included Optavia ( Optavia.com ), which offers what reps called a proven nutrition plan; Birt Strength Systems ( BirtStrength.com ), which has ergonomic free weights designed to maximize workout versatility; GLF/Gym Leads Fast ( GymLeadsFast.com ), which aims to procure members for fitness facilities; Flex Wipes ( Kleen-Machine.com ); nutrition companies Larabar ( Larabar.com ) and Hummingbar ( TheHummingGroup.com ); WAVE Drowning Detection ( WAVEdds.com ); and even EMMA ( email marketing ) Inc., whose rep, Jaci, said was "like MailChimp, but better."
The conference will next take place Oct. 14-16, 2020, in St. Louis.
Photos by Andrew Davis