Oxygen News
Below you will find a selection of recent press releases and news from Oxygen Consulting.
December 2007
London Borough of Lambeth Leisure Centre Regeneration
We commenced our first project with the London Borough of Lambeth this month. Lambeth is presently planning a £75 million improvement programme for two leisure centres. The centres will be closing to allow work to take place, which means that existing user groups require alternative leisure accommodation. We were appointed for our rapid research expertise and have now successfully completed the first stage of the project.
|
 |
December 2007
Swedish Health and Fitness Conference, Gothenburg
Ray was invited to speak at this year's Healthy Business Conference in Gothenburg, Sweden (6th-7th December 2007). Ray delivered two presentations to Scandinavian health club operators on the need for clubs to get behind a compelling cause as a means of insulating themselves from competition. Ray was the only overseas speaker so the pressure was on to ensure that delegates received the message. Judging from the feedback, the message connected. Stefan Tingwell of Club Sweden, one of the organisers sent us his feedback:
"All the delegates I was talking to thought that you (Ray Algar) were among the top speakers. I think you really caught their interest and opened their eyes with your presentations. That was further confirmed in the big interest in your book. I would also like to order some copies of your book, Mastering Health Club Management."
We look forward to contributing to next year's event.
You can read Ray's presentations here.
|
|
December 2007
The Moodie Report
Martin Moody, the founder of the Moodie Report read our recent Leisure Report article: What does your brand stand for? It struck a chord with Martin and he asked permission to publish the article in the February 2008 edition of the Moodie Report. Martin comments: "I read your article below in Leisure Report and was very impressed. I thought it was a super and insightful article."
Please contact us if you would like an article or conference presentation brimming with thought-provoking insight.
|
|
December 2007
New health club speed meetings
2008 sees the launch of a new event from Velocity which brings independent health clubs together with leading industry suppliers. The day is structured into 40 short meetings where suppliers have five minutes to pitch their proposition. A presentation by a leading speaker takes place over lunch. IHRSA is a strategic partner to Velocity and is organising the external speaker line-up. Ray has been invited to become one of the key speakers.
|
|
November 2007
Leisure Report Awards – Claridge's, London
As regular contributors to Leisure Report Journal, we love the Leisure Report Awards, which are held at the fabulous Claridge's hotel, London. Ray was invited to announce the winner of 'Revitalised Brand of the Year', won by Blackpool Pleasure Beach.
|
|
November 2007
IHRSA European Congress, Paris
This month saw Ray hop on the Eurostar and head off to Paris for the annual IHRSA European Congress. The European Congress is always insightful because it is a unique opportunity to interact with health club operators from all corners of the continent. Rising levels of competition was the general theme when talking to club owners from Norway down to southern Greece.
It was great to see Rasmus Ingerslev pick up the 2007 European Club Leadership Award at this year's IHRSA European Congress. Rasmus is the CEO of fitness dk, Denmark's largest fitness chain with 33 clubs and 95,000 members. Ray first met Rasmus after co-presenting at this year's Rimini Wellness Conference during May. It has been a very good year for Rasmus. He was instrumental in forming the Danish Fitness and Health Organisation, is now listed in Denmark's top 100 young leaders and fitness dk is on-track to grow to 38 clubs by the end of 2008.
|
|
October 2007
Presentation to delegates at the ILAM Ireland Conference
Innovate or evaporate was the theme for this year’s ILAM Ireland Conference held in Trim, a few miles outside of Dublin. It was very interesting finding out more about the Irish club market, which now stands at around 600 facilities. Delegates were extensively briefed during the two days on the low-cost club (budget health clubs) trend with case studies on Planet Fitness, McFit and FitSpace.
Ray was one of the overseas speakers along with Debra Siena, Regional Vice President of Tennis Corp of America, Andy McCabe, Operations Director from Greenwich Leisure Ltd, Duncan Green from Momentum Business Development and Rob Chorlton of Leisure Advantage.
This was a challenging presentation. Ray was asked to present to delegates while they simultaneously tucked into breakfast! It transpired that the eighty delegates enjoyed discovering the value of creating a unique health club business as much as their Irish breakfast. Feedback was very positive:
"Many thanks for your excellent presentation"
Killian Fisher, Chief Executive, ILAM Ireland
Picture shows Ray with Killian Fisher
|
|
October 2007
Ray presents at the annual Parkwood Leisure conference
Ray was invited to speak at this year’s annual Parkwood Leisure Conference which was attended by the group’s 57 Centre Managers along with the head office team. Parkwood Leisure is one of the UK’s largest operators of leisure centres, managed on behalf of a range of local authority partners. The presentation theme was for the Managers to get behind a strong local cause that can help them connect with customers as a strategy for insulating them from competition. Feedback was very positive:
'It was great to meet you on Tuesday and thanks so much for the presentation. The feedback from the conference was great and the presentation was very thought provoking. Thanks also for the copy of the book (Mastering Health Club Management) which I am looking forward to reading.'
Philippa Lloyd-Harris, Marketing Director
'It has certainly got the management team in Parkwood talking and thinking about their business differently! I personally now have started to think what is my cause? Many thanks for making us think.'
Graeme Maclennan, Marketing Manager
|
|
September 2007
Ray presents at the MIOFF Health & Fitness Conference, Moscow
Ray first spoke at the MIOFF conference in 2005 and was invited back this year along with David Minton from the Leisure Database Company. MIOFF is Russia’s largest health and fitness conference and draws a range of international visitors and speakers. It is always very satisfying to speak to health club operators in emerging markets as they have an enthusiastic appetite for knowledge. Ray’s conference presentation was creating a unique health club against a backdrop of rising competition and drawing on themes from Mastering Health Club Management.
|
|
August 2007
Wave Leisure Trust announces major gym expansion.
Work is now almost complete on the Lewes Leisure Centre gym expansion. The Lewes Centre in East Sussex, is one of five facilities operated by Wave Leisure Trust, where Ray Algar is the Deputy Chairman. The enlarged gym will help to accommodate rising membership numbers. Click here to watch a 3-D walk-through of the new gym.
|
|
August 2007
The Oxygen blog is now nearing its second birthday. Click here if you need to keep abreast of developments in leisure. Please post a comment on the blog and tell us what you think by taking part in our blog poll.
|
|
August 2007
ADMAP, the international marketing journal Admap that draws on material from around the globe to keep its readers abreast of the very latest ideas and techniques is publishing our recent article on low-cost health clubs. Ray collaborated with Neil Burton from Deloitte. Click here if you would like to read the Leisure Report version: 'Price war on the gym floor'.
|
|
August 2007
A copy of Mastering Health Club Management is now on its way to Israel. International copies have now also been despatched to New Zealand, Australia, Germany and the United States. You can read a complimentary chapter by browsing to our publishing section.
|
|
August 2007
We will be collaborating with Judo Socialware from Bilbao for a forthcoming piece of research on the UK health club industry. Judo Socialware has developed ASOMO, which is software that helps to capture on-line consumer sentiment towards products and services. ASOMO captures negative and positive comments posted by users in discussion forums, blogs and review sites, spanning most major languages. Look out if you are in the business of offering a mediocre service - your customers are probably ranting about your company at this very moment.
|
|
July 2007
Ray will be presenting at the ILAM Ireland Annual Conference. Ray joins Alison O'Kane, Assistant VP of International Operations: IHRSA (International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Association), Paul Eigenmann Executive Director of Qualitop, Switzerland and Debra Siena, Regional Vice President, TCA (Tennis Corporation of America).
|
|
June 2007
Ray will be presenting at the Moscow International Health & Fitness Conference (MIOFF) in September 2007. David Minton from the Leisure Database Company is the other British speaker. MIOFF is Russia's largest health and fitness conference and draws a range of international visitors and speakers. Ray will be talking to delegates about how to create a unique health club against a backdrop of rising competition and drawing on themes from Mastering Health Club Management.
|
|
May 2007
'What does your health club stand for?' was the title for Ray's presentation at the Rimini Wellness Conference. The Rimini conference is a special three-day event that involves the whole city in a series of health, fitness and well-being experiences. The indoor part of the event hosted 12 separate themed pavilions spanning 80,000 square metres of space (861,000 square feet). IHRSA organised an international speaker programme. Other speakers included Herman Rutgers, IHRSA Director Europe and Rasmus Ingerslev, the CEO of fitnessdk, Denmark's largest health club chain. Browse to Oxygen Insight to read the presentation. Picture shows Herman (left of Ray) and Rasmus (right).
Would you like Ray to present a thought-provoking topic/lecture at your next event? Please get in touch.
|
|
April 2007
Making it easier for people to join health clubs is the essence of our top-secret internal Oxygen project. It is an on-line project we have been working on for the past year and is being launched in the next six months. The feedback from industry contacts is extremely positive. What is the name of the project I hear you asking? It is GymTopia®, and this is no imaginary perfect place. We will be launching a GymTopia® blog over the next few weeks to update visitors, so please look out for it when next on-line.
|
|
April 2007
This month we are busy undertaking a second tranche of work for Pole Passion who are launching a novel group-based exercise programme throughout UK health clubs. Our role is to create compelling reasons for health clubs to engage with the programme.
|
|
April 2007
Ray has been invited to speak at the forthcoming Rimini Wellness Conference (http://www.riminiwellness.com/) taking place during the 17th - 20th May 2007. Several hundred European health club managers and owners will be descending on this beautiful Italian city. Ray's presentation will be on health club consumer positioning and draws content from Mastering Health Club Management. A copy of the presentation can be downloaded from Oxygen articles from June 2007, for those unable to attend. Would you like Ray to present a thought provoking topic/lecture at your next event? Please get in touch.
|
|
March 2007
Energie fitness clubs has ordered 60 copies of Mastering Health Club Management. Every attendee of Energie's business management course will be receiving the book to underpin the course.
|
|
March 2007
March was a busy month for new article commissions. Ray wrote 'it's the trend of the world' and 'collaborative consumption', two thought-provoking articles on leisure trends and how consumers are clustering together (the Chinese describe it as Tuangou) on-line to negotiate discounts on products and services. Click here to read the articles. Can Ray write something that is thought-provoking for your organisation? Please get in touch.
|
|
February 2007
We have now agreed a book serialisation with Health Club Management (HCM). HCM will be reproducing four chapters from Mastering Health Club Management that will appear in consecutive magazine issues. You can read the first article by clicking the following link.
Know your position.pdf
|
|
January 2007
Kingston Business School featured Ray in the January edition of Network magazine. Ray completed his MBA at Kingston and stays in touch with many of his study group colleagues. You can read the article by clicking the following link.
kingston-network-jan-07.pdf
|
|
January 2007
Blogging for a year
The Oxygen web log (blog) has just celebrated its first birthday. We have blogged on a diverse range of leisure themes from the London Olympics to Electrolux developing shoes that vacuum while you walk (yes, its true). Take a look by clicking on the following link: www.oxygen-blog.blogspot.com.
|
|
|
