IFS 2011 Fitness Convention- an Ex Directors Tale

Driving up to Blackpool, this year, I had a mixture of emotions, excitement, at seeing some old faces again after such a long time, and teaching with great presenters, as well as nervousness in not being part of the Chrysalis team for the first time in 7 years.  How would people react, what would they say, would I be welcomed back?

I need not have worried, as the first face that I saw when we arrived at 1.30 am on Thursday morning was Ceri Hannan, one of the Directors of Chrysalis and my oldest UK presenter friend.  Once we caught up on the gossip it was heads down, to be ready for the weekend.

On arriving at the Wintergardens, there did seem to be a lot of speculation and whisperings, and then there were some people that asked straight out, “so what happened?”  WELL to set the record straight, unfortunately, there was no falling out and we were not at each other’s throats.  I just felt that due to other commitments I could not devote as much time to Chrysalis as I would have liked, and that Ceri and Steve built a team that could drive the company in the direction that it should be heading, and continually heads. Simples. So there!

Now onto to the most important part…..the convention.  As usual the sessions were packed, and the introduction of more corporates in terms of YMCAfit, Steve Jack, Drummond Education and the Paul Chek team definitely added more quality in terms of workshops and lectures.  Zumba was there in full effect and definitely provided a colourful element to the proceedings. The 190 people at the Pre Con definitely shows that it is here to stay for a while.

This event definitely proves that freestyle is definitely not dead.  This was witnessed in terms of the great freestyle sessions in all rooms and my own personal experience of my 2 team teach step sessions, my house aerobics class, and the triple team teach with Steve and Ceri. All sessions were packed and the atmosphere in them was awesome. Although I have to say that the class highlight for me was Danni and Claudio’s team teach where at the end they revealed T – Shirts supporting the Japan Tsunami Appeal.  I feel that sometimes the industry can get too caught up in our own “stuff” and forgets what’s important and happening in the “real” world.  It was great for me to see 2 presenting legends, reminding us first of their brilliance, and secondly that they continually push the bar in terms of presenting and entertainment.

Away from the event, on a personal note, another highlight was mixing and mingling with some International presenters such as Tom Woll, Danni, Claudio, Tony Stone, Peter Dragovic, Jairo Junior, Vladimir, Steve Scheimer, Rebecca Small and Orazio Battiato to name a few, that have become really close friends to me throughout my career. Again these are people that are brilliant at what they do, but are wonderful, down to earth people that for me are an inspiration.

The awards dinner was its usual glam self, and highlights again were the overdue International Presenter Award to Claudio Melamed and the PT of the year award to Jon Le Tocq.  Although this was mainly a group exercise event, I urge people that have not come across Jon’s work to find him, as he is a true health professional and really making a difference in a lot of people’s lives.  It was also great to meet Charlotte Ord and Kim Ingleby, 2 personal trainers that have contributed to my Online Fat Loss Summit, and 2 previous winners of the IFS Personal Trainers Of The Year.

Driving back on Sunday, I did feel very different to driving to Blackpool.  Steve, Ceri and the Chrysalis team did a really good job once again in creating one of Europe’s biggest and best fitness events.  Congratulations must go out to them and all the great presenters, lecturers and corporates that made it happen.  Let’s see where the industry takes us in 2012!

For those of you that were not there, here is the Blackpool Promo Video.  Another great job from Kelvin and Holly from Aether Productions.

For more videos of masterclasses from the weekend, please head on over to my Fan Page at http://facebook.com/lincolnbryden