IHRSA Conference Returns to Las Vegas

Even though it has not been long since the last fitness industry trade show in Las Vegas (Club Industry 2012), it has been several years—2006 to be exact—since the International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Association (IHRSA) conference and trade show took up residence there.

The Mandalay Bay will host the return of the IHRSA show to Las Vegas, March 19-22. The second level of the hotel’s South Convention Center will be home to all of the event’s programming, general sessions and trade show.

Tuesday, March 19, is set aside for workshops, which occur from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The opening keynote address, “Optimism Can Take You Anywhere” by Bert Jacobs, co-founder and chief creative optimist of Life Is Good, the Boston-based lifestyle brand committed to spreading the power of optimism and helping kids in need, will occur from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday. The opening reception will occur that night from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Attendees can enjoy exercise classes the next morning from 6:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. before heading to the State of the Industry Report by IHRSA President and CEO Joe Moore from 8 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. Directly after Moore’s report, Nicholas Christakis will offer the keynote address from 8:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. on “Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives.” Christakis is a sociologist, physician, author and Harvard University professor who specializes in health and social networks.

Attendees can tour the exhibit hall from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Wednesday, March 20, before stopping by one of the various receptions that evening, including the Go Canada Reception from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m., the IHRSA Regional Association Reception from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., and the Planet IHRSA: The International Reception from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

From 6:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. on Thursday, March 21, early morning workouts are scheduled on the exhibit hall floor. From 8 a.m. to 8:30 a.m., attendees can head to IHRSA’s annual meeting, which will be followed by the keynote address “PEAK: How Great Companies Get Their Mojo from Maslow” from Chip Conley, author and founder of Joie de Vivre Hotels, from 8:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.

Educational sessions, education tutorials and roundtable discussions fill the day Thursday from 9:45 a.m. to 3 p.m., including the IHRSA Financial Panel from 9:45 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. The exhibit hall is open again from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

That evening, many of the attendees will meet starting at 6 p.m. at The Mandalay Bay for the eighth annual Bash for Augie’s Quest, an event to raise money for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease). This year, the event is hosted by CNN anchor Suzanne Malveaux. The Vegas-themed event will raise money for Augie’s Quest, the Muscular Dystrophy Association’s ALS research initiative created by Augie Nieto, founder of Life Fitness. Nieto was diagnosed with ALS in 2005.

Although the exhibit hall will be closed on Friday, attendees can still attend the day’s educational sessions, including the new Ignite educational session, a fast-paced, one-hour event in which selected speakers present for five minutes and share their personal and professional insights on a host of topics that can be informative, innovative, humorous or just fun. The sessions will take place from 9 a.m to 10 a.m. and again from 10:15 a.m. to 11:15 a.m.

The final keynote address occurs from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Friday, March 22. Peter Sheahan, founder and CEO of ChangeLabs, a global consulting agency that focuses on behavior change, will present on “Creative Strategies for Turning Challenge into Opportunity, and Change into Competitive Advantage.” Sheahan also is the international best-selling author of “Fl!p” and “Generation Y.”