How Your Gym Can Participate in World Wellness Weekend

    Join the global movement on September 21-22 and engage with the 80% of people most health clubs aren’t reaching.

    This September, you have an exciting opportunity to reach out to the 80% of people most health clubs aren’t reaching, alongside a global initiative called World Wellness Weekend.

    What is World Wellness Weekend?

    Health clubs around the globe have the same mission: getting more people through their doors and leading healthy, active lives. But in most parts of the world, health clubs reach fewer than 20% of people, and in many cases the people we’re not reaching are not sufficiently physically active—or active at all. World Wellness Weekend is an opportunity to change these statistics.

    On Saturday and Sunday, September 21-22, spas, fitness centers, salons, yoga studios, and sports organizations will celebrate World Wellness Weekend by offering their wellness services to the community—welcoming them inside or going outside the four walls of the gym to bring new experiences to new people. This weekend provides an opportunity for fitness, beauty, tourism, and sport professionals to showcase their diverse offerings, and for community members to experience new wellness services in places they may never have tried before.

    This initiative also supports IHRSA in our collaboration with the World Health Organization and its Global Action Plan on Physical Activity goal of reducing physical inactivity by 15% by 2030. World Wellness Weekend is supported by over 50 organizations, including the United Nations Global Sustainability Index Institute and the European Commission.

    What does it mean to participate?

    Participating gyms are encouraged to offer at least one free wellness activity during the course of the weekend; this could be a group exercise class, a day pass to the club, a nutrition talk, or a free meditation session. Gyms can register events or activities on the World Wellness Weekend site to be listed on their site and map of events.

    The goal of World Wellness Weekend is to create exposure for the fitness industry (and other participating industries) and all that it offers globally, as well as to generate new membership opportunities from the 80% of people in your community you are trying to reach. In 2019, IHRSA set the goal for the industry to reach 230 million health club members by 2030. World Wellness Weekend can help us achieve this.

    How can my gym get involved?

    IHRSA and World Wellness Weekend are inviting IHRSA member clubs to join the initiative to promote wellness in their communities this September by:

    • Opening your doors to the community for a free wellness activity on September 21-22, 2019;
    • Registering their events on the World Wellness Weekend website;
    • Posting wellness selfies, or “well-fies,” on social media tagging @IHRSA on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram using hashtags #WorldWellnessWeekend, #wellnessbuddies, and #wellnessforall.

    World Wellness Weekend will help you generate prospects, and gives you a reason to reach out and follow up with new prospects after the weekend. You can register and learn more about World Wellness Weekend in English, German, Italian, French, Spanish, and Portuguese.

    Ready to plan your World Wellness Weekend? Check out these social media marketing and sales resources from IHRSA to help you get started.

    Author avatar

    Alexandra Black Larcom

    Alexandra Black Larcom, MPH, RD, LDN, previously served as IHRSA's Senior Manager of Health Promotion & Health Policy—a position dedicated to creating resources and projects to help IHRSA members offer effective health programs, and promoting policies that advance the industry.