Respected retention expert, Dr Paul Bedford, will be continuing his popular tenetion event after a two-year break. The 2024 Retention Convention will take place on 5 December, with five sessions focused on practical approaches to increase lifetime value.

Attendees can expect to learn how to craft great customer experiences that increase retention, reduce attrition and improve loyalty. It will run alongside the Independent Gyms Winter Conference at Cranmore Park Solihull, UK.

Bedford explains: “I’ve attended many events since the end of the pandemic and one of the most frustrating things is the lack of actionable content presented.

“We held the first Retention Convention back in 2015 because I was frustrated that most events only had one maybe two sessions on retention in a three-day conference and I thought operators and owners needed to know more.

“I’ve decided to revive the convention because there needs to be somewhere you can come and leave with ideas and actions that you can implement”.

The speaker line-up

Keynote: Jarrod Saracco

This year's event will be opened by Jarrod Saracco, CEO of the iconic World Gym brand.

Saracco will explain how to turn around a struggling business, rebrand without using your identity and grow in a competitive market.

Matt LavenderThe sector often describes itself as being in the hospitality business so the convention team has decided to invite Matt Lavender to explain what that actually means to fitness brands.

Lavender has an extensive background in hospitality, starting his career as a hotel inspector and serving as director of evaluations for Forbes Travel Guide, the creators of the renowned star-rating system for hotels.

More recently, he partnered with longtime friend and fitness industry leader Jack Thomas – founder of BASE gyms and host of the Fitness Business Asia Podcast – to launch The Fit Guide, the first independent rating system for premium fitness clubs and studios.

Lavender says “Our mission is to elevate the boutique fitness industry by celebrating excellence and applying proven concepts from the world of hospitality, to date with have evaluated more than 250 locations across the globe.”

David Connell

David Connell, director of sport at Hertfordshire Sports Village will attend to talk through the changes he and his team have implemented to achieve a 32 per cent increase in revenue and how they balance the member experience for three distinct user groups (students, faculty and commercial members).

Connell will describe how they transitioned from one club management system to another and the additional technology they are using to maintain a 70 per cent NPS score when the rest of the industry is floundering in the mid-20s.

Mark Council and Ste WhitakerNext to present will be Mark Council and Ste Whitaker from Platform PT. Council and Whitaker will explain how they increased member lifetime value by seven months within their small group personal training business and are achieving record profits from the same number of members.

Dr Paul Bedford

Closing the event will be Bedford with a session entitled “Tailoring your communications to build connection, consistency and community”.

Much has been said about the importance of individualised communications and the need for them to be right time, right content. In this session, Bedford will focus on the elements required to build and sustain a community and the level of detail you need for digital communications to have an impact on member behaviour.

“I hear the term hyper personalisation all the time and I’m not exactly sure what that means,” he says. “But what I do know is that the communications you have with your members play a vital role in yours and their success.

“With the complexity and variety of workouts now available you can’t leave members to figure it out for themselves. You have to find ways to provide human and digital support for them or they will leave and go to your competitor.”

The Retention Convention will take place between 9.30am – 4.30pm at Cranmore Park, Cranmore Avenue, Shirley B90 4LE (West Midlands).

Early bird tickets are available for £63 until the end of October and after that will cost £179. Secure your place today!