In this episode of Getting Raw, host Richard Mark Toutounji interviews Jason Greenhalgh, founder of Major League Marketing, about the inaugural Brisbane Fitness Expo and the accompanying Queensland Fitness Conference. Greenhalgh explains that the first‑year expo attracted roughly 4,000 attendees and just under 100 exhibitors, and that the second year will combine the expo with a two‑day conference aimed at personal trainers and gym owners. The conference will feature 16 speakers across three streams – business, fitness, and training – allowing participants to choose sessions relevant to their specialty. Greenhalgh outlines his background in sports marketing, including roles with the RAC, Queensland Rugby Union, Queensland Reds, and the Brisbane Broncos, positioning him as an experienced event organiser. He discusses logistical challenges such as managing a small specialist team, time‑management pressures, and securing industry participation. The interview also highlights free pre‑registration for industry members via brisbanefitnessexpo.com.au, the strategic goal of making the event an industry‑owned platform, and the broader vision of expanding similar expos to Sydney and Perth. The conversation ends with optimism about the event’s growth and its role in educating the fitness industry.
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Welcome to Getting Raw. It's Richard Mark Toutounji. Today I'm with Jason Greenhouse of Major League Marketing. How are you? Very well, Richard. Excellent. And today I just want to come in and find out what's going on in Brisbane. I know that last year, out of the blue somehow, there was an expo in Brisbane and we You had a Brisbane Fitness Expo. Yep. And it was quite a successful first year event, I must say.
Yeah, look, we didn't oversell it, I guess. That was the key for us, is just making sure that we kept it— we knew it was gonna be small, we knew that there was a market there for it, and kept it nice and tight. And yeah, we got about 4,000 people through the doors, just under 100 exhibitors, and for year one of an event, we were really happy with that.
Great. And this year is actually gonna be an event to educate personal trainers, predominantly gym owners, About how to run a business successfully, techniques, training tips, that sort of stuff?
Yeah, so in addition to the expo, we'll actually have the Queensland Fitness Conference that'll run alongside the expo, same 2 days. We've got a good window in the middle of the day to actually bring all of the personal trainers and whatnot into the expo. But upstairs we'll be having a fitness conference that'll help, as you say, with the education side of things.
So it sounds like, you know, you said there was a, I guess there was a bit of a market here, but tell me a bit more about your background. Because obviously to get something successful off the ground like that, I think there's come over the years a few people tried it and failed miserably. But, you know, the second year, bigger, better, Fitness Australia are on board, you've got a lot more people on board this year. How'd you do that? What's your background?
Yeah, look, last year was really difficult for us. We were the new kid on the block. A few people going, who is this guy?
Nobody likes the new kid on the block. No, exactly.
Particularly in the fitness industry. But no, look, my background's in sports marketing. I've been running my own sports marketing consultancy I've been with the RAC for the last 13 years. Prior to that, I was the marketing manager of the Queensland Rugby Union and Queensland Reds, and before that, the Brisbane Broncos. So I've had a lot to do with running major events. Sports, obviously. Yeah, sport's been a major part of my life. My 2 loves in life are marketing and sport, so I've got my dream job, I guess. But yeah, we saw a real niche in the market up here in Brisbane with the climate the way it is, and it's definitely a growth industry up here, so we thought, let's have a
crack. Why not? I mean, you've had 4 weeks of bad weather in Sydney I'm here, beautiful day today, so I'll come back for more.
That's right.
So at the event, you've got the first conference for the trainers, you've got 10 speakers, is that correct? Yep,
yep. We've got in total, there'll be 16 speakers across the 2 days. And the first day, the days are broken down into streams, so depending on what your specialty or what you want to learn is, you just go into that stream. So there'll be a business stream, a fitness stream, and a training stream.
Okay, and then I also So we'll put here too that he's a personal trainer in the fitness industry and get in for the event for free in regards to the expo.
The expo, that's correct. On the expo side of things, if you are a member of the fitness industry, jump onto our website which is brisbanefitnessexpo.com.au and you can actually pre-register on that straight away, get your free ticket and you're right to come in.
Okay, we'll make sure we put it here so you can grab your free ticket before you get along. So tell me, running an event like this, there must have been some heartaches in getting people to take part. What's the toughest thing? I mean, you're really marketing A huge event, so you've got to look at, I guess, getting people to the event, one, general competition event, and then you get people getting the stands. Yeah. And then you're also doing the conference as well. I mean, how do you manage all these sort of things?
Yeah, it's, um, it's very difficult, to be honest. I had a full head of hair when I first started doing this. But, uh, no, it's, it's one of those things where I've got a very small team behind me, but they're all specialists in their area, and it's really a time management situation where we just manage our time as effectively as we possibly can. And hopefully at the end of the day, I guess it all comes together. But last year was a great sort of indicator for us that there is a real need there and a real desire for people to learn. So hopefully the conference will introduce that aspect more this year.
Thanks. So I look forward to getting along there. I think it's a good initiative for the industry because I think the more events like this, the better. You know, we can educate more, we can, you know, see the suppliers that we don't have to see now just because Once a year, you can see 2 or 3 times a year now. Because I mean, now there'll be expos in Sydney, Brisbane, and Perth as well. So I think that's good coverage.
Yeah, exactly. And I guess we're really keen to support the industry. We've still got some good sites available for the expo to encourage sort of the whole industry to make it theirs. It's not our event, it's the industry's event. And that's the way we want to promote it.
Well, I think that's it too, because I mean, I think this is the first interview you've done. And I wanted to get you on camera too, because people ask me, who's this guy? Do you know this guy, Jason Greenhouse? What's he all about? To get you and people understand, well, this guy's good, he just wants to help the industry out. So I think that's really important.
No, it's really important to us too. And as I said, last year was a very difficult year for us because no one knew whether it was going to work or not. We had a lot of faith in what we've done. We've done these types of events before, but at the end of the day, we were relying on the industry to back us up, and they did. And we're hoping that this event and the fitness conference will just get bigger and better every year.
Sure. Well, good luck. Thanks a lot. Thanks, Richard. Cheers. Thanks, guys.
