Getting Raw Ep# 43 Shaun Krenz- Australian Fitness and Health Expo

Welcome to Getting Raw. It's Richard Mark Toutounji, and I thought, you know, today on the show I wanted to bring in the person responsible for actually getting the Australian Health and Fitness Expo off the ground and really surging in this 2013 year. So I've got the The man behind that is Shaun Querens. How you doing?

Good, Richard. How you doing? Good. Thanks for having me.

Thank you for coming in. You know, before we sort of get a bit of background about yourself, I wanted to figure out first why, you know, with the fitness industry, it's growing, personal trainers are growing, gyms are growing, everything's popping up more, and the show itself, I mean, it's the biggest thing in the calendar of the year, and that's still surging along. We're not seeing numbers drop off, we're seeing increases. Talk about that. How are we doing that?

I think there's a couple of things you can look at if you break it down into 2 key platforms. One is fitness enthusiasts and consumers, which I'll touch on first, and the second being people who actually work in the industry, so fitness professionals.

Sure.

With the consumers, I think it's got a lot to do with society as a whole getting vaner and vaner. We care more and more about how we look these days, which is a great thing. If you feel good and you look good, then you perform better across every other sector of your life. So people are spending more time on their fitness and their health and what they put into their body, et cetera, et cetera. And through the tough financial times we experienced back in '09, a lot of other industries suffered. Fitness didn't because people aren't prepared to sacrifice with their health. They'll still have a gym membership. They'll still do all the right things because if nothing else, you at least want to feel good, don't you?

Well, I mean, I've got to say, you're a credible tool. I mean, look, you're coming with your guns right there. So clearly you're not the office boy. You actually have a passion for fitness yourself, clearly. You know, talk about where you started in this industry because—

I consider myself very, very lucky to be in this position because I'm a fitness junkie. I've been a PT for over 10 years, and I'm that classic example. If I'm not fit, I'm not going to the gym, then you don't want to be around me. I become— you know, everything suffers. I become a bad boyfriend, I'm not as good at my job, I'm not as good of a friend. But if I'm fit and I'm strong, then I seem to do all those things pretty well. That's kind of like the starting base for everything to connect, I guess.

And I think that's important as well, because in this industry, as you know, it's very close-knit, it's very connected. And so, you know, you're sort of at that show running it, improving it. I think you're the best person for that than someone that has no idea about the fitness industry. So I think that's a credit to you.

Yeah, I mean, I'm a junkie. I'm on the website. all the time reading about the latest products that are coming out, the latest supplements, what's going to give me the cutting edge. I'm a big MMA fan. You'll see that there's an MMA zone. Yeah, I noticed that. You know, I love my boxing as well. There's boxing championships happening. I haven't actually done bodybuilding. I'm not one to get up on the stage and do that sort of thing.

I won't be seeing you then.

No, no, you won't. But I appreciate it. And obviously an element of my training is about building muscle mass. So I appreciate the hard work and dedication Absolutely.

So you mentioned you've been a personal trainer for 10 years, and before you were saying you own a supplement company as well. Talk about that. I mean, talk about, I guess, the levels of going from PT then to going to, you know, essentially an organiser role. How did that come about?

Yeah, I mean, I grew up in gyms actually. My father used to manage a number of different leisure facilities, indoor pools, squash centres, gyms, etc., etc. I was the, you know, the 14-year-old who was straight into the weights. Oh really? As quick as he could. And I was a bit of a ratbag when I was a kid too. So one thing that I had was fitness. And fortunately, I did manage to get some good business acumen and some event experience, which allowed me to transition into this role. And it was by luck really, I guess. The role was there, I went for it, I applied for it and sort of worked my way up. And here I am today. So I consider myself very lucky to be able to See this event come to life, so to speak.

Oh no, it's definitely coming to life. It's upon us right now. Talk to me, you know, I love to hear the business side of things. Obviously Getting Raw, it's all about a business channel. Talk to me about actually how you make, how you get an event that size together. I mean, what's the logistics like? You know, I mean, you're planning the whole year for this event, right?

We've got a team that work on this event all year. We actually run 3 shows now, one over in Perth, which is a localized version of this event. There'll be one in Melbourne as well in 2014. But we've got a team that are obviously communicating with exhibitors, managing those relationships and selling the floor space.

Sure.

We've got an operation division who manage things like the move-in, the move-out, making sure the stand build all runs smoothly. Obviously marketing is very important, so we've got a whole marketing division who are promoting the events.

Sure.

worrying about the online space, social media space, which communicates so well with fitness. So it's quite an extensive team that actually goes into this, and without them, it wouldn't get to what it is.

And what about actually at the event? I mean, you've got 300 exhibitors, is that correct?

Yeah, we have. We've got over 300 exhibitors and pushing for over 30,000 visitors this year.

Okay, so these exhibitors, I mean, are they flying in? I'm assuming they're flying in from Australia and the world as well, or what's—

Yeah, it's an international event. And I mean, managing that logistically, it is all hands on deck. I work for a company called Diversified Exhibitions, and it just so happens that I look after the fitness portfolio. At Diversified Exhibitions, we've got over 130 staff now, so you really do get everyone from all other portfolios coming to help out with an event of this size.

What sort of other— I mean, how many other events are you running, Diversified are running throughout the year? Is that 130 staff?

That's the staff. We run Look, it's somewhere between 25 and 35 events. I should know the answer. I think it was 27, but the reality is we're picking up new events all the time. And that's across all sorts of industries. We look after the Good Food and Wine Show, fine food. So food portfolio is quite a good one for us. Oil and gas portfolio, design, and also buildings. So yeah, we've got some knowledgeable—

Out of the ones that you're managing at the moment, I mean, where does fitness fit into the gap? If you look at all the industries in the market at the moment, Is fitness sort of like up there with numbers-wise, or where is it sort of sitting on the scale of the 30?

In terms of numbers through the door, fitness is now the number one attracting event.

Is that right?

Previously it's been the Good Food and Wine Show. And I will say that they've had times in their history where they've had over 50,000 people through the door when they had Gordon Ramsay out one year. That's how—

I went to that show. Yeah, I went to that show. I signed up for my book signing. Yeah, it was all good. I didn't know— he didn't swear at me,

but yeah. They actually had to shut the doors. No one else was allowed in. allowed in. So hopefully we can— that can happen at fitness this year because that'd be a good problem to have. Growth, I mean, it's consistently showing over 10% growth in terms of exhibiting space, right? And last year our visitor numbers jumped from 19,000 to 29,000. So that's almost double in one year.

Yeah, that's pretty phenomenal.

Yeah.

What was the key for that doubling? How has that come about?

I think the redirection of the show model. Traditionally it had been very much a trade show where we targeted people who worked in the industry only. Of course, we got some enthusiasts through the door as well, but we didn't play around in that space. Last year, we really changed the model and had an active push in that space. We did it carefully by breaking down the show into separate zones. Yeah. So we now have a trade hall, we have a strength and conditioning hall, and we have retail halls. And there's a few little sectors that fall into those halls. But that allows us to streamline them as different events and attract the right demographic for those exhibitors.

'Cause I was gonna ask, I mean, obviously you've probably answered my question there, but obviously, you know, I'm exhibiting at that show with my brand Complete Line Marketing. I've done it for the last 4 years, Meet Your Personal Trainer as well. And obviously if you're saying that we're gonna get more general population to the show, how would that affect, I guess, the people that are going to exhibit for the trade? I mean, obviously, is that why you've done the zones that way?

That's why we've done the zones. Hall 5 is over the far right side of the Sydney Convention Centre. Yeah. And that's where you see all your commercial equipment and business services. You guys who want to speak with your commercial buyers, your gym owner-managers, etc., etc. So naturally what happens is a fitness enthusiast who's there to buy a tub of protein or some Lorna Jane clothing, they'll get to that section, they'll go, okay, this isn't for me, and they'll turn around and go back. Because you will see when you're at the show, it does have a complete It's a completely different feel, that Hall 5. It's much quieter and there's some serious business going on. You know, there's some million-dollar transactions that are taking place.

I remember having some drinks on the Friday last year's show and we were just speaking to some of the commercial fitness guys and they sort of said, listen, the amount of business they did on the Friday, they didn't even have to turn up on Saturday and Sunday. Friday was the day they did business.

If it was up to those guys, they would pull the curtain across and pack up on the Friday. Logistically, we aren't able to do that. So I know all those guys quite well and I make them stick around on the Saturday and Sunday. And I'm sure they still sell some products to some PTs here and there. Yeah, right. Yeah, I think they really look forward to that Friday. It's the key day for them. And that weekend really sets up their year. It fills their pipeline in terms of leads for their sales guys to go out and close.

Sure, okay, awesome. So where to from here? So, in regards to taking the show to this new level, that's obviously a credit to yourself. Where to from here this year? I mean, will this year be— are you looking for another doubling in numbers or what are you looking for? Now you've set yourself for those standards, you know what I mean? We're only expecting the best.

Yeah, I'm looking to push through 30,000 this year. Okay. Look, I think you get better at what you do. And with digital these days, there's so much you can do in the fitness space with social media. social media. We've got the best lineup of fitness celebrities we've ever had. Those guys pull a crowd, yeah. I'm not gonna quote a number here. Alright, we'll do

part

2. Yeah, we will. We'll do a follow-up. You know, I'm hopeful that we're gonna astound some people again as we did last year.

Alright, awesome. That sounds good. I want to ask you, I guess, what's been the biggest struggle of this job and what's the biggest struggle you see in the fitness industry right now? in the business fitness industry, you know what I mean? We're talking about business, we're talking about personal trainers, gym owners, 24/7 clubs. What do you see? 'Cause you're speaking to everybody in the industry. What do you see some problems coming up?

Yeah, I think there's some fear out there in the marketplace with the independent, the traditional independent gym owner managers. We've seen this explosion of these 24-hour facilities. Can Australia sustain these 24-hour fitness facilities? Because they're everywhere now, do we have the population to support them? I mean, I think from a consumer sense, it's great because you're getting the opportunity to train in facilities with the latest and greatest in cutting-edge equipment. The independent guys, they're holding on to their money a little bit at the moment, just kind of seeing how it plays out. So we were speaking about the commercial equipment guys. I think they're doing well out of the 24-hour facilities. Is that going to stop? It's just that uncertainty at the moment.

Yeah, I agree. I have to agree. Every corner I go to, There's always 24/7. And, you know, I spent some time in Canada last year, this year, sorry, last year, this year. And, you know, I never saw the explosion of fitness over there. You know, I honestly think Australia, I mean, you just came back from Mersin, Australia has so much facilities, fitness facilities to offer out there. Would you agree with that?

Yeah, I would. I think, you know, the PT market's such a growth area in Australia too. Group training is huge, outdoor group training. You're seeing Life Fitness, for example, come up with functional group training machines now. Their Synergy 360, which is probably designed to counter something like CrossFit, which we know has been a real explosion area. So, you know, I think we're clever. Fitness industry people are clever, and we'll find a way to work things out. There's a new trend every year. I mean, remember Tae Bo back in the day?

Where's that now?

Things come and go, don't

they? Awesome. Well, you know what, I'm gonna be around obviously the Fitness Expo, so, um, you know, hopefully we'll, we'll do some more videos as well. I want to see— actually, I really want to get the camera in and actually see the setup of the show too.

Yeah.

So if you can give me some back access on Thursday night when the setup is there, I think that'd be really good to actually show the amount of work that goes into setting this thing up.

Yeah, so we literally take ownership of the halls at convention center. It's nothing but concrete floor, so everything from the carpet that gets laid, every banner AC gets rigged from the ceiling. We start moving in on the Monday, so it's 4 days of build. It's absolute madness with trucks coming around and rigging machines and tradesmen everywhere. It's always a stress. You're working up to the last minute before the doors open. So I think everyone would find it quite interesting to see what goes into building. The sad thing is all your hard work on the Sunday night, it gets knocked down in a day.

Straight away. And so Monday it's just cleared again.

Yeah, that's it. concrete floor again. We've got to hand the halls back to the venue.

So literally Diversify rent out that space and they just rent out a concrete room?

We rent out the space. The halls at Sydney are broken down into 5,000 square meter halls. We currently take 4 of those halls. There's 5. There would be another one. We could grow 5,000 meters. Unfortunately they're demolishing the precinct there, but we could.

So really you've got to look at your— Diversify's obviously got to look at their profit and go, okay, I need the hall space, I need the exhibitors, and then managing that in regards to exhibitor space, which actually is where the money's coming from, obviously. And then, you know, open areas and that sort of stuff.

Yeah, that's right. Yep. Even, you know, electricity, lighting, all that stuff, it's not there. They're all overheads of ours.

Oh, I know. I got a bill for my electricity. Sorry about that. That's another conversation.

Yeah.

But, um, but like, in regards to where the money comes from, in regards to You know, the general public coming through and the exhibitors, where is the most profitable? Is the exhibitors, I'm assuming?

No, because majority of our audience is trade. So it's fitness professionals. Those guys actually don't pay to come into the show. We get 17,165 of those through the door. We did last year. We may increase again. The 12,000 additional visitors are consumers who are paying to get in. So of course there is some revenue attached to that. But our main revenue stream is through space sales. Space sales, okay. Exhibiting sales, sponsorship sales, and stuff like that.

Yeah, awesome. Just talk about, just to finish up, just talk about some numbers. Someone that is not exhibiting at the show at all, if we can. Like what does it cost to exhibit at a show like this? Like say a 3 by 3 in a space sort of thing. Can we talk about those numbers?

Yeah, so we work in square meters. Just the raw space is $355 per square metre. So your standard entry-level stand is a 3 by 3, 9 square metre stand. Your maths is probably better than mine, but if you times $355 by 9, and I should know that off the top of my head, it's around the low $3,000 mark.

Yeah, that's correct.

That's what it's going to cost you to come and get a booth. Most people in that size would take a shell stand package though, which bumps it up to $405 per square metre. What that means is we'll build your stand for you. You'll effectively walk on with a stand with your name board, lighting, power, everything, etc. All you need to do is bring any collateral or product you wish to showcase within the stand.

Awesome. Well, thanks for your time. I think that wraps it up. As I said, I'm going to bring you some more footage as well. I think we'll have another follow-up video of what happened at the show, how it was put together, things like that. So that's what we'll plan to do. Thanks for your time, Sean.

Thanks, Richard. Cheers. Thank you.

Thanks a lot, guys. I'll see you next time. Thanks, Richard.