Fit Summit CEO Ross Campbell on making the fitness industry better and stronger

In March of 2019, Fit Summit founder and CEO Ross Campbell hosted the first Fit Summit in Singapore, where I had the pleasure of meeting him as one of the guest panelists.

It was a great start for his attempt to be the region’s first major B2B conference for the fitness industry. Ross successfully connected many of the region’s business owners and senior managers from the biggest chains down to the small boutiques.

Unfortunately, I had to pass on his invitation to be a panelist once again, but I did participate in the well-organized virtual summit, which was held last Aug. 5.

The Philippine STAR: What is your most important learning during this pandemic?

Ross Campbell: Like many of our partners, we have always had digital transformation in our long-term development plan. The ongoing COVID crisis launched us quickly, brutally, into the necessity of this development. No business leader will want to hear the word “pivot” for quite some time. From the outside looking in, we pivoted into online events; from the inside looking out, we scrambled to meet a longer-term goal. Candidly, however, we were underprepared for deciding on the granular details of this digital transformation beyond the macro goal/objective of developing a digital offering. We had a goal but no real comprehensive plan. The lesson learned? For long-term strategic options, we will now look at each goal and deep dive into the options/platforms/resource/capital needed for us to achieve this. We will assess each goal within a time line we have set ourselves and also plan for a timeline that is not under our control. Our team has been incredible in quickly and effectively building this new digital capability and so another reflection has been to involve them early in strategic developments decisions so they can feel engaged from the start and motivated to add immediate value when we embark down that path together.

You have done several virtual fitness summits already since the pandemic made your physical conventions impossible. How did this online alternative affect your goals?

Virtual events were always in our long-term development plan, but similar to many companies we were accelerated quickly by COVID into the digital world to develop virtual offerings. Our goal and vision have always been to help more people become happier and healthier. We do this by making our industry stronger and better. Our goal remains unchanged, but now we have the ability to influence positive change globally and exponentially via virtual events/content.