The Future Is Now. What Is Your Plan?
In the worlds of publishing and event planning, it’s imperative that we live in the future or we face the stark reality of going out of business. Our editors started planning this May issue around the time we were all shopping for Thanksgiving turkeys last year. Today, their sights are
already set on articles and themes they can bring you in 2008. On the fitness event side, it can be dicey, too. Our fitness conference sites have to be booked up to 3 years in advance! Our team starts mapping out programming and activities just 1 or 2 weeks after we return from the current year’s gathering. For those of you who just attended IDEA Fitness Fusion—Chicago®, know that we’re already at the drawing board reading the survey comments you took time to share with us. Our production timetables are coming together, and we’re back in action for next year’s fitness event. Meantime, we’re polishing and fine-tuning details for the next three fitness conferences we’ll put on this year.
Positioning yourself well for the future is something of a lost art, but one that, if done skillfully, can pay great dividends. When was the last time you reviewed the blueprint you carefully crafted for your business? Have you updated your career goals lately to see where you stand in relation to where you thought you’d be a few years ago? It may be time to take out those files, dust them off and get yourself and your business squared away for the fitness and wellness landscapes of the future. Those plans should be dynamic—flexing, stretching and gaining strength and momentum with each turn of the calendar.
We have done our best to lay some groundwork to help you with this exciting introspective exercise with a forward-thinking feature story that marks IDEA’s silver anniversary year by looking ahead to what it means to be “FutureFit.” Starting on page 42, you can read “25 Future Deliverables in the Fitness Industry” by Amanda Vogel, MA, to help you understand what tomorrow’s fitness and wellness topography could look like. What long-established practices will need to change if we are to continue inspiring the world to fitness? And what will consumers want, and pay for, that’s outside the box of our current offerings? We surveyed in-the-know experts to compile this top-25 list of the key deliverables to watch for, and we sincerely hope you will find the list valuable as you step up your own plan for the future.
As always, there is so much useful information packed in this issue—from the CEC section on women’s health to the excellent pieces on cycling cadence and restorative yoga—that it’s difficult to articulate exactly how excited we are about the potential of what you can learn in these pages. What’s more, if you’ve even fleetingly entertained joining us this summer to celebrate our 25th anniversary at the 2007 IDEA World Fitness Convention® (San Diego, July 5–9), then we encourage you to read the first of two previews (page 66) about the fitness event. The article identifies many highlights and details you won’t find in the brochure. It’s already clear that this fitness event has a special luster and sparkle that will leap off the page to become your reality as an
attendee—and will have a profound impact on your future in the industry.
We’ve been putting this one together for 25 years. With that kind of planning, it’s bound to be great!
Yours in good health,
Kathie and Peter Davis
