The Retention Convention is back for 2016 with a second installment, featuring a bumper cast of health and fitness speakers who will focus on how to improve customer experiences.

Started in 2015 by retention expert Dr Paul Bedford, this year’s event has been expanded into a two-day affair with a jam-packed schedule.

IHRSA chair Molly Kemmer – who is also is regional director for EXOS/MediFit – will take to the stage to discuss how to build trust and deliver better results through structure protocols, on-boarding clients, prescribing programmes, tracking performance and measuring outcomes. She will also review the development of new technology that automatically writes and updates exercise progression programmes.

Other international speakers include Dr. Niels Nagel (head of the German Industry Federation for Health and Fitness), Selda Gamzeli, (former Jatomi Fitness group customer experience director) Arron Williams (former special projects lead at Life Fitness) and Tiffeny Gould (ex-digital fitness development and national exercise referral manager at UK operator Everyone Active).

Meanwhile, retention stalwarts Dr Melvyn Hillsdon and Dr Paul Bedford will discuss the latest physical activity and retention trends, with a particular focus on how investing in more well-trained fitness staff can have a greater impact on retention and revenue than current wisdom would suggest.

Dr Bedford said: “The two-day format will enable us to focus on the customer experience; hearing from retention experts across the globe, as well as operators that have put fantastic measures in place to increase retention and boost revenue, and technology experts; who will demonstrate the wide applications technology can play within the leisure industry.”

The event will take place at Austin Court, the home of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) in Central Birmingham, UK, on 19 and 20 May, 2016. For more information, click here.