The first W3Fit – the newly-launched networking event led by David Zarb Jenkins – saw 170 buyers and suppliers meeting from across Europe and the Middle East at the Westin Dragonara in Malta to conduct over 1,000 meetings over a two-day period.

They came from a wide range of companies, including Technogym, Myzone, Les Mills and InBody on the supplier side and TRIB3, Everlast Gyms and Four Seasons on the buyer side.

The event kicked off with a conference session looking at the opportunities of the metaverse with chair Ollie Bell and panellists Kevin Yates, CEO of TRIB3 and Carl McCartney from Les Mills, both of which have already launched metaverse products.

Bell said everyone in the fitness industry should move fast to sign up .ETH domain names to protect their IPs and lay the groundwork for a metaverse presence. Yates sounded a word of warning, saying TRIB3.ETH has already been taken by another company.

TRIB3 has already sold a franchise using cryptocurrency and expects this trend to accelerate, said Yates.

All agreed that while the current situation in the metaverse was more of a land grab and involved the buying and selling of assets – some of which activity is generating substantial returns – the opportunity to trade in the metaverse and develop regular income streams from this trading is not yet being realised to any great extent.

News broke during W3Fit that Myzone will join TRIB3 and others in the Fitness Metaverse – part of the Sandbox – in partnership with OliveX in 2023.

The tie-up will provide a platform for fitness enthusiasts to try out Myzone’s five heart rate zones and acquire more knowledge about their impact on the body during exercise.

Following the conference session, W3Fit delegates headed into two days of face-to-face meetings with suppliers pitching to operators.

Also at the event, Stronger Wellness demonstrated its range of fitness equipment, while the Hydro Massage team presented its vibro massage chair.

A new body alignment scanner from Shosabi – which was shown as a prototype – provoked a great deal of interest from operators.

The system scans the body, indicating where ideal posture sits in relation to the body’s outline and is likely to have a range of applications from self-adjusting software to inductions and posture checks.

The system made its debut at W3Fit following in partnership with international consultant, Yves Pressier who was at the event looking for ideas for his new startup, Afro Fit.

Networking continued at the event’s social occasions, which included a boat trip, a guided tour of Valletta by foot and a gala dinner.

The purpose of the W3 organisation is to create business events based on wellness, so the W3Fit event was punctuated by exercise sessions and power breaks, while early morning yoga and boot camp were followed by bracing dips in the Mediterranean. The event is one of a cycle of events across the leisure industry, which include W3Hospitality and W3Spa.

W3Fit will take place again next year in Croatia. More: here.