13 Brilliant Gym Event Ideas to Build Your Gym

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In the first six months, new gym members quit, either due to high costs or they move to another local gym. This means you’ll need to find a way to get new gym members while still maintaining the interest of your current members.

You might want to take a more creative approach to attract new customers.

79% of marketers say that they’ve generated sales using event marketing. Marketing Charts found that 68% of marketers agree that live events help generate the most leads.

We found 13 brilliant gym event ideas that are sure to build your gym.

You can host the following gym events at your establishment or in a large rented space. Each event is sure to help improve your signups, brand awareness, and allow you to network with local fitness influencers.

Let’s begin…

1. Health & Fitness Food Fair

Reach out to fitness brands in the food industry, especially those looking to expand their market, and host a health and fitness food fair. Similar to a food fair but without the deep-fried corn dogs and cotton candy, instead protein shakes and delicious fruit-based ice cream.

Fitness food brands in your local area or well-known brands can pay for a booth or sponsor your event in return for space. Encourage them to hand out samples and cooked dishes for sale so attendants can test and try new foods. You can also sell their products in your gym so customers can easily access them on the go.

2. Family Workout Sessions

Make it a family affair and invite family members to come out and do group workout sessions separate or together. Have a section where kids can do fun workouts while parents engage in adult-sized fun exercises.

After the event hand out swag bags with some branded gym essentials. Branded items help to advertise your gym when you’re not around; it also makes you memorable. Remember to use high-quality gym equipment provided by professionals to ensure that you offer a variety of exercises and are not easily forgotten.

If you notice that the turnout for kids is far greater than you expected consider doing a kid-friendly class at your gym. Also try to get the emails of parents so you can offer discounts and other after-work sessions to them.

3. Host a Charity Event

Not everything needs to be about fitness. Give back to the community, and define your brand as a gym that cares. Find a charity in your community that you’d like to support and host a paid work out session where half the proceeds go to those in need and the other goes to cover fundraising expenses.

You can also host a charity run where participants can donate a specific amount of money for each mile or lap they complete.

4. All Nighter Work Out

Host an all-nighter workout class at your gym to attract hardcore gym goers, and persuade them to join your gym. This event is popular with Zumba, cycling, and pilates classes, so you’ll need to host a specialized class to draw a big crowd.

Be sure to have a “cool down” zone for attendants to rest and renew themselves with refreshments and snacks between breaks. Try to sneak in a few sign ups as well.

5. Fitness Trainer Workshop

Take an educational approach and host a fitness trainer workshop at your gym; this event works best because:

*You’ll tap into the fitness trainer network
*You can find potential employees
*You can establish your gym as the go-to spot for trainers

During and after the event, you can take images and videos for social media content. Once you have new content,try promoting it on platforms like Instagram and Facebook.

Offer a membership discount or referral program to attract fitness influencers and trainers to bring more clients to your gym. It’s a win-win for you and them.

6. Celebrate Client Success

Invite current members and people in your community to share success stories as you help to celebrate their accomplishments. Everyone loves a good underdog story. Be sure to share stories of people losing weight, and finally being able to reach their desired fitness outcomes.

When you host an event like this, you want to be sure to have an understanding and judge-free environment, healthy snacks, and refreshments. Once people are there, you can offer a discount or a free session with one of your personal trainers to encourage new members to sign up.

7. Walkathon Challenge

Whether you’re a hardcore fitness expert or someone is looking for a fun event to attend, everyone loves walkathons. You can coordinate with running brands and groups to promote the event and establish your gym as the best place for runners or joggers to train.

Most people love runs that come with a theme, like costumes, colored paint, or fun obstacle courses.

8. Free Gym For All

Host an event where people can use your gym and attend classes for free for one night or a week; just let attendants enter by giving you their contact details and email.

Some people aren’t ready to make such a huge financial commitment to a new gym. A free gym night works as a free trial for people who may be hesitant to pay for a full months membership or who are still deciding between gyms.

9. Obstacle Course Competition

Transform your gym or rent a large space and turn it into the ultimate fitness obstacle course. Host a contest where people can sign up in teams or pairs, and the team that finishes with the best time (after two tries) wins prizes which could include as free gym membership.

10. Cooking Contest

It may sound unorthodox but ask fitness and health chefs to come by the gym for the ultimate healthy cooking contest. The winning dish must be a healthy balanced meal, and it can be paleo, keto, or vegan.

Free samples can be given to the crowd, and the winner will be given a trophy, free training sessions, or can become a brand ambassador.

11. Mass Workout Meet & Greet

If your customers don’t come to your gym, take the gym to them. Find a park or public space and host a mass workout meet and greet!

Set up a booth where instructors from classes can speak with interested signups. This is a great chance to interact with your community and to hand out free trial passes, personal training sessions, and more,

12. Weight Lifting Contest

Host a weight-lifting competition at your gym. You can charge an affordable entrance fee, and the person who lifts the highest amount of weight wins a cash prize, trophy, and a free gym membership (to keep them going to your gym).

13. Invite Famous Fitness Personalities

Invite a famous fitness influencer or expert to your gym and host a live Q&A and meet and greet. The more popular the influencer, the bigger the turnout.

If you’d like, you can invite a panel of influencers to draw out a bigger crowd.

You can ask the influencer to endorse the event as well as the gym on their social media accounts.

Use this guide on influencer marketing: to learn how to build relationships with social leaders and drive traffic to your blog

How to Market Your Event

Now that you have a few event ideas for your gym, here are four ways you can market your event to increase attendance. The last thing you want is to host an empty event.

1. Create a Landing Page
Create a landing page to host your event so customers can get detailed information on the event while also opting into your email list.. Wishpond offers marketing campaigns built for fitness and health companies like fitness centres, personal trainers, nutritionists, dieticians, and health supplement providers.

2. Social Media
96% of business owners use social media to increase awareness for their events.. Think of promoting your event with social media ads on Instagram:

You can also create an event on Facebook to encourage your followers to attend:

3. Email Marketing
Send emails to your current email list and let them know ahead of time that you’ll be hosting an event. Be sure to send follow up emails and answer replies about the event.

4. Posters
Print some posters and hand them out at local businesses, Leave them at the front desk, or find healthy food vendors to hone in on people interested in health and wellness. Use Venngage’s Poster Maker to get started.

Summary

Let’s recap these 13 easy gym event ideas you can host to get new members today:

  1. Organize a Health & Fitness Food Fair
  2. Encourage Family Workout Sessions
  3. Host a Charity Event
  4. Plan an All Nighter Work Out Event
  5. Host a Fitness Trainer Workshop
  6. Celebrate Client Success
  7. Hold a Walkathon Challenge
  8. Invite People to a Free Gym For All
  9. Build an Obstacle Course Competition
  10. Host a Healthy Cooking Contest
  11. Hold a Mass Workout Meet & Greet
  12. Plan a Weight Lifting Contest
  13. Invite Famous Fitness Personalities

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