Triathlon America Conference (2011)
As some Slowtwitchers know, a conference took place over the three days ending yesterday: February 27th thru the 1st of March, in La Jolla at the Estancia Resort. I've gotten emails asking for a recap. Please pardon the lack of real-time reporting, but, much of the relevant triathlon media—Triathlete Mag, Inside Tri, Lava—was busy in the production of the event, so, we had our hands full.
This conference was the coming-out party for Triathlon America, a trade organization founded during the past year. If you don't mind, I'm going to produce an accounting of the conference FAQ-style (this seems as efficient a way as any to get to the meat of what occurred, and, from my perspective, why it occurred).
What was the purpose of the conference?
As this is a trade organization, its purpose—hence the purpose of the conference—revolves around issues that make the business of triathlon more efficient and innovative, less risk-based, more fact-based.
What should a triathlon consumer know and think about this conference and this trade group?
The target of the conference was not the end-user, rather the business owner. As such, the key issues, desires, wants of the consumer are secondary to this group's mission. Still, the end-user should see a flow-through of benefits, as race directors gain access to knowledge and services; as manufacturers and retailers can engineer, order and display products more in parallel with market trends and demands; and as advocacy programs succeed in making training and racing safer and more plentiful.
Who attended?
We planned and budgeted for 160 attendees, we hoped for 225, we serviced (as of the last count I received) about 230 attendees for the 3-day conference proper and about 295 for our banquet and awards ceremony.
What awards ceremony?
Triathlon America honored the best in sport, but, with a twist: All honorees consisted of the trade or, at least, recipients of athlete awards were from the manufacturing sector. While short and long course triathletes were nominated and won, our motif called for each athlete to be represented by one of his or her sponsors. Accordingly, Chris McCormack was represented by Specialized and Speedplay; Chrissie Wellington by Cannondale; Javier Gomez by Champion System; Emma Moffatt by Orbea and Orca; and so forth.
What were the topics covered at the conference?
Breakout and mass group sessions included:
– The Business of the Pro Triathlete
– The Future of Triathlon
– Maximizing Social Media
– Mergers and Acquisitions in Endurance and Lifestyle Sports
– Driving Entries and Sponsors Prior to the Race
– Strategic Relationships with Charity Athlete Programs
– Proper Tri Bike Spec & Set-up
– Alternate Revenue Streams for a Successful Coaching Business
– Triathlon in the Media
– Don't Leave (Sponsorship) Money on the Table
Keynote Speakers were:
– Dave Alberga – CEO, The Active Network (and triathlete)
– Bahram Akradi – CEO, Life Time Fitness (and triathlete)
– Adrian Fenty – former mayor, Washington, DC (and triathlete)
– Michael Kingston – Exec. VP, Ann Taylor Inc. ( and triathlete)
Was this conference a success?
Judging by the turnout, and the responses from the attendees, the conference met or exceeded the expectations of Triathlon America's founding members. Still, I'm a Triathlon America founding member and a conference producer, so, I'm not a proper arbiter. Attendees are best suited to answer that question.
What is the take-away; what is the follow-up?
One follow-up is a, well, follow-up. A survey will go out to all attendees, and we'll see how we really did. Otherwise, the way I look at it is this: We started with 19 founding members of Triathlon America, and we split into committees and started work on the business of triathlon. Now, post-conference, we have 250 devotees, all of whom are candidates to sit on committees with us, and get about the business imperatives of our sport. Committees will focus on advocacy and legislation, better liaising between industry and governance on technical product rules, best practices, the generation of solid sport-specific metrics for media, advertisers, communities and visitor bureaus, and a dozen other subjects.
Who and what is Triathlon America?
Most triathletes know that the 1980s was a terrific time of growth in the sport of triathlon, but most do not know that the 90s was a decade of retraction—you could count on one hand the number of healthy races in hotbed states like Minnesota and Michigan. About 16 months ago a couple of dozen people got together in New York City's Harvard Club to discuss what we might do as industry to help manage the growth of the sport in an inclusive, egalitarian way.
One attendee was USAT's then-executive director, Skip Gilbert, and over two days of meetings it became apparent that a governing body owned by and beholden to consumers was not an efficient organization to handle the imperatives of triathlon's business community. So, with USAT's encouragement a new organization was born, and the business "silos" represented among Triathlon America's founding members are media (Slowtwitch, Lava, Inside Tri, Triathlete), race direction (Tri California, IMG, Ironman, Life Time Fitness, Rev3Tri, big-city races in Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Washington DC), event services (The Active Network), Manufacturers (Orbea USA, Orca, Sports Multiplied, TYR, blueseventy, Champion System), retailers (Trisports.com, Nytro Multisport), finance (V02 Partners, American Interbanc).
During the conference, I joked with one attendee that my badge, which indicated I was a "founding member," was a misprint. It should have read "funding member." This, because the "privilege" of being a founding member has thus far and will probably most likely remain the privilege of funding the organization. But it is not the goal of the organization to rule the sport, rather, the wider the circumscription of annual members (the dues for which range from $95 to $495), the wider the circle of those who'll serve to help chart and guide the sport through its future challenges.
But I digress…
National or International?
This has come up. On the one had, certain of our founding members have bigger triathlon interests outside the U.S. than inside. So, we're exploring the right framework for internationalizing this organization, since RDs (Ironman, IMG and others) as well as manufacturers (Orbea, TYR, Champion System, blueseventy, and others), professional athletes, media, are not just U.S. companies.
At the same time, as this group internationaiizes there are certain functions it can provide inside the U.S. (e.g., legislative advocacy; honoring the top retailers based in the U.S.), that it's not yet equipped to provide outside the U.S. A solution will be forthcoming, sooner rather than later.
Is There an Encore?
Now that we're a day removed from our conference, our attention is set on Bike DealerCamp®. I'll have more to write on this, but, this is the closest thing that triathlon will have to its own annual trade show, embedded inside and in partnership with a single-sport (bike-industry) trade show. Bike DealerCamp® debuted last year in Park City, UT, in July, with 42 brands seen by about 135 retailers. As of this writing, 92 brands are signed up, between 160 and 200 brands are anticipated, with upwards of 1000 retailers in attendance (including the overwhelming majority of A+ triathlon-specific retailers).
I will humbly (maybe not so humbly) submit that the exponential growth in this show from year-1 to year-2 is due in largest measure to the heft afforded it through its close association with the sector of triathlon. While I love road and mountain biking, I do not believe any any other sector inside the cycling industry could have moved the center of gravity of the bike industry's trade and demo biz toward Park City.
This, because you the triathlon consumer may not rule in terms of unit sales, but you rock when it comes to the products that generate gross profit dollars per unit sold; and a return in invested dollar, on invested square foot of floor space, on invested sales, general and administrative dollar, and in any metric anyone cares to name. But I digress… again.
As of this writing—and notwithstanding the fact that no fewer than 8 brands produce private shows for their retailers in lieu of any dependence on the trade show model—I can think of only one significant manufacturer of triathlon bikes that is not coming to Bike DealerCamp®. You can consider this show Triathlon America's encore.
With that, I'll repair to our reader forum. I'll be available over there to answer any questions any of you my have, both about this conference and about Triathlon America's future.
