The Monday Report- Real Coaches Summit 2024 Recap Edition
Mar 18 | Two conferences within 30 days of one another. This was my 2nd time in Las Vegas for a conference, but Real Coaches Summit is a BEAST unlike any other I have experienced.
Personal & Professional Update
2 Conferenses down and now I am back to my daily grind! Full book of clients and my administrative work with FITLETE. Being able to talk about what I am doing to real people, in person was a game changer for me. It allows me the opportunity to better hone what I want to say and which points I want to highlight. Working one this solo doesn’t often provide that opportunity so I needed to seek it out.
I can now focus on completing my facility with the small touches I think it needs, and save up for some more equipment that will enhance the experience of my in-person clients. Going to these 2 events back to back forced my hand in delaying these things to be finished, but it’s not something I would ever take back. These things will get and done, and being a person that deeply cares about what he is doing I know there will always be a running list of “things I can improve or change”.
Change is the only constant, and I choose not to fight that fact.
The Real Coaches Summit Recap
Austin Current: Principles of Client-Centric Program Design: How to Create Practical and Effective Programs for Your Gen-Pop Clients
https://coachaustincurrent.com/
This slide was probably one of my favorite slides ever at any conference I have ever been to. This is not because it has some revolutionary bit of information that came from a new study that will change the industry for the better but because it is the message I have been trying to get across to the world since I started FITLETE as a utility for education.
Austin’s approach to training is focused on the selection of people that 99% of all coaches who work in the industry will work with, regular people and not athletes.
Dr. Sean Pastuch: Finding Your Voice to Represent Yourself and Your Business with Pride and Without Compromise
https://activelifeprofessional.com/
I have only ever heard Sean on his podcast and have taken many Snipd notes, but I didn’t know how his work would translate to an in-person experience. I made a note to myself while watching him make sure I watched the recording of his talk again because there was no way I would be able to digest the material and complete the internal exercises he prompted.
I appreciated how he was able to spin his talk to us into an internal dialogue about how we see current ourselves and the coach/leader we want to be in the future.
Dr. Alyssa Olenick: Hybrid is for Everyone: Programming Cardio for Metabolic Health and Fitness Performance
Wow, Doc Lyss is smart. I heard three other people talk about how to mix cardio and resistance training into a program, but Alyssa was able to talk about how to implement it as a global system-based approach rather than a specific client-level approach. It’s good to see it from both perspectives because you can get a clearer picture of its use and how to predict times when you might need to manipulate the other principles of strength and conditioning within a program.
Dr. Allen Bacon: Sports Supplements Masterclass
What a great presentation! Supplement talks like these can often be a little boring and jargon-heavy. He was able to talk about them in a way that was not only relatable but practical for working with clients in non-athletic settings. For most of us, our supplement education is a weird mix of old marketing claims and bro science, so we need more talks on topics like the one he gave so we can relay this information to our clients in a digestible way.
Jaime Filer: I Eat Because I'm Unhappy: Managing Clients Who Have an Emotional Relationship with Food
The best takeaway from her presentation was to focus on practical solutions to support your client's journey, but remember where our scope of practice ends. I think the latter piece is the most important. Our scope of practice ends far before the psychology of emotional eating and disordered eating. As coaches, we want to help in all the ways possible, and we can often empathize with our clients, but we need to make sure they are receiving qualified help if they need it.
Danny Matranga: The Real Cost of Regular Alcohol Consumption on Health, Body Composition, and Performance
https://www.coachdannymatranga.com/
I enjoyed how he went into the history surrounding the use of alcohol throughout our time as humans because it highlights how its use can be more closely tied to someone’s culture than simply a substance for abuse. Mostly, everyone who uses alcohol understands it’s not good for you, but he pointed out how much of a negative it actually is in a way that we can start to create an open dialogue with our clients who don’t understand the degree of its impact.
Dr. Shante Cofield: The Art and Science of Launching: Crafting a Fail-Proof Blueprint for Your Online Offerings
https://themovementmaestro.com/
Full disclosure here: Shante has become one of my favorite people to see speak in front of an audience. I was introduced to her material and approach through her work with RockTape and then again through my attendance at Raise The Bar Conference the last three years; she hits the proverbial home run every single time.
It’s just so relatable. I don’t want to say it’s “dumbed down” because it’s not; she understands the material AND the people she is talking to so well that she makes the topic of launching a product online less daunting and overwhelming.
Jason Brown: Online Programming 101: 3 Ways to Write Programs for Better Long-Term Results
https://www.jasonbrowncoaching.com/
One of the things I have struggled with taking more business online is being able to “coach the person” and program for their needs. Now, I can do this with my eyes closed when working with someone in person, and I have honed my entire coaching system based on those models. Online coaching and programming are different beasts for me to do as well as I can in person, and I liked Jason's approach. He reminded me of a piece of learning we worked on at university: client case studies. Being able to ask the right questions as part of an onboarding process to build a client profile that not only looks at their fitness goals but how they can fit within their life demands. For me, this happens at different times when working with clients in person, but when accepting someone online, I need to ask better questions through the onboarding process to deliver a better program for us to work through together.
Casey Samsel: Client Connection: The Most Overlooked Aspect of Coaching
Client relationships are key to building a business, and with my low churn rate, I believe I have done a good job at this, but I enjoyed Casey’s talk. She created an approach that highlighted something I don’t currently have with the majority of the clients I work with. I don’t have “non-coaching friendships” with them. While I don’t know if it’s something I am able to do with my clients, she did offer some tips and strategies to start using, which don’t tear down that coach-client wall.
Joel Jamieson: The Fitness of Longevity: How to Help People Live Better and Longer While Building Your Coaching Business
Coaching for longevity is the new buzz of the field, and I like it. The general population folks need more exposure to fitness and its wide range of related activities, but they often get overshadowed by aesthetic or performance-based goals that have driven our industry for so long. Joel has a command of this topic through his role as a coach and the amount of practical experience working with data collection for his Morpheus training device. What surprised me the most was how much he championed the use of cardio training as a driver for longevity-based training. It’s not controversial in any way; I just wasn’t expecting it to take the lead in the presentation.
Unfortunately, I was only able to see bits and pieces of the following presentations, so I will not be making any comments on them. Luckily, I’ll be able to watch them via the recordings that Aram will soon make Available Here.
Beth Feraco: Authenticity and Taking No Shit: The Most Powerful Tools in Building a Brand, Growing a Community, and Starting a Fucking Movement
Amber Brueseke: Transformational Coaching: Tools For Tackling The Roots Of Your Clients’ Self-Sabotage
Esther Blum: Making Menopause Your Bitch with Nutrition, Hormones, and Self-Advocacy
Dr. Susie Spirlock: Gains Without Pain: A Practical System to Help Clients Train Around Pain
The parts that I did watch did make me sad that I missed them in their entirety, but that’s part of the sacrifice that I was expecting to make as a table sponsor for the summit. I wouldn’t take back any of the conversations I had in the hallway just outside the rooms with other speakers, sponsors, attendees, attendees from other conferences in the hotel, and the random hotel guest from the UK who was “still a little drunk from last night” and missed his excursion to the Grand Canyon.
My Professional Opinion Of The Summit As A Whole.
(+PRO) THE HIGH LEVEL OF IMPORTANCE BASED AROUND THE SOCIALIZING STRUCTURE: A Game Changer. This is the new structure I want all these types of events to follow. Listen, this isn’t going to be for everyone, but I think it will be a benefit for a lot of people in our field. I have gone to events largely alone for my entire career. While I personally haven’t had a difficult time meeting people throughout the years, it was more based on my ability to force times of social interaction where there wasn’t time for it. The Real Coaches Summit structured time for it in a way that was relaxed and plentiful throughout both days. There were no forced moments for or from me, simply a bunch of really easy “Hey, mind if I sit here” like introductions. A pre-summit social hour, three meals a day being catered built into the schedule, a daily evening performance & social after-hours INCLUDED in the cost of registration is the golden ticket to what made this event feel like being at a sleep away camp with a bunch of friends or teammates. You got to know your fellow coaches as people and were able to talk shop with them over a meal, which is typically the most relaxed someone will ever be when talking to you. The last large conference I attended in Las Vegas had zero percentof these things, and was held by a really large and established player in our field. . As someone who went alone, the most social interaction I had with people were spent standing in line to get coffee or food between the slew of simultaneous presentations, the awkward interactions of the quasi-social slash student poster presentation with Hors D'oeuvres, or venturing into the completely isolated exhibitor hall. It just wasn’t the same. I came away from this event with my cup filled.
(+PRO) THE ATENDEE DEMOGRAPHICS: One of the most diverse groups of people learning alongside one another. There were grey hairs seasoned vets still looking to level up, rookies so green they barley have their first clients, massage therapists, physical therapists, software engineers turned coaches, and I think to Aram’s credit a wide variety of female entrepreunr coahces that are killing it across the spectrum of disciplines of the industry.
(+PRO) THE SPEAKER TOPICS: Speaker topics have to be good. While the structure of the event elevates it above a lot of other educational events, if the speakers and topics are garbage then the reasons for the event drastically change. You don’t have to agree with every single thing someone says on stage, but listening to them speak should help you in some way. These people are never to be idolized, instead they should challenge your beliefs, or allow you to find reason to stand by your convictions.
(-CON) THE SPONSOR TALKS: This one was tough because, the socializing was so strong during the meal times (a really really good thing) that the speakers set for the sponsors to talk about their work was just muffled by the dull roar of the atendees having an absolute blast. Perhaps randomly assigning the sponsors a short spot before the speakers to talk about their products or services in short form. As an atendee I wouldn’t be annoyed with this, and it would allow voluntary participation for the atendees. The ones who are interested will arrive or stay in the room to hear the short talk, while the uninterested will not.
What I think will add value to future summits.
An overarching theme: While the general theme of the event is more or less pre-selected as it’s the name “Real Coaches”, I think there could be a nice overall message delivered by having some of the presentations follow a theme. For example, I don’t know if it was on purpose or not, but this year’s had a bit of a theme with a few presentations discussing the benefits of including more cardio training. It was cool to see different sides, perspectives and practical useages.
Breakout Sessions or Roundtables: Another loosly structured social interaction, but with an aligned interest. One of the nice things about having the 3 meals per day is there are 6 opportunities to hold one or two of these without adding to the schedule, or making it a required participation. Something like Breakfast day 1 is the In-person coaches session and Lunch day 2 is the Online coaches roundtable; both being held just outside the dining room.
A structured speaker panel discussion: If you don’t want all the speaker presnetations to be on theme, this can be where having a theme can really take hold. An MC, host, or Moderator can open discussion between different coaches who specialize in a variety of areas all talking about one topic, issue or problem. Whether you want to include audience participation is up to you. Live participation is cumbersome with running mics around or repeating questions. Perhaps inviting atendees to submit questions on paper until the panel meeting begins and then having each or some of the speakers do a grab one out of the hat.