National Tie-Ins for Facility Promotions

Today is May 12th, National Family Fitness Day. May 12 is also Fibromyalgia Awareness Day and National Women’s Checkup Day. And, May 12 falls during Food Allergy Awareness Week, National Alcohol- and Other Drug-Abuse Week, National Women’s Health Week, National Stuttering Awareness Week and National Neuropathy Week. If you’re laughing, that wasn’t my intent, although it is kind of funny.

My point in sharing this, however, is to show you just how many events around which you can hold a promotion in your fitness center. Just go to the National Health Information Center’s 2008 National Health Observances web page to see the hundreds of events, all of which are related to health, or, specifically to fitness.

Your facility is probably no stranger to exercise incentive programs. Most fitness centers run anywhere from one to a host of events, and we report on them in our N7 Rest of the Best department (previously our Best Ideas department) every month in Fitness Management’s print edition, which you can view in the article archives section of our website. A lot of these programs we report on are really creative. So, if you’re not yet running these types of programs, or if you’re worried about not being creative enough to come up with an idea of your own, don’t worry. With all of the national “days” and “weeks” to choose from, the main idea has already been created for you.

I found today’s event particularly interesting. Today, children at Boys & Girls Clubs in Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, New York and Seattle will participate in a free, after-school National Family Fitness Day, the main activity of which is playing DanceDanceRevolution Universe 2 on Xbox 360. This inaugural event is a partnership between Microsoft Corp’s Xbox 360 and the Boys & Girls Clubs of America “to promote healthy and active lifestyles for children and families.” The goal is to get at least 500 participants to expend a total of 18,000 calories while playing the game. This is a great tie-in with the recent rise in child obesity and the use of technology in fitness centers.

In case you missed this one, don’t worry. The NHIC’s list is not exhaustive. A quick Google search turns up many more, including yet another National Family Fitness Day scheduled for September 27 and sponsored by the Health Information Resource Center. What are you waiting for?