Will:  

So if we want to achieve our goal of bringing happiness and healthiness to more people, and more people to our classes, paying us money, we need to make it sticky. And by being sticky in the marketing sense, we mean that people keep coming back that they find it difficult to give up because they're getting something from it. Hey, I'm Will Brereton, founder of SH1FT Fitness and this is Group Fitness Real Talk, a show about how to survive and even thrive in group fitness in 2021 and beyond. 

Will:  

Hello, and welcome to the podcast. This week it's just me. And I'm going to be talking about a topic that I get asked a lot about by instructors. It's something that we as an industry, and also the wider community now understands to be a super important role of a group fitness instructor or a fitness instructor in general. And that's creating community and building connection both between us and our clients. And between our classes, allowing people and what is becoming more and more a disconnected world, to find community to find connection and to find fulfillment and exercise through that. So today, we're going to be deep diving into how to create meaningful connections. So we're going to talk a little bit about why connections are important, why people need it, we're going to talk about what you need to do before you can really create those meaningful bonds, the stuff that comes before it to create a safe environment. And then we're going to delve into some specific tactics that you can use. And we're going to delve into it for both live classes and digital classes. So no matter what you're teaching listeners, whatever type of instructor you are, there's something that you'll be able to take away from today's session. Right, I'm going to begin by calling out something that I've been seeing a lot as we come out of the pandemic and live classes start again. And this is on LinkedIn or on social media, and it's talking about the need for Rockstar instructors. Now, I'm just gonna say it I'm gonna call bullshit on this concept, because it's an outdated concept that I think did have merit at some points in the past, but is very, very much not what is most important about being an instructor today. Let's think about that term, Rockstar Instructor. what it implies is someone that looks the part and sounds the part and creates a performance, but isn't necessarily immediately available to the people that are watching them. And that is not what fitness is about today. Now there was a time and I remember in my past where the instructors and classes were up there, and they were creating an amazing experience. And they were owning the microphone, and they were owning the stage. And they were maybe teaching to large classes of sort of 50 plus people. But here's the deal. Those days have pretty much passed. We're now entering a environment where big studios and mid market gyms are becoming less and less the center of fitness for most people. boutique has arisen. And yes, those instructors are absolutely rock stars, but they're teaching to relatively small groups. And as we've talked about on this podcast, a number of times the real value of boutique is the personalization and the fact that people feel noticed, and that instructors know their name, and that the people on the front desk, understand who they are, where they've been how many times they've been back to their boutique. It's not about just going in and being all inspired by the person on stage. It's about all the stuff around it. And then we've got budget gems, low cost gems, and they are sometimes getting rid of classes completely, or they're showing digital versions of classes. Now, here's the deal. Those Rockstar instructors, they still exist, and they're still being created, but they're being created in the digital space. peloton, Liz Mills, apple, they are creating rock stars. And here's the deal. Those rock stars are sometimes chosen because of the way they look because of the diversity element they bring. Because of a specific look or type that those companies are needing to fulfill and their overall roster, not necessarily because they're the best instructors. This is not to downplay or denigrate anyone that has found success in the digital world. But I do know a lot of people that have been teaching for a long time that feel like they don't look the part or they're not set up for success in the same way. But here's the reality. Part of the reason that those people become rock stars is because other people choose that for them and provide them with all of the tools and tips of the trade. They promote them, they put money behind them, and then they become a rock star. And that's for most of you guys listening to this not a reality that you're going to be able to buy into.

Will:  

The other reality that I think is really important to know is that if you are still teaching in a live sense, or a livestream sense, so let's put aside pre recorded digital stuff. Let's put aside the stuff that Apple fitness does, most of the stuff that peloton does, the stuff that Les Mills does, the stuff that all of these new companies are coming out with. Let's put that video on demand to one side and just think about people that actually teach in person. So they teach two classes or they teach a live-stream. What is most important for those instructors and that's probably most of the People that are listening to this, even if you do create a little on-demand library, which I always suggest is a great thing to do. The important thing is connection. It's understanding who's in front of you, it's making them feel valued, it's making them feel seen. And that's what keeps them coming back. So first of all, we're going to call bullshit on the concept of the Rockstar instructor that still exists. But that's not what in person struggling is about anymore. In person instructing is about creating meaningful connections that keep people coming back, that keep people feeling social. And we're going to talk more about how we go about building them now. Okay, so first up, let's just have a chat about why connection is important right at the start. Now, I like to think about a psychological theory called self determination theory, when it comes to identifying what connection should be in the group in this context. Now, this is a psychological theory that is about human fulfillment in general is not related to class teaching. But I think it's quite a helpful analogy to think about when thinking about the needs of a person, and what we can do to help them fulfill their needs to be happy and fulfilled when they come into our classes. So this theory, self determination theory basically states that there are three basic things that every human being needs to be content. One is autonomy. Two is competence, and three is relatedness. And relatedness is where connection comes in. So what this basically says is that there are three these three basic needs that all people are striving towards. Now let's talk about each of them individually. autonomy is the need that people have to be masters of their own destiny or to be in control of their own lives, it's difficult to be happy, if you feel that you're being controlled. And understanding that you have the power to decide what you want to do is the feeling of being autonomous, and it's something that we need if we're going to be fulfilled. So that's the first one. The second one is competence. And we can talk about this in relation to the skills that we obtain that make us feel that we can do a good job that we can participate, our achievements, our knowledge and our skills, we build these competencies and develop mastery over tasks. And this becomes important because it makes us feel like we can contribute something valuable to the situations that we're in. And then we have relatedness. And this is where connection falls in. And this is the deep need that people have for a sense of belonging and connectedness with others. It's something that each of us needs to some degree, some more than others. But it is a facet of human life. In order to be fulfilled, we need to know that we're connected to other people. So are these three things autonomy, competence, and relatedness the first two are internal, we can create them on our own, we can create a scenario for our lives where we are autonomous while we were making our own decisions, we can develop mastery over the things that we do, our occupation, our skills, our hobbies. But relatedness requires that we are with other people connecting with other people interacting with other people. And in today's society, particularly in a time when we've been through a year that was so disconnected, we appreciate that there are so many limiting factors that can cause us to feel like we're not connected.

Will:  

So here's where we come in. Group fitness classes can serve as a means for so many people to meet their need to feel connected, and to feel belonging to something belonging to a group. And as instructors, there are specific things that we can do to increase that sense of belonging and bring people together to form stronger bonds to one another, and to exercise which is a really healthy endeavor as a regular activity. Okay, so let's talk about the basics of connection when it comes to a group and its context. Now, I want you to think about a pyramid. And this is a little bit like Maslow's hierarchy of needs. I'm not going to delve into that. But if you're familiar with it, then I want you to think of that type of pyramid. But it's only got three layers. And at the very top, the apex of this pyramid, the thing that you're aiming for, if you want to be a really, really great connector, is the personalized connection that differentiates you from other people, that gets people coming back that's synonymous with your teaching style that people know is characteristically you. But here's the deal. That is the top little triangle of the pyramid. And there are two really important parts of the base. Now, let's go into this pyramid, the bottom layer, the foundation of the pyramid, the thing which needs to be there before you can build the other two layers are our fundamental needs. These are the needs that we have to have met if we're going to feel like we can progress in any way. So in the group fitness context, people need to feel safe and respected in a group environment before they can start to connect with others and build a sense of belonging to that group. So people don't feel safe and respected. If they don't have those basic needs met. It's gonna be really hard. For them to open up be runnable talk to other people The walls are up, is the classic situation of people don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care. So we need to create a safe, caring environment in which each person feels respected before we can move on. Now this can include in a class context respecting any specific cultural factors that may be present in your group dynamic. So that's the base layer. The second layer is authenticity. And this is genuine authenticity. So you've made them feel safe and respected. This next level is about being genuine and authentic to who you are. Here's the deal, we can't expect openness and connection from others until we are open ourselves. So as an instructor, you need to focus on giving genuine connection to others being vulnerable in the space that you occupy, and allowing people to see you while you take the time to see them. Listen, as much or more than you speak when you're working on creating these connections. Now the last part of the pyramid, that's where you personalize it. That's where your individuality comes out the things that make it characteristically you that keep people coming back, we're going to call them our specific tactics. So this final level is about the specific skills that you use to build connection. Things like using names or asking questions or breaking into subgroups. All of these like specific tactics that you can employ. That's the top of the pyramid. Now we're going to roll back, and we're going to deep dive a little bit more into each layer, and talk about how you can create that in your classes. So let's go back to the bottom layer, the foundation of your pyramid is feeling safe and respected. So what does it mean to feel safe and respected? And how can we create this in a class as an instructor? Okay, so this starts from attitude, where the host of the class, and we're responsible for the people in it while they're with us, if we can show genuine care for them, and respect for their feelings during their time for us, it's going to show through, and that's going to allow people to open up, and then once they're open, you can build on those connections. So how do we do it? What specific actions can you take as an instructor to make people feel safe and respected in the space that they're occupying? Now this starts before the people even arrive to the class. And this can apply in a live class or a digital class context. My advice is that you create a set of guidelines for behavior in your classes. Now your club might do this, if you teach in a club. Or if you're online, you may want to do this yourself. But I want you to think about three to five basic things that are important to you. Here are some examples. Knowing that you're going to take time to welcome people to your room, especially people that you don't know. Now we've talked about this on previous podcasts, it could be as much as delineating a time where you know that you will either log into your virtual class or you will be in the studio, and that you won't be stuffing around with the microphone or playing with your music selection, or setting up the equipment, all that stuff is done. And you are just there to interact with people who are new, or people that are coming back. Knowing that you're going to have a limit in your mind or a set time that you're going to approach this level of connection is one of the first ways that you can build a culture of being safe and respectable in your classes. So taking the time to welcome people to your room, especially people that you don't know. Next up might be taking the time to make a musical playlist if you're someone that teaches a music based class that will appeal to the people in your classes, not just to you. So this is where you might bear in mind that some groups within your class might have specific issues with certain songs or language. And that you need to respect that. Here's where I can pull an example in from my teaching. I don't do it that much on the podcast, although I did do it at the start of this episode. But in my real life, I swear all that time, constantly. It helps that amount of kids so I never have to worry about censoring my language. But when I teach classes, I deliberately scale it back. I might throw the odd swear word in here in the air. But I understand that not everybody appreciates that type of language in a public space or in a class. And therefore I temper my language. And that's one way I changed my behavior in a way that doesn't change my personality or who I am, but it makes the people in my class who might not be okay with that feel safe and respected.

Will:  

If this is all feeling quite new to you, then I encourage you to take the time write down on a piece of paper, brainstorm out three or four things that you can do outside of class before you go into class. That will create a safe and respectful environment for the people within it. Once you've got that sorted, once you've got a plan, it becomes much easier to implement. Okay, so bottom layer done moving on to the second layer. This is all about being genuine. Here's the deal. genuineness authenticity is something that we just can intrinsically sense and other people, it comes down to things like body language, presentation, tone of voice, the way you look at other people the way you react. And this is because we evolved from animals that used to communicate non verbally. So our animal parts of our brain really do recognize this and others, what you say verbally is meaningful, but the way you deliver it is often more important to creating genuine connection. So we know when someone's being true to themselves. And when they're playing a role from all these visual or nonverbal cues that were inclined to pick up on, especially during a class and we're focusing on one person. Now, I know that it can be hard to be fully yourself as a new instructor, especially when you aren't that familiar with teaching. Or if you're teaching in a digital sense, you've got all of this tech to worry about. And when you're stressed about the other things going on, it doesn't allow a lot of time for personal expression. Now, this is where it's really important to be prepared. And that relates to what we talked about in layer one, knowing that your mic works, knowing that your tech works, knowing that your playlist is created and is ready. This will allow you to not be so stressed about the other things going on and later focus on being authentic. So this is where preparation is key. Once you gain a little bit more experience, and this experience includes being really well prepared for every class, and you become a lot more proficient in the basics of instructing, it can be really useful to reflect on your teaching persona. So are you being authentic to yourself? Or are you putting on a mask and being the person that you think you're supposed to be? So if you teach a certain type of format, are you teaching that format as you are? Are you just copying the style that you're seeing on a video of someone teaching that format, or another person that might be teaching it? Now, I am going to say later in this, that watching and emulating people that you think do something well is one of the best ways to learn. But that doesn't mean copying them rote. It doesn't mean taking the exact things that they say when they teach class and saying that in your own one, people are going to see through that because it's not authentic. being true to yourself is the first big step towards creating more genuine connections in class. Okay, this starts from knowing your drivers as an instructor. This is not something that we're going to delve too deeply into in this podcast. But if you take the time to invest in yourself, and getting to know why you're there, and what is important to you, that will allow you to really be genuine with the people in your class. Bear in mind that it's okay, if you do want to create a slightly modulated version of yourself. As I said, in my real life, I swear all the time in my classes, I don't swear. So that means that you know, there are some ways that I'm changing the way that I present myself, but it doesn't mean that I'm doing in a way that is in genuine. Now, that can be a little bit hard to do. And it's a process that can take some time for you to explore. Often people that have been teaching for a long time are still putting up a facade and might not think that they're the genuine them when they teach. But if you really think about how to go about doing it, and again, you're really prepared and you create a safe environment for them, which means a safe environment for you to you can think about the person you're being and how to be 100% present with the people in your class. Now, this is probably going to be being me mean being more open and vulnerable in class. This might mean sharing when you're struggling with the workout, or really sharing the things that you love. So you can start by focusing on giving connection, giving vulnerability rather than receiving or expecting it. This means being open and sharing yourself without the expectation that will be reciprocated. So this is a situation when instructors go How are we doing? And it's tumbleweeds? And how many times have you heard an instructor asked the class how they doing get no response and then get a little bit aggressive or bullying like come on, I can't hear you and trying to wring that response out of the class in front of them. Start by sharing yourself before you expect it from others and even then, except that not everyone wants to shout out loud in a class. The fact that they don't shout back to you doesn't mean that they're not present. Or it may come back to that first foundational level we talked about that they don't really feel safe and respected yet. And what could you do to change that?

Will:  

The final part of this layer is about looking at and seeing people really it's that simple. Try to go beyond just looking at your class and work on seeing them. So what does that mean? It means looking at the looks on participants faces. How are they feeling? Are your cues landing with them? Are you connecting? Can you make genuine eye contact with people? Obviously a little bit harder through a screen but easy in person to understand. Whether it's one person or the whole class, it's your job to see the memory act to what you see. And this is how we differentiate ourselves from video on demand because this is where teaching livestream or in person is is a really different experience to watching a video because that video cannot react to what it says in front of it. If someone's looking uncertain later, like they don't know what they're doing, you can give them a little bit more special attention. If you know that someone really likes being the center of attention, you can give them that by calling out their name and class or bringing them up on stage or bringing them to the front of the group. using them as an example of how to really execute well a particular exercise. Each situation is going to be different. And this ability will rely on your resource of skills to respond appropriately. Okay, so here's where we get into that top part of the pyramid. This is the fun bit. This is the specific tactics that you can use when teaching live and in person, to really bring out the connectivity that you have within you and to get your class connecting with you each other the workout, the music, the vibe. Now, don't worry too much about taking notes or anything on this, we've created a handout for this that you can get in the show notes, there'll be a link. So feel free to just listen absorb, start thinking about how you might go about doing this in your classes. And you can always print off the handout later. 

Will:  

Okay, I'm going to start with live classes, we're going to split this into and talk about some of the specific tactics that you can use on a live class versus the specific tactics that you can use in a digital class. Okay, so when a live class, here's the best rule, nothing beats eye contact. This may seem obvious, but I'm going to state it again, because it's really, really important. Now, there's an art to this. And there is a sweet spot that sometimes quite hard to get to, which is a spot spot between gazing over people's heads, and also staring hard into their eyes. And I'm going to call this soft eye contact. To get started in this space, begin by looking at the space just between a person's eyes and the bridge of their nose. So you aren't staring directly into their eyes. But from their perspective, it looks like you're doing that you will know this, if you've been teaching for a while, sometimes you actually get that eye to eye steering contact, and it's a little bit uncomfortable. And that's because eye contact is uncomfortable. The good thing about a group environment and again we're teaching live here is that there's multiple people in the group, you don't have to linger on one person for any particularly long point in time, you can use this soft eye contact to make sure that everyone in the group feels that you are seeing them. But you're not having that uncomfortable locked die situation with anyone in particular for any long amount of time. Number two, and you may know this. So this might be about teaching your grandmother to suck eggs, but I'm gonna say anyway, don't forget to smile. Now, here's the deal. I talked a little bit earlier about all of those nonverbal body language signals that we see as people. Because we've evolved to see it, here's the deal about a smile. It's the one universal message that you can send with your face that says I'm friendly. I'm It's nice to see you. I'm open to what you have to give me. Remember to let your smile reach your eyes as well. Now, we've talked about this on this podcast before and I really recommend that you go back and listen to Episode 26 with Cameron Chinatti, where she said that she would always say when she was a master trainer and delivering delivering trainings to presenters that at the end of a class, your cheeks should be sore because you've been smiling so much. Now I know before I said you have to be authentic and smiling might be not something that comes naturally to you. But here's the deal, a smile is the universally recognized symbol of being open. Being open is a ground floor requirement to creating connection. So it's something that you're going to have to work on.

Will:  

Okay, next up: use names. Now, this is one where I historically have fallen down really badly. I'm terrible with names, but I'm really good at remembering details about people. But I've had situations where someone's come to my class for years, and I don't remember their name. And it's become really awkward because I can't ask them anymore because they will be really offended because they've been coming to my class for years. But I do know their children's names where they go on holiday, whether they have pets, the type of car, they drive, all of those other sundry information, and I don't know their name. It's embarrassing. The good news is that's a little bit easier to do now, because you have the opportunity to connect on social media, you have the ability to look at class booking lists, all of the stuff that didn't exist 20 years ago when I started teaching and realized that this was one area where I fell down badly. Not everyone likes having a name called out in class. So you might want to reserve that for the more extroverted extroverted members of your group. But knowing as many names as you can and greeting people by name when they enter the room goes a long way to creating a stickier connection. We talked about this really recently on the podcast with Jack from Base. I think it was Episode 38, where he said that everyone is greeted by name, and the instructors have a list where they can check off those names and also understand who's new. Now I think we talked about it in the episode. Most boutiques use this great booking software where you can print off a list and you might not have that available to you if you're teaching in person in club, but you might, and I recommend that you utilize it. If you have the ability to print off the names of a person in your class of the people in your class, use it. I found this to be a godsend for my ability to remember names because if I see someone's name on social media, or I see their name on a sheet, if I can visually link vim in person with the name that I see written down, I remember it much better than if I just hear it through my ears, I'm clearly not an auditory learner. Okay, next up, share the love. So share the attention. Sometimes in classes, especially live ones, it can be really easy to get distracted by the squeaky wheels and class, the ones that really want the interaction of the put their hands up all the time. Those people who need more help or are more extroverted and reach out to you can sometimes make the people that don't do that feel a little bit less involved. Now here's a little tip. Divide your class into four quadrants. So just map it out in your brain, front, right front, left, back right back left, and try and look at each of the four at least once per workout section or track whatever type of class that you teach, however you want to divide it up and make eye contact with someone from each quadrant each time that will allow you to make sure that you're giving the room all a little bit of attention rather than focusing on the people that are jumping up and down. Last one here is to remember that a small detail goes a long way. Now I said before, I was really bad with names, but I was really good with these random small details. So for example, if John told you last week that they were getting a puppy, making a point to ask them how when you Nick saw them is going to create a really great connection with john, the small effort of showing you care will build that connection between you. Better yet, if all if you know that somebody else has a dog, or just got a puppy, bring them into the conversation to more on this very shortly.

Will:  

All of these tactics are going to help you to build great connection in live classes. Okay, next up digital classes, because they're obviously different and they require focuses on different things. Now some of those things that we talked about in that live class section are going to apply things like knowing small details, smiling, eye contact, if you can do it through the screen, and also knowing people's names. But here are some specific things that apply to digital specifically. First step is know the audience. So think about who you're talking to them and what they want to hear. If you know that your class, your digital class, your live stream class we're talking about in this context, are all people that have been to the class before, and you know that they're competent in the exercises, then you may want to skip over some of the longer intro stuff and just keep the action flowing. If you know that you've got a class of beginners, you may want to focus more on setting up all of the individual sections or talking through your workout plan. And if you know you've got a mixture of beginners and experts or people that have been coming for a long time, you may want to specifically think about how you can sit the experts off during the exercise, and then give a little bit more information to those beginners. Next up is to tell a story. It's one thing to know who you're talking to, but it's another to actually engage them. And so I'd like you to when you're teaching virtually consider what the narrative of the class or track within the class is. If you're breaking your class up into songs, or into sections or intervals, then think of them like chapters. This is a quote that resonated with me when I was putting this together, which is tell me and I'll forget, show me and I may remember, involve me and I'll understand. So if you can give a progression to your online class, your live stream class that allows people to know where they are in that progression and where they're going, they will become more engaged with you and with the workout itself. The last stop being entertaining. So for the audience who are watching via digital, this is key. Our live experiences depend on interaction and the experience of exercising in the company of others. So to compensate for the lack of this, you need to present through the camera and create an engaging and entertaining dialogue with your audience. This is not always easy, but this may involve you watching some other live stream classes and thinking what are those presenters and instructors do that I think is really good. I personally love it when a person is teaching virtually but they come right up to the camera and stare into it and they're like I can see you, I can see you, whether it's a zoom workout or even if it's a one way workout. That works for me It might not resonate for you but it's something that I quite enjoy because it makes me feel like I am interacting in a live experience. Rather than just watching a performance that was filmed months or years ago. So if you want to recap any of these, feel free, check the show notes, download them, print them out, and think about how you can apply them to your class. Okay, we're coming up to the final bit of the podcast. And this I mentioned a little bit before, which is learning from the best. Okay, question for you. And this applies to any element of being a great group fitness instructor, but it applies to connection especially, do you take classes from others? Now this could be in person, it could be digital, but do you take other people's classes? If the answer is no, you need to, you cannot expect to improve or be better unless you're a study of those who do things Great. Now, I think I've mentioned on this podcast before that I have memberships to pretty much every single digital platform out there. And I do other people's classes regularly. I consider research for workout styles, themes, ideas, but I also consider research into styles of teaching that I think I can incorporate into my teaching. Now this has never been easier with digital. Here's a little trick for young players, every single new virtual platform that comes out, there might be a few that dive but predominantly all of them offer free memberships. I recommend that you free offer serve around all of the different options. If Peloton gives a free month, do a free month of Peloton and get through as many different instructors as you can for your own workouts. Do it with Les Mills on-demand, do it with shift. Do it with Fits On. Do it with Apple. If you can do a free trial, it's not going to cost you anything other than remembering to cancel it. This is a great way to absorb different styles from other people, the more people you watch, and when I say watch, I mean watch consciously. So I do these workouts for my workout. But in my mind, and often, often when I'm working out at home, if I'm doing a home workout, I will have a sheet of paper beside me and a pen. And I'll be writing down great ideas for workout content, but also things that the instructor does that I think are really good that I would like to emulate, bring to my teaching, or potentially bring to my understanding of what great connection is.

Will:  

Okay, so last up, I'm going to talk about one thing in particular. And this is something that I learned from a very good friend of mine, Bevan James Eyles, episode nine of this podcast, he did start a deep dives into it. So this is threads of commonality. I'm going to play you an excerpt from the podcast was given very shortly, but I'm going to give you an introduction to what it is. So what are threads of commonality? And how are they important to us as group fitness instructors. So here's the deal, one of the biggest roles that we have in group fitness is encouraging consistent adherence to exercise. So we know that one of the most significant factors in achieving the benefits of exercise is doing it on a regular consistent basis. This is how you're going to fight the diseases that activity. This is how you're going to be healthy. This is how you're gonna be COVID resistance, all of these great things, a great workout is not going to achieve anything if it's the only workout that someone does. So if we want to achieve our goal of bringing happiness and healthiness to more people, and more people to our classes paying us money, we need to make it sticky. And by being sticky in the marketing sense, we mean that people keep coming back that they find it difficult to give up because they're getting something from it. So how can we use connection to our advantage and making our classes sticky? I want you to think of threads of commonality as bonds. So imagine you had two people in your group cycling class. And you both know they're into road cycling, you know that they don't know each other, but you think they might enjoy sharing their common interest. If you introduce those two people and explain how you know that they're both really into road cycling, maybe they did a similar race, they have the same type of bike, you know that they go cycling in the same place on weekends, you can link them by that common thread that common bond and create a little bit more reason for them to come back to class next week. Likewise, you can do it on a broader scale, you can ask who in your class is going to a big event coming up in your area soon or who attended one that happened recently. You can ask who's watching the big game who watched X-Factor or American Idol or whatever the show is last weekend, or who loved the song that you just played? Big or small. Every time that you establish a link between your participants that doesn't involve you directly, you're still making the class a little bit more sticky. If they create friends with that stickiness, and have people that they know coming to class, they have something in common to talk about a stronger reason for being there, and more likelihood of coming back. I'm going to play you a little snippet from my conversation with Bevan where he delves into how he came about this realization and how he does it in his class. 

Will:  

So if we think about community being kind of the thing that you have realized, is the most essential thing for your career as an instructor, as a leader in the community, how do you build it? What's the secret sauce that you've created that allowed you to build that community?

Bevan  

So I think first is that having that mindset of I am building community, you know. Yeah, totally, you know, and because I love the idea of the questions you put in your mind, you'll find great solutions to. And so once I start to see myself as a community builder, your mind will come up with great innovation in great ways to consecrate that. So I think, first of all, the one thing we need to shift is when I walk into a room, or as I turn up to the park, or wherever my fitness facility is, is my job is to create community. And so that will help you first of all, start to think about the opportunity to create community. So like, there's some ways we can do this, obviously, the pre class experience. So you know, in the past, the billets, people were waiting around for the walk up and talk to each person. Yeah, nowadays, I grip people together and then I walk away. Yeah, you know, so just little, little bits like that are really important. So I think the first thing you've got to go is my, how do I look at a world in a way that helps me build community. And so that's the first thing is looking for those conscious moments where you can just create human connection. The hardest thing is the first point of human connection. So at first people feel a bit awkward, and that's why it's nice for you to be the breakdown, because people stand next to each other and they have similar interests. But the hardest point is to getting them to do that. So so the first thing is, you can be the person who leads. So I will literally go to people and say, just get on the topic, and I'll just pull the next person into the conversation.

Will:  

Yeah, yeah. Cuz you know them, you know their name, you know, something about them, and you can be the --

Bevan  

Yeah. And once they're talking, I get out of there, because then I'm going where's my next community to build?

Will:  

And do you find that tough now, because I think of all the times that I obviously went for classpass. And I've been to so many group fitness classes, different places, the number of times I've been somewhere new, and I've, I've just been glued to my phone because I'm nervous. Like, I'm not, I'm a self confident person. But I'm not

Bevan  

It's really fascinating, because you're self confident and even you do this. Yeah, yeah, for sure.

Will:  

Like, I'll be on my phone, I'll be looking at my phone, I'll be pretending to text someone and I'll just be wasting time so that I don't have to interact, because I'm nervous. How do you, like do you find that a problem? And what do you do to get over it?

Bevan  

I don't, because I don't have problem with people. But I that for people who would be shy. That would maybe be a bit of a challenge.

Will:  

Oh, I mean if you have people in your class that are like me, and they're glued to their phone. Do you strike up a conversation? a

Bevan  

Yes. approach them. I fundamentally I'm a real people person, which helps. I think they want to connect. Yeah, and I think the other thing I think that's really important thing to remember, this is one thing I learned early on, because I'm a really interesting story because I was real dropkick, a real loser. Like I was like I left school no qualifications. Druggie, elkie, turned my life around. And what's really interesting about my story is I was literally I was like, the scum of the scum. At 19 hours I was the scum of the scum. I had a bad drug experience, found myself, started develop myself, found fitness luckily, within 18 months of being a successful fitness person, yep. Now, what's really interesting about that moment in my life, is I got a lot of respect from the world. Because I was good at thing, the thing that most people suck at, yeah. When I got into fitness, everyone wanted to listen to what I had to say. Yeah, the thing that is, I actually wasn't that developed as a person I actually didn't have much to offer. And if you'd looked at me 18 months earlier, no one wanted to listen to me at all. 

Will:  

See I knew you around this time, Bev. You had you had so much energy and enthusiasm, which you've always had, but But yeah, you're probably right. Like, when I think of you as the person you are today, and you as the person you were when I met you -- worlds apart.

Bevan  

Yeah. Even in that small transition, I was like, Okay, if you'd met me 18 months earlier, no one, even my friends, we were the lowest of the low. And even nobody listened to me, you know, like I was, you know, I wasn't, I had no respect. I mean, I found fitness and fitness is a funny thing, because we are good at the thing that most of the world sucks it. And so for that reason, we get a disproportionate amount of respect.

Will:  

When you said, good at the thing you mean like standing up and delivering fitness it? 

Bevan  

Well, that. But even exercising. Yeah, actually.

Will:  

Yeah, you're right. I totally forget because I spend so much time working with fit pros, that that there's like the bulk of the people in the world don't do fitness, period.

Bevan  

Yeah, yeah. And not just don't do it. Most people are scared of it. We are good at the thing that must be was suck at. And the irony is, we don't find it hard. You know, I'd like for you to do exercise, do you ever go home and go like, oh I didn't do exercise for a month? You know, like, we might have the odd day but and we like to push ourselves but the idea of just starting size exercise isn't hard for us? Not so they put the context on us. Yeah, so when they see us doing exercise, they think oh my god, these guys must be working so hard because I find it so hard, right? But it's not true. It's as easy as brushing your teeth for us. So for that in mind, we get a really, really huge amount of respect from the public. Secondly, we also are people who stand in front of people. Yeah. And it's another area, people say they'd rather die than public speaking, which is true, but you know. It's so, so they look up to us. And we forget it. And for me, you know, I remember, there was a moment in my late 20s, when I realized, I'm a Pied Piper. In my position, and because I'm good at the thing that most people were bad at, I have an ability to influence. And to me, there's a responsibility that comes with it. And so like, if I want to build community, and I walk in a room, and there's someone on the phone, who doesn't know, well, I'm the leader.

Will:  

Right. It's your it's your responsibility to bring them in. And I think you're totally right. It's the like, for example, when I'm using the example of myself. If the instructor comes up and starts talking to me, phone goes down, like I'm looking for an excuse to interact. I'm just too nervous to be the one to do it. When I'm teaching, well, obviously, I'm in the reverse position, and I'll go out of my way.

Bevan  

Totally. And the thing is that, like, it's amazing. It's amazing how you can just have such an impact by being that person, you know, in finding the right approach, obviously, you got to have to do it in an approachable way, but we're Instructors, we get how to do that.

Will:  

So there you have it in Bev's own words. Now he's spent more than one decade, a long career, teaching at the highest level in Christchurch in New Zealand, but it's the way he treats his classes every day that makes him special. Bevan sees himself as a creator of connection. For many years, he saw his focus and his role as being the person that created that connection and the groups that he led. I've talked about this in the podcast before, and Bev and I are a little bit same in this regard. We got into teaching because we went to a gym where body attack was one of the most popular classes on the timetable. You had groups of 100 people going in, and music was blaring, it was super great. It was super fun. And we wanted to be the center of attention. And we really cared about delivering a great experience. But it wasn't so much about the other people, it was more about creating that experience. for them. It was that Rockstar vibe. But as I said at the top, that isn't where the industry is right now. And it's not where I see the place of Group Fitness Instructors. But what that also meant is, if you were the focal point of all of that attention, is that you needed as an instructor to personally connect with everyone in the room and constantly lead the conversation. This is intensive, and it took a great deal of effort to maintain. It meant that in order for people to feel like they were part of the group, Bevan, for example, needed to interact with them personally, to talk to them personally. He had to stretch himself across groups that could exceed 100 people, which is ultimately unsustainable. I'm telling you that now, it's too hard to do as an instructor. If Bevan eased off his efforts, or if he went away for any period of time, it took a few weeks off, his class numbers would have fallen. So what he did was shift that focus to being the person who created community, allowing Bevan to modify his approach in a way that was more sustainable long term, and to magnify the impact that he was having. So now rather than leading the conversation and having to be involved in it every time, he focuses on bringing people together, who can create and develop conversation that connections on their own, who has common threads with who bevans role now, and I think this is a central role to being a group fitness instructor in the modern world, is to learn about the people in your classes and your community, and to put them together with others who might share that interest. And by doing that given and you if you do this, too, can create a self sustaining community that can grow on its own. And this is where creating threads of commonality, using your connection to not just connect to the people in front of you. But to connect those people with each other is the secret sauce to a sustainable group fitness career. Because it is draining, to feel that you have to say hello and have a conversation with every single member of your class every time. But if you can delegate that effort to other people that they connect with by understanding more about who they are by genuinely taking the time to see them and to think about who within that community they might connect with. You can take that pressure off you in a way that doesn't reduce the importance of connection. And it also allows the people within your community to make connections between each other, which fulfills that fundamental human need of relatedness, but doesn't put all the pressure on you as an instructor. Right. As far as connection goes, that was all I have to say for the moment. As usual. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to send them through to me all my contact details are in the show notes. I hope that you've enjoyed this deep dive in To connection and I hope that maybe I've given you a few little tips and tricks that can help you to create it and make your life easier as an instructor. Thank you for listening. If you're enjoying the show, don't forget to subscribe for all the latest episodes wherever you get your podcasts. And while you're there, please drop us a review. You can also get in touch with me at will@sh1ftfitness.com. I'm Will Brereton and you've been listening to Group Fitness Real Talk.