I had intended to go the the Annual Meeting of the the Pilates Method Alliance for several years. In the beginning of my career, it was completely out of reach for me because, financially, I was working to keep a roof over my head and nothing more. I had to spend the rest of my time “actressing” as my husband calls it. When I began running a studio, I could have afforded it, but I was so intent on growing the business I refused to take a vacation. In fact, my first vacation was when I realized that I was not in love with that particular situation as a studio director and decided to move on. Once I got into my current role, it took me 6 years to get my ducks in a row and attend.
I truly wish I had gotten it together sooner.
I’m a people collector, and I found the BEST people at the PMA, people from all over the world. It’s thrilling. I also get to play with lots of toys. I really like to connect with the different equipment manufacturers and ask them face to face for solutions to problems in my studio. I’m lucky, I have a lot of spending power so I am also treated very kindly once vendors know me. I have people I consider close friends in the industry that I rarely get to see. I love that we are captive for one weekend in one location. Pilates Anytime always puts together great parties. These are all of my reasons.
Last year, I was presenting, and I was lucky enough to have 3 of my staff members also at the conference. I was so proud that these women were participating in the PMA community and representing the club. One of them, Eileen Harris, was recently featured in Pilates Style Magazine, speaking about her experience as a first timer at the conference. Her words put it better than I ever could. She said, “It’s not just another conference. It’s someone’s best work, presented in it’s most authentic way.”
She is 100% on the mark. Think about it. Where else are people presenting workshops under such high stakes? You have to apply a year in advance with a thoughtful, well researched, and necessary topic. You are going in front of some of the most educated and opinionated and confident people in the realm of fitness who traveled from all over the world to listen to you. Your material has to literally be for the participants and is not allowed to promote a specific training program or equipment manufacturer. It literally is 2 hours to share what you know. Personally, I obsessed about my presentation the entire year and rehearsed and edited and rehearsed some more. I even spent the “self care” day I talked about in my last blog, running through my presentation multiple times because for me at the stage in my game as a presenter, being uber prepared was self care….in between shopping the farmer’s market, walking by the ocean, and having some delicious meals.
Registration for the conference opens this weekend. Some of the great things fill up pretty fast. Of course, I would LOVE to see you in my presentation, but more importantly, I would love for more people to learn more, and most importantly, I would love to see more people CONNECT.
Lisa Moves 