Sue Anstiss and Tara Dillon talking on stage
18/06/2024
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Elevate 2024 – time to turn the lock

The Excel in London was the venue for Elevate 2024, a bustling and vibrant B2B event where the fitness, sport and physical activity sectors come together for two days with the aim to inspire and drive our nation to become more active.

This year kicked off with the keynote session where Huw Edwards CEO from ukactive, Rachel Young, Director of Business Development at Myzone, and our very own Tara Dillon FCIMSPA (ch), CEO at CIMSPA, reported back on the progress made in numerous key areas over the past 12 months.

Among those areas were health, wellness and the intrinsic link between sport, fitness and physical activity, how we build communities and make them inclusive, and who’s driving standards and how do we hold people to account?

In a lively discussion, Tara showcased the impact CIMSPA members and partners have had in the last 12 months, citing examples of the phenomenal achievements of the likes of Nuffield Health.

“I see Nuffield Health putting their people and their people strategy at the forefront of their own strategy, investing in every single member of staff and seeking professional recognition for them.

“They’re investing in them now to future proof their community and their provision going forward. It’s extraordinary how much they’ve invested in their people, which is fantastic.”

Tara Dillon and Huw Edwards on stage at Elevate 2024

“As a sector we’ve had the key in the door for a longtime - now we’re turning the lock.”

Throughout the session Tara reiterated the impact we are having as a sector in relation to health and active wellbeing.

She went on to identify collaboration, partnerships and data as being key to scaling up our impact, commenting that with the momentum we now have we can look to increase the rate at which we are positively impacting the sector.

Panel discussion - Blazing a trail for employer-led skills development

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The Local Skills Delivery project, led by CIMSPA in partnership with local agencies, gives local employers the opportunity to shape future skills investment and development in the sports and physical activity sector.

Elevate 24 - trailblazer panel border.pngConsulting with local employers before upskilling those with a role in physical activity means a workforce better prepared to meet the needs of the sector and have maximum impact on the local community and economy.

Tara Dillon FCIMSPA (ch) kicked the session off by setting the scene, labelling the sport and physical activity sector as the ‘National Prevention Service for Health’ and speaking passionately about the role of CIMSPA’s Local Skills Accountability Boards (LSABs) in bringing together employers, education providers, and employability-focused organisations to effectively and efficiently match supply and demand through Local Skills Action Plans (LSAPs).

“We work collaboratively with local health commissioners to understand local priorities, whether it be mental health, MSK, diabetes or maybe slips, trips and falls. We then look at how we can help. It’s met with enthusiasm by the health sector because they see the clear link to prevention by taking services and solutions to the local community.”

Tara went on to tell attendees of the vast coverage we have through 32 current LSABs , increasing this year to 37, and how collaboration within these boards is already thriving and delivering priceless data on what’s needed in that region.

“Our Local Skills infrastructure is the perfect ecosystem. Place based data is very powerful and will allow us to tackle inequalities in local areas.”

Elevate 24 - Tash border 2.pngNatasha Eason MCIMSPA then introduced the Training Academy, a new CIMSPA development that will imminently be available to ensure operators in the sector have an easy to access supply of the relevant training required for each area.

“The Training Academy will feature only Enhanced Providers who have been through our robust quality assurance process and as such will serve to differentiate between the good and great CIMSPA training provider partners.”

Natasha continued to elaborate on the process of skills diagnostics and LSABs feeding into the Training Academy to ensure the offering is constantly evolving within each locality.

Keep an eye out on our website for more information about the Training Academy in the coming weeks.

Dr Joanna Fleming went on to talk through some of the NHS Health and Wellbeing initiatives that have been successful in driving increased physical activity uptake in a diverse range of people in and around Leamington Spa.

Included in this is Swim Together, a peer support model where Swim England, Everyone Active and Mental Health Swims have worked in collaboration to help bring together people who are living with mental illness, or experiencing mental health challenges, and enable opportunities for them to swim in a safe and inclusive environment.

Swim Together – find out more

Another example Joanna gave was the Run Talk Run programme where through the NHS database they targeted people in the local area with high BMI results to offer a place on a ‘Couch to 5k’ course. Included was nine weeks of supported training that culminated in all participants meeting up to do a park run.

“Not only did this promote changing mindsets and habits and therefore positive lifestyle changes, it also offered the opportunity for social interaction and the wellbeing benefits this brings.

“These are just a few examples of how our sectors can work together to drive better health outcomes.”

Run Talk Run – find out more

Tara then wrapped the session up with a clear message around the benefits of prevention and reiterated the incredible position our sector finds itself in to aid that.

“We couldn’t be better placed to offer critical interventions in order to reduce the number of people presenting symptoms and those needing ongoing treatment.

“The costs of not implementing preventative measures are immeasurable. The savings our sector creates the NHS are massive and serve to give me the insights and stories to go to policy makers and tell them exactly how we make a difference and why we are integral in improving health outcomes.”

Local Skills Delivery – find out more

Best of the rest

Elevate 24 - Game Changer border.jpgIn the Game Changers Podcast session Sue Anstiss caught up with Tara Dillon FCIMSPA (ch) to talk about her journey from lifeguard to CIMSPA via DC Leisure and the RLSS.

Talking about status and recognition in our sector Tara told of her immense passion for our workforce being ‘recognised for the professionals they are’.

Tara also offered leadership advice for attendees by encouraging more self-reflection in order to keep learning, and when it comes to organisational culture, advised of the importance of making sure your team can be their best self.

Finally, talking about equality and diversity in the sector Tara held no qualms when she stated “I’ve seen improvements in my career but it’s not good enough. There’s still a lot to do and I won’t let up until we see parity.”

Read our new strategy ‘Releasing the Power of our Profession’ and discover how we will deliver the individual and collective recognition that our sector workforce needs and deserves.

Read our new strategy

Elevate 24 - apprenticeships border.jpgWith apprenticeships growing in popularity and prestige in recent years as leading businesses embrace them to close skill gaps, Sara Byrne offered some useful insights to the audience at the Apprenticeships - A Professional Approach session.

Sara talked about how crucial apprenticeships are for our sector and how they are there for employers to tap into that talent pathway.

Determined to bust some common myths surrounding apprenticeships Sara commented “There are so many opportunities out there whatever your age or stage of your career. They’re not just for 16-18 year-olds anymore.”

Find out how we can help develop you career pathway.

CIMSPA Careers and employability - read more

Panel discussion – Social media: does it do more harm than good and how do we build responsible content?

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Social media plays a significant role in our daily life, influencing the way we think, how we behave and what we talk about.

There is a huge amount of content around fitness and health, from self-professed fitness experts and have-a-go influencers to meticulously researched output and real-life fitness journeys, but who says what’s right or wrong? And in an unregulated space, how do you qualify what is valuable, and what is harmful?

Elevate 24 - social panel close up border.pngHosted by Annette Wade-Clarke, the panel made their thoughts clear on how sense comes to the fore in a space where anyone can be an expert, and the most divisive and outrageous content often gains the most traction.

Oliver Patrick was first to have his say and conclusive in his assessment that social media has proven a disaster for our health system and is a major contributing factor when it comes to deteriorating mental health.

Harry Jameson then went on to make the point that people on social media who are heard are those that have the most followers, they do not necessarily have the relevant experience or expertise.

“Can we give people a blue tick because they have a qualification that gives them the credentials to talk around their area of expertise, rather than signifying they’ve got good SEO or Google algorithm results.”

Harry concluded that, despite the issues mentioned, there were many benefits for businesses in terms of reaching bigger target audiences without breaking the bank, however people and businesses need to be held accountable for what they produce, taking responsibility for the content their brands produce.

Elevate 24 - social panel border.pngDan Edwardes echoed those sentiments by stating that social media outlets are concerned entirely with engagement and not the quality of content.

“Content creators often put out provocative posts for engagement as they want to gain traction. At present social media platforms are not held accountable and have no responsibility for your health.”

Annette rounded off the session by touching on social platforms moving forward and how they needed to work with education providers.

“The pressure is building on social platforms to develop tools and provisions for safety within their networks.”

Do social media the right way and engage your brand with people who need your services. The Digital Marketing Hub (DMH) has lots of support and resources to help you develop an engaging and effective social media strategy.

DMH – read more

Yet again, Elevate has exceeded expectations with an abundance of powerful insights and frank discussions delivering a formidable blend of compelling insights and critical takeaways around subjects such as future trends, best practice, skills, retention, inclusivity, wellbeing, mental health, digital, social media, marketing and much more.

We’ll leave you with our round up video that captures some of the highlights of Elevate 2024.

Overview of CIMSPA's experience at Elevate 2024

The Chartered Institute for the Management of Sport and Physical Activity

CIMSPA’s work enhances the career opportunities and professional development of the workforce operating in sport, fitness, exercise, leisure, gyms, coaching, outdoor exercise, health and wellbeing. We achieve this through sector-wide engagement, membership, networking, events, directories and professional standards.

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