As the global vaccine rollout brings reopening closer and heralds the end of lockdowns, jostling is beginning for the resumption of live fitness industry events later in the year.

IHRSA has announced it's done a deal for the development of an event called the IHRSA SMART Summit, which will take place during new B2B trade show, FitnessConnected, at the Trade Fair Center in Munich, from November 17-19, 2021.

SMART stands for sales, marketing, analytics, retention and technology.

FitnessConnected is part of the ISPO-Network, and is headed by CEO, Ralph Scholz, who was previously event director of FIBO from 2013 to 2017.

The IHRSA SMART Summit will begin with a gym tour of Munich, followed by summit sessions and will end with face to face business presentations during the afternoons of the FitnessConnected trade show (November 18 and 19).

The IHRSA SMART Summit will replace the IHRSA European Congress this year. This longstanding event was originally scheduled to take place in Berlin in 2020 – IHRSA indicates the Congress will resume in 2022.

IHRSA says it will release full details of the SMART Summit 'this spring' (spring in the northern hemisphere, we assume).

"I'm particularly proud about this partnership with IHRSA,” said Scholz. “It brings us one important step closer to our goal of being the central European platform for the fitness industry."

Scholz announced Fitness Connected in October 2020. The new deal squares up FIBO and its conference partner EuropeActive, with Fitness Connected and IHRSA in a battle for the European trade show and conference market.

EuropeActive has just signed a new three-year deal with FIBO.