See What Past Attendees Have to Say About AB Show:

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As a regular attendee of large conferences on an annual basis, AB Show is far more educational in helping professionals relate to common trends in the fitness and health industry, and puts experts in front of the sessions to help remedy and resolve these trends. I would highly recommend attending the conference and going to as many educational sessions as possible.

Adam Lockard

Director of Facilities

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Woodside Club

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This was my first time at AB and thought it was great! I was fortunate to be one of the scholarship recipients this year and really appreciated everything. AB covers so much from the leadership and facility standpoint. I got the chance to network with tons of people. The sessions and keynotes all hit close to home for me and I left motivated to share with my staff. I would highly recommend this conference to anyone who asked. I hope to bring more of our staff next year.

Shane DeWald, CPRP

Recreation Manager

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Blue Valley Recreation Commission

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This was the first year I attended the AB Conference and was pleasantly surprised about the educational session topics and presentations.  I expected conference information to be limited in the way of recreation design and construction but that truly wasn’t the case. I’m a Landscape Architect and work in a Public Municipal Capital Office with other Architects and Landscape Architects.  I was very pleased to attend sessions that related specifically to site work and additional information I could share with the Architects about building construction.  It gets even better because since attending the conference I have received two electronic presentations to share with my colleagues.  Other staff that I traveled with attended a large range of session categories. I also had a great interest in the leadership area. I was so satisfied to attend a full conference and look forward to every session.  It was nice to have separate time for the Exhibit Hall so I wouldn’t miss a session or exhibit. Also, it was nice have a comfortable lunch break without missing a thing. Lou Holtz hit a home run and Bonnie St. John had a good story to tell.  Overall the entire conference was well planned. I plan to always keep this conference on my calendar each year and I noticed the price was affordable enough that I could handle it if my employer doesn’t. 

Denise Caldwell

Design Planner

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Baltimore City Rec & Parks

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We attend a couple of conferences each year in the campus rec industry that we're a part of at Moraine Valley Community College FitRec; but we also have KidRec, which is geared more toward our community, including programming for three months to 13 years. So being able to attend AB Show was a great fit for my role as far as the products in the expo hall and the educational sessions I attended. Overall, AB Show was beneficial and I really liked it!

Angela Caringella

Assistant Director of Youth Programs and Student Development

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Moraine Valley Community College FitRec

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AB Show is an educational opportunity I can count on to annually provide insightful, innovative concepts. They bring in phenomenal, creative minds who present their content at the level of the operator, so that I’m able to easily bring home and integrate what I’ve learned. What’s really great is that the curriculum is always fresh, exciting and reflective of the latest industry trends from aquatics to architecture, marketing to management/leadership and much more.

Plus, the show floor hosts companies featuring cutting-edge technology and products.  This is important to me because we want to make sure our facilities and programs are always up-to-date and AB Show allows us to do just that.

Jim Cleveland

Parks and Recreation Director

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Town of Parker, CO

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Every day I am scheduling more and more meetings/webinars etc. with lots of folks I had the chance to meet with at the conference. I learned so much and made some really great connections that I’m positive will be beneficial to us in our building process as we prepare to fill our building with the equipment and necessities to run fantastic programs in our new Intergenerational Community Center!

Keri Sullivan 

Program Director

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Randolph Recreation

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I really enjoyed the Athletic Business Show. I met with a lot of great businesses and received great information from the sessions I attended. Once again thank you for the great conference. It was very valuable.

J.P. Gallagher

Parks & Recreation Director

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Butte-Silver Bow Consolidated Gov't

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It was a very productive trip for me. I ended up meeting with a total of 24 vendors and have already done business with a few, have demo models being shipped from a couple, and intend to do business with a few others.

Joe Cassidy

Executive Director of Campus Fitness & Recreation

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Wake Forest University

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Thanks so much for the opportunity to attend the show. Not only did I make vital contacts that will assist us in purchasing equipment for our new facilities, the education was very beneficial as well. Having spent most of my career in one sport, it was great to get the perspective of being singly responsible for many. I also had some great conversations that have led to some more directed dialogue and direction with our City Administration here.

Susan Jacobson

President & Executive Director

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Sport Success

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AB Show is an awesome experience full of inspiration and ideal networking opportunities – well worthwhile. I have to figure how to get more staff to attend.

As a direct result of what I learned in the educational sessions, we’re on the cutting-edge here in Canada and I’ve been able to bring together Directors of various Recreation and the Health Authorities in our municipality of about 300,000 people to create a partnership.

The keynote speech was also impactful and I've been able to share the sentiments learned through our department newsletter, reminding our 250+ staff why we do what we do; it brings my team back to our core business.

Tom Bryce

Manager

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Saanich Commonwealth Place

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There was a great opportunity to have discussion about how other facilities run across the nation. Our staff had the opportunity to speak with people about facility programming similar to ours (which is extremely hard to find).

We were able to bring back many great ideas regarding memberships and membership retention that we are putting into effect immediately.

Chase Coonrod

Membership/Scholarship Coordinator

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The Jones Center

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I wanted to say thank you; this was exactly what I needed at this point in my career and project. The educational sessions gave me the opportunity to dive into a world that I didn’t know, but had recently been placed into at my job with our upcoming rec center renovation. I was able to learn a great deal about the steps that design/construction project owners need to take to be successful.

Plus, having 15-20 minutes of undivided attention from professional architects was invaluable – I got new information from each discussion that led to new questions for each following meeting. I also had several takeaways from the keynote speech about what makes the great teams great, that I’ve been able to share across departments here at the City of Keene.

AB show did a great job! Keep up the great work – the show was awesome and more importantly, all the AB staff that I engaged with, rocked!

Andrew Bohannon

Parks, Recreation & Facilities Director

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City of Keene Parks & Rec Department

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AB Show is a good combination of education and networking opportunities. The conference offered interesting tracks covering topics that are important to me and my job. The presenters were knowledgeable on the technical side of things at a level beyond what I’ve seen at other conferences.

Plus, it was helpful to see the latest national trends and how we can bring them back to our community and building project.

Really appreciate the opportunity to attend the conference, a great experience and something I will look to attend annually. Thanks again.

Jason Eisold

Rec Center Manager

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City of St. Louis Parks & Rec Department

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Taylor Kent

Wellness Coordinator

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St. Ambrose University

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This was an amazing conference and it was really great to meet with the vendors and have some deeper conversations with them, especially as a VIP Hosted Buyer and having 15-20 minutes of their uninterrupted time.

Being able to attend the seminars was helpful because I learned about the latest fitness trends that we can incorporate into our programs, and as a result, we’ve added TRX and more yoga classes. What I learned from the seminars has also helped to guide us as we plan ahead for our building project.

The expo was huge and filled with innovations that I didn't even know existed. It was great to be able to learn about the latest trends in the seminars and then head in to the expo hall to meet with the people who can help you meet those needs.

Taylor Kent

Wellness Coordinator

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St. Ambrose University

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Ken Weinaug

Executive Director

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Jack Link's Aquatic & Activity Center

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Thanks again for the opportunity to attend the show. It was very good timing to take advantage of the number of vendors available at the show, as well as take advantage of the seminars offered. As we move closer to making purchase decisions for our community center, we’ve been able to stay in contact with companies we met at AB Show.

I didn’t attend a single seminar that I thought was a waste of time and have frequently looked back on my notes from those educational sessions. In particular, I used my notes from an architectural presentation that helped me to build out a budget based on the benchmarks they provided and have maintained contact with several other attendees that have provided support, as well.

AB Show proved to be extremely useful and helpful!

Ken Weinaug

Executive Director

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Jack Link's Aquatic & Activity Center

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Andrew Havrisko

Assistant Director of Recreational Programs

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Ashland University

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The sessions that were offered far exceeded my expectations and the knowledge of the presenters made for some fantastic presentations. Seeing as this was my first AB Show, I was pleasantly surprised at how applicable I found many of the sessions to be for my position in Campus Recreation.

My first time attending the AB Show but I certainly hope it's not my last. Great educational sessions and extremely knowledgeable presenters. I look forward to returning in the future!

Andrew Havrisko

Assistant Director of Recreational Programs

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Ashland University

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Ready to Secure your booth?

Tell us a bit about yourself below, or contact our Exhibits Director, Steve Statsick, to get started.
​(Please direct all attendance-related questions to our Show Team at [email protected].)

November 20-23, 2024  |  New Orleans, LA
​Ernest N Morial Convention Center