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Elevate marked its 10th anniversary this June, bringing together leisure trusts, local authority operators and the wider UK fitness sector for two days of learning and networking.

As always, there was more on offer than any one person could see, so we’ve pulled together the key themes from this year’s sessions, with a particular focus on what matters most to public sector and multi-site operators.

Here’s what stood out to us.

Closing the perception gap starts with empathy

Anyone who spends time at Elevate will notice how much passion exists across the leisure sector. In an industry built around public service, that sense of purpose can guide decisions at every level of an organisation.

This came through clearly in The Future Of Fitness panel with Glen Thurgood (Evolve), David Minton (Evolve), Baz Moffat (The Well HQ), Simon Wilkinson (Tanita), and Dan Aguilera (Peripheral). The panel discussed how operators who lead with purpose are better placed to build genuine community connection.

Members who feel part of something are more likely to stay engaged, which supports the retention and participation outcomes that matter most for publicly funded services.

The panel also pointed to groups that are traditionally underserved by gyms and leisure centers. Female health was raised as one example. While many operators have introduced female health leads in recent years, these roles need proper budget, time and senior representation to be effective.

There’s also a case for looking beyond standard personal training qualifications when recruiting specialists who can better serve members with specific needs.

The theme of perception continued in Pick Your Lane: Does The Fitness Sector Have An Image Problem?, with Paul Swainson (Future Fit), Julie Allen (Active Insight), Marina Logacheva (Make it MATTA), and Sarah Le Brocq (All About Obesity).

The panel agreed that empathy should sit at the heart of every member-facing interaction. Training staff to treat every member as an individual helps create a welcoming, non-intimidating environment. And that, in turn, will help reshape how the sector is perceived by the communities it serves.

Value, communicated consistently, builds pricing confidence

A clear sense of organizational purpose also underpins confidence in pricing. That was the focus of Charge What You Deserve: Value-Based Membership Pricing panel where Xplor’s James Barter was joined by Alice Hulley (Waterside Hotel and Leisure Club), Duncan Anderson (South Downs Leisure), and Jack Burton (FIT24) on stage.

Research shared during the session found that 90% of operators have seen costs rise, yet only 68% have increased prices in response. For public sector operators, that gap is often harder to close, given the need to balance affordability and access commitments against rising delivery costs.

The panel agreed that pricing confidence comes from understanding an organization’s position in the market, its audience, and the value it delivers. When members feel their membership matches what they pay, they’re more likely to stay.

Despite differing operating models, every panelist returned to the same principle: Communicate value consistently.

Keeping members regularly informed about what’s new, what’s improving, and what’s included as part of their membership reinforces value over time. And so, makes future pricing changes easier to introduce and accept.

Listening locally is how national (and international) brands stay relevant

Communication works best as a two-way exercise, and that was the focus of Local Soul, National Scale panel, led by Rebecca Douglas (The Well Crowd) with Sarah Townend (Snap Fitness EMEA), Jamie Groves (DLL), and Graeme Payne (Bird & Bird LLP).

For operators expanding across multiple sites, brand strength can attract new members. Keeping them is a different challenge, and one that depends on members feeling a genuine connection to their local site and community.

The panel shared how they’ve scaled without losing that local feel. A recurring theme was the importance of communication between central teams and local staff.

While brand standards and operating practices should be set centrally, listening to local teams makes it easier to respond to specific market needs, and to apply what’s working in one location elsewhere in the estate.

The aim, ultimately, is consistency without uniformity. Members should recognize the same standard of experience across locations, even as each site retains its own character.

Data and AI need a clear objective before they add value

Data was a thread running through many of this year’s sessions. In the opening panel, From Leisure To Lifeline: A Decade Of Transformation And The Future Of Active Health, Elevate’s Lucy Findlay-Beale was joined by David Stalker (ukactive), Tara Dillon (CIMSPA), and Lisa Dodd-Mayne (Sport England).

The group discussed how, despite the volume of data collected across the sector, it doesn’t always tell a clear story about overall impact. Often, that’s because the question the data is meant to answer hasn’t been clearly defined in the first place.

Similarly, the same principle applies at an organizational level. Without a defined goal, or a clear problem to solve, collected data can be difficult to act on. Starting with a specific question allows operators to select the right data and reporting approach, which is particularly relevant when reporting outcomes to funders and elected members.

This need for clarity extended to AI, in Tool, Teammate Or Threat? Trusting AI In A Human-First Sector with Melinda Nicci (Bella AI, ukactive Board member), Tiffeny Gould (LeisureLabs), Jesse Shanahan (VOR Technologies), and Suzanne Gabb (Good Boost).

The panel noted that many operators still lack a defined strategy for adopting AI, which can leave teams feeling overwhelmed. Their recommendation? Start by framing the specific problem to solve, then experiment, evaluate and refine from there.

Human oversight keeps AI accountable

Even with a clear strategic goal, trust and authenticity remain live concerns when introducing AI into an organisation.

The Tool, Teammate Or Threat? panel was clear that human oversight matters, regardless of how capable a given AI tool might be.

Critical decisions are one area where this is especially important. Staff bring experience and an understanding of nuance that AI cannot easily replicate.

AI-generated analysis should always be reviewed by people who can interpret it within the wider operational and community context. This also helps protect against skill decay, keeping teams sharp rather than overly reliant on automated outputs.

AI brings real risk to workforce development

This risk that AI poses to the workforce came up across several sessions.

The Future of Fitness panel highlighted the particular risk to early-career staff, who have traditionally built knowledge through formal learning and hands-on experience. As AI tools become more widely used for these tasks, there’s a real risk of creating a generation of employees with knowledge gaps and a shallower depth of understanding.

Likewise, this theme came up in the Recruitment Masterclass run by Abhi Lakhina and Madeline Cummings from Love Recruitment. The session covered the growing challenge of AI-assisted CVs and cover letters, which can make it harder to identify candidates with genuine, relevant experience.

The pair recommended qualifying candidates earlier, including adding a short verification call. Plus, they shared that scenario-based interviewing, with probing follow-up questions, such as “and then what?”, can be used to build a clearer picture of real-world experience.

Here’s to the next ten years of Elevate

Those were our key talking points from Elevate 2026, for leisure trusts, local authority operators, and multi-site enterprise teams alike. We leave Elevate with plenty to think about and even more reasons to be optimistic about where the sector is heading.

If any of these themes resonate with the challenges your organisation is navigating, particularly around pricing confidence, multi-site consistency, or making sense of your data, we’d be glad to talk.

Get in touch with the Exerp team to find out how our platform supports operators managing exactly these kinds of decisions, every day.