iStadia – the network of sport and exercise people

A couple of weeks, i was introduced to iStadia by the founders: Rob Robson in the picture) and Keith Irving. We set a small interview for a better understanding of this network.

What was the genesis of iStadia? How did you and Keith come up with the notion for iStadia?
We met because I had been lecturing part-time at Brunel University  and Keith was doing his MSc there. Someone else from the department put us in touch with each other. So iStadia itself was born out of networking! We both had an interest in bringing sport and exercise professionals together, and over time our ideas developed into iStadia. We’d both started using social and business networking sites, though sites like Facebook had not taken off to the the extent that they have since.

Why should people be interested in developing business networking skills in
iStadia?
Networking has, and always will be, important for developing new business and developing your career. Using the web simply accelerates the process, creating opportunities to connect with, and ultimately meet, more people. A lot of commentators have been saying that social & business networking will become more focused on niche groups, and iStadia is an early example of that. So iStadia is the future – only it is here
now!

How many countries have joined the network so far?
40 countries are currently represented. The UK is the largest source of members, but we have people from all continents. Ultimately we would like each country to have its own thriving network through the site, as well as the global network.

What are your expectancies for the following years on iStadia?
Obviously we want to keep growing! But we also want to create more offline activity, including providing professional development and training – not just in the
UK . The US is important to us. Eventually we would like to provide the platform in different languages, too.

Can you give us a brief description on the profiles of your members?
Because of our own backgrounds and network, we have a lot of sport psychologists on board, but we do have members from just about every professional group in sports, fitness and leisure – marketers, agents, sport scientists, coaches, personal trainers and physiotherapists, for example. It’s probably true to say that we have a lot of people that have signed up but don’t yet fully understand how to exploit the platform, and we need to address that. We do have quite a large number of student members, which is great because as they develop professionally they will become more active and they tend to be more comfortable with the technology.

What sets iStadia apart from other business networking sites?
As far as we know, we are the only (or at least were the first) global networking site purely focusing on the sports, fitness and leisure industries. We are also keen to show that we are not just about talking to other professionals, but helping them to reach out to
potential consumers too.

How do you measure the success of iStadia? Do you have any statistics or
success stories?
The statistics are showing good growth for our niche status, and in the first few months of this year we had about 15, 000 unique visits which equated to over  50,000
page views. For us the success stories are the collaborations that are starting to take
place – for example a rugby fitness specialist teaming up with an agent who does a lot of business in rugby – and the business referrals that have been shared. But the other success story is that our members who create content are seeing real increases in traffic to their profiles and their own site, as well as new enquiries which of course
means more business.

Why should sports business people join iStadia?
Well, there are clear benefits from both the networking and the web marketing aspects of the site. The improved search-engine rankings and visits that you can achieve make the small investment in time and money worthwhile in its own right. Plus, if you actively
network, it can only help your business whether you have a product or service to sell.
You can also participate in debate and discussion with genuine experts, and gain new perspectives.

Is there anything else that you’d like to add about iStadia?
We would just encourage anyone with a professional or business interest in sport to sign
up and join in. The success of the community will ultimately depend on its members, so if you have something to say, something to share, something to sell, or want to learn something, then please join us. You can try out all of our membership packages for free, so there’s really no reason not to give it a try!