LATEST NEWS

ARV Awards Dinner 2010

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The Links team recently attended the 2010 ARV Awards Dinner, which was held at the stylish Crown Palladium on Friday 28th May. It was a highly successful night and a great opportunity to catch up with many of our clients.

Congatulations to many Links users who received a nomination for having an outstanding leisure facility or swim school such as Eltham Leisure Centre, Latrobe Leisure Morwell and South Yarra Sports.

Australian Fitness Expo & ASCTA National Conference

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Links Modular Solutions was proud to introduce the new kiosk.link and consult.link at both the Australian Fitness Expo (AFE) and the Australian Swim Teachers & Coaches Association (ASCTA) Conferences. These trade shows, held in Sydney and Queensland were our busiest so far, with our sales staff inundated with possible clients wanting more information! It was also great to catch up with existing clients, and introducing them to the new modules of Links. Overall, the two biggest fitness trade shows in Australia turned out to be a great success!

   

Links Modular Solutions re branding

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With a new office, new staff and a range of new products to the market, Links has changed its look to conincide with a new time for the company. Continual growth of the Links client base, paves the way for an exciting time of development over the coming year. The addition of new staff members also paves the way for a new communication plan and improvde support. Regular newsletters will now be issued bi monthly, and the restructiure of support staffing has allowed for greater specalisation of support staff. The first newsletter will be issued on December 15th. More details to follow soon

New Staff join the Links Team 

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Over the past 2 months we have welcomed 4 new staff to the ever growing Links team. These staff will assist growth accross the eastern sea board as well as assist in the training and support departments. It is great to see that once again we have welcomed staff with extensive Health & Fitness backgrounds as well as IT support. Welcome to Emma, David, Matt & Kylie

David Walden	Software Support	David comes from a background in IT support and will be working from the Links Head Office in Melbourne looking after all things support.
Emma  Hatch	Software Training	After returning from Canada where Emma worked for the YMCA, Emma has joined us to look after client training and our new training courses.
Matt Hughes	QLD Sales	Matt has been involved in the Health & Fitness industry for over 15 years, and will be assisting with Sales & training in Queensland. Based in Brisbane Matt is able to provide local service to Brisbane and surrounding areas.
Kylie Biondino	NSW Sales	Kylie has worked for LMS for a number of years, primarily working in Sales & Promotions. Kylie who is based in Sydney will now provide sales and training in Sydney and surrounding areas.

Links Modular Solutions new Head Office 

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The Head Office team of Links Modular Solutions and LMS has now relocated to 9 Newsom Street, Ascot Vale Victoria. With 6 times the previous office space, the Links support team will be able to provide a higher level of service including additional stock and consumable sales. The new training room facility will provide 25 places for regular training sessions, including wireless access and individual student computer access. Keep an eye on the training page for sessions available in the New Year.

 

 

 

City of Geraldton - Greenough Aquarena switches to Links

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The City of Geraldton-Greenough Aquarena boasts a large aquatic facility including an indoor 25m and leisure pool along with Hydro theraphy pool
and spa facilities, as well as an Outdoor 50m Pool and Water Polo pool. The facility operated by Council is home to many local sporting groups and
we are proud to have them change to Links Modular Solutions.

Links and the Latest  RFID Technology

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In the past 2 years the fitness industry has started to adopt new technology for both convenience for their members and increasing the clubs bottom line. Industry leaders including “Recreation Health Clubs” “Fitness First”, “Victorian YMCA” and “Bayfit Leisure Centre” are organisations who have adopted the new RFID (proximity card) technology for their clubs.

The use of RFID has been around in various industries but not in the fitness industry as up until now it has been cost prohibitive. RFID cards have a memory chip in the card where industry software programs such as Links Modular Solutions can read write to and store information on them. 

If you do not want cards now you can also have rubber wrist bands, watches, key flops or a number of other alternatives. This gives greater opportunity for members to choose what they want to use and also greater promotional opportunity.

Some current key Benefits of the technology are as follows;

• The ability for easier full access control throughout the club or centre including males only allowed access into male change rooms
• Access control for membership lockers (no more keys or numbers to remember). Locker doors are alarmed if broken into and now you can assign them to a particular member if you wish.
• Money can be stored on the cards for internal purchases so that members do not have to bring in wallets etc. One thousand members placing one hundred dollars each on their membership card has proven to increase secondary spending while giving owners a nice slush fund waiting for the money to be spent.
• RFID can be used for purchases at vending machines freeing up staff at reception. Gloves, ear phones, health bars etc can all be placed in a vending machine.
• If you have swimming pools or do not want to use cards then you can use waterproof wrist bands that have all the same benefits. If you want to reward a member you can even give them a sports watch.  

“Ascot Vale Leisure centre has nearly 6000 members and has had the new RFID system for nearly 3 years now. In short, members and staff love the system it as it gives members easier and quicker access within the facility while giving us simpler and more control of them.” Cain Liddle (Group manager YMCA)

“We will have over One Million visitations this year and we wanted our members to have the easiest and quickest service without having to queue for any service. For this reason we have gone for RFID cards and the Links Modular Solutions Software.” Tim Hancock (Manager Bayfit Leisure Centre )

“At Recreation our philosophy does not deviate from “exceeding our member’s expectation for service”. With the RFID and the Links system we believe this helps us immensely in accomplishing this.  We love the idea of members being able to have cash on their membership card to make internal purchases simpler and easier and do have the worry about bringing in credit cards or wallets/purses. Now the member’s card can be used on vending machines and is fantastic for access control”. Joanne Russell (Director Recreation group)

LMS America sponsors the USSSA Conference

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To complete another great year in 2009 LMS America was the Presenting Sponsor at the United States Swim School Association Annual Conference in San Diego. Considering the current economic climate all the events LMS sponsored and/or attended in 2009 were a great success both for the associations and for LMS as a vendor.

At the US Swim School Association Annual Conference, our Links representatives also took the opportunity to share some of their knowledge. With the release of retention.link in 2009, and the current climate calling for both innovative and proven methods to increase customer value and resulting profits, it was the perfect time for LMS contribute. We gathered some ideas from our clients around the world, and along with some standard business practices from other markets LMS discussed retention, and the benefit of a customized Retention Management Plan for both prospects and current customers.

A copy of the presentation is available CLICK HERE>> and will also be featured in Swim Australia’s next edition of SwimFILES www.swimaustralia.com.au

Here a few pictures from the USSSA Annual conference in San Diego

LMS America and Links Modular Solutions were proud to be the Presenting sponsor for the second time --------------------- Incoming President Tyler Brewer with Liz Claytor and Buffy Folice	Past & Present Board Members --------------------- Neil & Rose Cholewinski	The incoming USSSA Board Members  --------------------- Michaela & Liz Claytor

Facility of the Month - Curtain Stadium 

We are proud to welcome Curtain Stadium at Curtain University Perth to Links Modular Solutions. After opening in Jan this year, the centre is now using their 3rd software package and we are pleased that they have found the right solution. The facility is an architectural delight, certain to win awards for its amazing design. After just over 9 months open, the facility already boasts over 3500 members. Shelagh Pascoe and her team do an amazing job providing quality service to members attending a quality facility.

	Curtin Stadium Curtin University Perth

Links Modular Solutions sponsors Aquatics & Recreation Victoria Awards Dinner

Links Modular Solutions was once again proud to be the major  sponsor of the  Aquatics & Recreation Victoria Awards Dinner. It is important for us here at links to ensure that we give back to the industry that supports us. The ARV Awards recognise outstanding excellence in the industry to both individuals and facilities. Congratulations to all award winners, you are truly deserving. The staff at Links very much enjoyed the night and it was a great opportunity to see both clients and old friends.

Links Display	Diane & Tony	Tania & Aaron
	Another fantastic night from ARV
Tania with Tania & Laura from Latrobe Leisure		Diane & Micka

Product Launch @ Australian Fitness Expo 2009 

Links Modular Solutions was proud to launch the retention.link module and most importantly LinksPay at the Australian Fitness Expo in April. The product launch was a huge sucess with many people lining up to see what all the fuss was about. LinksPay is seamless Direct Debit technology that allows transactions to be sent directly from the Links Modular Solutions software without the need to exporting of files. This provides greater transaction security as well as the eliminating the need for manual entry of rejections. From the moment the direct debit is processed, the rest is left to the software, allowing your staff much more time to focus on the important tasks at hand. For further information on LinksPay please conact us via info@linkspay.com.au or  03 9938 4567 .

Photos from Australian Fitness Expo 2009

Links Modular Solutions support ASCTA again in 2009 

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Each year our association with the Australian Swim Coaches and Teacher Association continues to grow. It is important to us here at Links to ensure that our support is offered to events such as ASCTA. It is as important to us that staff within the industry have the opportunity to high quality presenters and training. Most of the staff at links come from the industry and still enjoy the opportunity to continue their industry training.

This years conference was another huge sucess with attendess from all around Australasia. It was great to catch up with clients from places such as far north Queensland and New Zealand, as well as those we have the opportunity to see more often. The training sessions held were great to be able to discuss one on one with many different clients. The annual awards dinners were a great chance to share and catch up with many different collegues from the industry and a great chance to meet new friends.

Another fantastic event from ASCTA.

ASCTA Trade Display	Tania hard at work	The famous spider stand
Micka with the McKeon Swim School Team	Tania & Micka @ ASCTA Awards Dinner	Micka with Gary Barclay & Leigh Nugent

Links and the Latest  RFID Technology

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In the past 2 years the fitness industry has started to adopt new technology for both convenience for their members and increasing the clubs bottom line. Industry leaders including “Recreation Health Clubs” “Fitness First”, “Victorian YMCA” and “Bayfit Leisure Centre” are organisations who have adopted the new RFID (proximity card) technology for their clubs.

The use of RFID has been around in various industries but not in the fitness industry as up until now it has been cost prohibitive. RFID cards have a memory chip in the card where industry software programs such as Links Modular Solutions can read write to and store information on them. 

If you do not want cards now you can also have rubber wrist bands, watches, key flops or a number of other alternatives. This gives greater opportunity for members to choose what they want to use and also greater promotional opportunity.

Some current key Benefits of the technology are as follows;

• The ability for easier full access control throughout the club or centre including males only allowed access into male change rooms
• Access control for membership lockers (no more keys or numbers to remember). Locker doors are alarmed if broken into and now you can assign them to a particular member if you wish.
• Money can be stored on the cards for internal purchases so that members do not have to bring in wallets etc. One thousand members placing one hundred dollars each on their membership card has proven to increase secondary spending while giving owners a nice slush fund waiting for the money to be spent.
• RFID can be used for purchases at vending machines freeing up staff at reception. Gloves, ear phones, health bars etc can all be placed in a vending machine.
• If you have swimming pools or do not want to use cards then you can use waterproof wrist bands that have all the same benefits. If you want to reward a member you can even give them a sports watch.  

“Ascot Vale Leisure centre has nearly 6000 members and has had the new RFID system for nearly 2 years now. In short, members and staff love the system it as it gives members easier and quicker access within the facility while giving us simpler and more control of them.”  Shane Dunne (Group manager YMCA)

“We will have over One Million visitations this year and we wanted our members to have the easiest and quickest service without having to queue for any service. For this reason we have gone for RFID cards and the Links Modular Solutions Software.” Tim Hancock (Manager Bayfit Leisure Centre )

“At Recreation our philosophy does not deviate from “exceeding our member’s expectation for service”. With the RFID and the Links system we believe this helps us immensely in accomplishing this.  We love the idea of members being able to have cash on their membership card to make internal purchases simpler and easier and do have the worry about bringing in credit cards or wallets/purses. Now the member’s card can be used on vending machines and is fantastic for access control”. Joanne Russell (Director Recreation group)