Tech Giants: Heka Health’s Tony Salah on Turnkey Wellness Challenges for Events and 365 Community Engagement

In the event you requested Tony Salah what he was most obsessed with when he began his profession, enterprise and know-how would have topped the record, contemplating his diploma in electrical engineering together with an MBA from Harvard. Quick ahead a number of years when a household well being concern arose, and he instantly grew to become laser-focused on the inefficiencies throughout the healthcare system and wellness as instrument to forestall sickness.

“It grew to become deeply significant to me and ignited my ardour to mix my know-how and enterprise background with the well being and wellness area,” Salah mentioned. “I noticed a lot want and so some ways to make a extremely optimistic influence.”

In 2015, he based Heka Health, a software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform that gives custom-branded, turnkey well being and wellness options for firms, non-profits, associations and different entities. To this point, one of many firm’s fastest-growing segments has been conferences, commerce exhibits and different occasions, the place distinctive, rewarding and fascinating wellness challenges align the pursuits of all stakeholders, together with organizers, attendees and sponsors.

The packages can embrace step competitions and different wellness actions corresponding to meditation and yoga, CSR components and prize giveaways to gamify the expertise for attendees, whereas giving sponsors a strong option to market themselves.

We sat down with Salah to learn how Heka Well being stepped into the occasions business and began blazing new trails, why wellness challenges make rewarding engagement instruments for everybody concerned, and the way they might help construct and maintain group year-round.   

How did Heka Well being get into the occasions business, and why is it corresponding to a super match for wellness challenges?

Our first buyer was the American Diabetes Affiliation, which needed to do a strolling problem for his or her scientific periods occasion. I had a connection there, and AstraZeneca grew to become the sponsor. I did not know a lot in regards to the occasions business, nevertheless it was completely aligned with what we have been making an attempt to do—leverage our know-how and fulfill this quest for wellness whereas supporting the aims of everybody concerned. The occasions business was a candy spot as a result of they’ve this long-standing relationship with their group and needed to assist their need for wellness. They only wanted the instruments, which we may present. They’re methods to interact and assist their communities, in addition to sustainable fashions to extend sponsorship income. In the meantime, sponsors actually wish to assist individuals’s wellness and discover new methods to interact them with extra experiential advertising initiatives, so the wellness problem is a rewarding win-win for all constituents.

Are you able to give us an outline of Hela Well being’s wellness problem choices and advantages?

We create custom-designed turnkey challenges for in-person, digital and hybrid occasions. There are a number of wellness actions for the thoughts, physique and soul that may be integrated, corresponding to strolling, marathons, yoga, meditation, social connection, gratitude journals, social media posting and extra. Members earn wellness factors for finishing the actions. The exercise knowledge integrates with Fitbit, Garmin, Apple Watch, Google Match and Apple Well being, and we are able to additionally present custom-branded trackers. The packages embrace a custom-branded app, leaderboard and promotions. We gamify the challenges to spice up engagement amongst attendees and sponsors by providing prizes for winners and drawings for sure classes. We additionally present problem outcomes and a abstract evaluation on the finish of this system.

What are a few of your most profitable wellness problem packages at occasions?

In November, we did IMEX America 2021 in Las Vegas once more, which was sponsored by Maritz World Occasions and introduced by Caesars Leisure. Collectively, problem contributors gathered greater than six million steps and engaged in additional than 900 completely different bonus wellbeing actions, together with the favored Social Join characteristic, IMEXRun, 15-minute meditation periods, a gratitude journal and donating to ECPAT, an business trigger to combat human trafficking. Caesars gave away each day step purpose prizes corresponding to tickets to the LINQ Excessive Curler and LINQ Zipline. One other nice success story was the Affiliation of Endodontists (AAE) 2020 Rotary Digital Conference Problem.  Highlights included 4,000-plus contributors from greater than 150 international locations, greater than 115 million cumulative steps/wellness factors, greater than 7,000 bonus exercise engagements and 19,000 each day problem emails with a mean 50% open fee.

How can wellness challenges assist construct and maintain group?

Wellness doesn’t should be a one-time factor that you just use at your annual occasion. In the event you’re actually going to create group, you ought to be supportive all year long. It’s not solely partaking the tip person, nevertheless it additionally has the sponsors supporting year-long initiatives. An ideal instance is a two-year initiative we have now with the Faculty Diet Affiliation that originally stemmed from a wellness problem at their occasion. They now do quarterly challenges with their group which have had 1000’s of contributors as a result of it’s so partaking. The sponsor is Jennie-O, which is concentrated on wholesome meals merchandise. It’s been very profitable. You begin to lose individuals’s consideration after one occasion, so this can be a method you’ll be able to maintain them engaged and interested by their well being and wellness.  

Don’t miss any event-related information: Join our weekly e-newsletter HERE and have interaction with us on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn!