OPEN

NEW OPPORTUNIT IES

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2019

THE INTRAMURAL

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WELCOME TO OPEN SEASON! For our noobies out there, the CrossFit Open consists of 5 workouts spread across 5 weeks that aim to find the fittest people in the world. Last year over 429,000 people participated in the Open. I know many of you will ask yourself, “Why should I do the Open? There’s no way I’m the fittest in the world.” For 99.99% of us, that is true and that’s why we are running the Intramural Open! In the Intramural Open, you’ll have the ability to contribute to a team every single week no matter your score. Go above and beyond in your spirit or performance and you can contribute even more. Most importantly, it’ll be the highlight of fun and community in our gym. So what exactly is the Intramural Open? It all starts with you registering for our Intramural Open via the link we will provide. As registrations roll in, we will choose some of you awesome and fun folks to be team captains. A few weeks before the Open begins, we will have our first amazing event…Draft Night! This is where teams and athletes find their match. Now don’t worry about being last pick – we have a fun way of doing it and it does not involve picking someone last based on skill. While the draft is awesome, the real fun begins post draft night…recruiting season. You see each week during the Intramural Open, your team earns a point for every person on the team that completes the workout and submits a score. Which means…the bigger the team, the bigger the score. So in the weeks between the draft and the first workout, your team actively recruits other athletes at our gym that haven’t signed up. You can bribe, beg, or do what you have to do to show them your team wants them the most! Once teams are set and workouts begin, it’s quite simple. You earn a point for your team by simply doing the workout and submitting your score. If you place top 3 in your division for a workout, then you earn 3 more points. If your team brings the most spirit in any given week then your team receives 5 extra points. So, say you aren’t the best athlete in the gym. No big deal. Complete the workout and bring tons of spirit and you might make the biggest point contribution in the gym! Folks, it's totally normal to be a little nervous. But then again, you were all super nervous the first time you walked through our doors and you know how well that worked out. So make the leap, trust in us, and get ready for an amazing time! Let's do this!

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2019: NEW OPPORTUNITIES WITHIN THE OPEN   4  

PRE-DRAFT SETUP   7  

STAGE 1: DRAFT DAY   7  

PRE-OPEN   8  

SKILLS SEMINARS   9  

LEADING UP TO THE OPEN, CONSIDER "BRIGHT SPOTS" FOR CLIENTS   9  

THE OPEN   9  

POINTS AND SCORING   10  

THE INTRAMURAL OPEN IS BUILT TO INCREASE PARTICIPATION & FUN   10  

SCHEDULING   11  

PRICE   11  

PODIUMS   12  

PRIZES   12  

ADDITIONAL POINTS TO CONSIDER:   13  

POST-OPEN   13  

FINAL NOTE ON PARTICIPATION IN THE CROSSFIT OPEN   14  

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2019: NEW OPPORTUNITIES WITHIN THE OPEN The Intramural Open began as a way to dress up the CrossFit Open and make it more fun for your members. But in 2019 and 2020, changes to the CrossFit competitive schedule will create a huge new opportunity for you to do the Intramural Open in your gym. Our mission at TwoBrain is always to support the CrossFit Games. I want your members to sign up through CrossFit.com. But more and more gyms are choosing to run the Intramural Open without requiring their clients to sign up on the official CrossFit Games site. Though it wasn’t meant as an alternative, the Intramural Open can stand on its own. The beauty of the CrossFit affiliate model is that we get to choose! This year, The CrossFit Open will kick off February 21 and run through March. As always, we’ll suggest a sixth week “special” workout for points. There will also be a second “Open” in October 2019. Athletes from either Open can qualify through “Sanctionals” for a trip to the Games. But for most boxes, the competitive part of CrossFit begins and ends with the Open. That means it’s critical to give your clients an amazing experience in the time you have.

TIMELINE We are often asked about timelines for running the Intramural Open. While there is plenty of flexibility in how you want to run it, here is a schedule that will keep you on track.

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THE INTRAMURAL OPEN: YOUR COMPLETE GUIDE I’ve been doing Intramurals since high school. Before Hogwarts was a thing, my high school drafted kids into one of four “Houses” on their first day. Then every kid would participate in sports or games on their lunch breaks. When the current Open format was launched in 2012, it became an obvious opportunity to bring Intramurals to my gym. And since then, thousands of other gyms have copied the Intramural Open idea (with my full love and support. Seriously, thanks for doing this for your clients.) CrossFit Catalyst is one of 15,000 CrossFit gyms worldwide. The largest media push in the CrossFit world is the Games season, which starts with the Open. It’s our clients’ chance to participate in the same event as the top athletes on the planet. And the Intramural Open isn’t a replacement to the CrossFit Open; it’s simply an augment. It can enhance your members’ experience, lower the fear barrier, and increase the opportunity to expose your amazing gym to MORE people. In 2019, the Open is changing. This creates new opportunities for your members…and for your gym! I’ll address those new opportunities in the next section. The Intramural Open is a fantastic way to build your community during the CrossFit Open. The focus is on inclusion and celebration instead of competition (though there's a good bit of that, too.) Every year, we’ve built and improved on the idea thanks to the feedback from those gyms. This year, for clarity, I'll divide the "Intramural Open" into four stages: Draft, Pre-Open, Open and Post-Open. I’ll also highlight some opportunities for creating “peak moments” for your members, and inviting NEW members into your gym. We teach the value and practice of “peak moments” in our Incubator program.

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NEW OPPORTUNITY #1: CONTROL THE EXPERIENCE IN-HOUSE. CrossFit HQ produces a ton of great media around the Open and Games season, and it’s part of the value of being an affiliate. But it’s no secret that Games Media staff have been cut, and for 2019 at least, it’s wise to fill the gap with your own media. Here’s a sample Intramural Open video we shot with our friends at Echelon. Use it if you like. You can download the script here and shoot it yourself, too. Or you can shoot specific details about the Open at your box, and have a professional insert your video into this master template for $100. (If you’re in the TwoBrain family, we’ll give you the video to edit yourself, too.) The other new controllable is the scoreboard. While the scoreboard on the Games site will still be live this year, it’s a bit tough to find on the new CrossFit.com. Some gyms will prefer to work with Echelon and control their own leaderboard.

NEW OPPORTUNITY #2: THE REOPEN Six months after the Open, you can run a SECOND Open, featuring workouts from previous years. Many boxes currently do this in October. But if there really IS a second CrossFit Open in October 2019, there won’t be one in February 2020, and that means a huge opportunity to host your own in-house. The ReOpen runs the same as the Open: you choose five workouts from previous years; pick teams; and run your clients through a five-week fitness festival. I’ll give you instructions on each of those parts later in this ebook. But running the Open twice means you can run specific training programs twice; meet with clients about their specific goals more often; and keep your clients training through the lazy summer months. Just like your Affiliate, the Open can be anything you want to make it. Scale workouts up or down. Make them all team workouts. Add a sixth “mystery” event for points. And if you follow our template, you can add any of those little dashes without having to invent every little thing from scratch. The Intramural Open is a keyhole view into TwoBrain mentorship: you can follow our template as closely as you like without losing the soul of your business.

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PRE-DRAFT SETUP After running the Intramural Open for seven years at my own gym and watching thousands of others do so, I can say it's one of the best events gyms do all year. Perhaps the only downside was the time it took to correctly tabulate points for teams and athletes...until now. One of our Two Brain gyms created a scoring tool specifically for the intramural open, called Echelon. And it's free for gym owners. Athletes pay a $5 fee to cover their development and support costs. I'd highly recommend taking 2 minutes to quickly setup your intramural open on their platform here.

STAGE 1: DRAFT DAY 1. Choose four Captains. These shouldn't be the top athletes in your gym, but

the members who you'd describe as "most fun."

2. Each Captain chooses a team name. 3. Create five Facebook groups: one for each team, with you (the gym owner)

and each captain as an 'admin’ for each group. 4. Create the fifth for you and the Captains only, so you can get messages

to Captains and teams quickly. Note: these aren't your official Affiliate teams. I could still be on the official Catalyst team attempting to make Regionals AND the "Kipping It Real" squad (my Intramural team.) There's no need to build all four teams on the Games site.

5. Have your captains register as both an athlete and a captain on your

Echelon competition page. Then have them create their team. 6. Divide your "serious" competitors between the four teams with a Draft.

In our draft, we presented the Captains with a list of athletes already registered for the Open on draft day. Each were allowed to "protect" two athletes--mostly spouses or best friends--for their team. The rest were thrown into a hat. Draft order was determined each round by randomization (e.g. 1-2-3-4, 4-2-1-3, 2-1-4-3, etc.)

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This year, Captains drew names randomly; last year, they could choose their athletes from the list of preregistered Open athletes. It's up to you. If the draft isn't done by random choice, I recommend keeping the order of the draft secret so no one is the "last one picked." PEAK MOMENT OPPORTUNITY: STREAM THE DRAFT ON Facebook Live. Share in your Members’ Group, or on your personal page. Draw your competitors’ names publicly. But turn off the cameras when it comes time to draft your other clients. TIMELINE: Do your draft EARLY. We already know the Open will start on February 21st this year. If you draft before February, you’ll have time to run at least three Skill Sessions to help members GET that first pullup, toes-to-bar or muscle up.

PRE-OPEN 7. Immediately after the draft, the rest of your gym membership is open for

recruitment. Captains can bribe, coerce or otherwise attempt to sign up any member for their team. Captains simply add their teammates to their team on Echelon so two teams don’t lay claim to the same person. We recommend they show off their new addition by posting on our Facebook group as well. Remind your clients that your goal is to provide fun, collaborative competition. Here's how we presented it. Copy the post if you like (just link back to the catalystgym site from whence it came.)

In our case, because scoring favors the largest team, we have a recruitment limit to keep things even. Any team can recruit up to 25 members--but must then wait for other teams to recruit 25 members before recruiting more. We have two Captains who are VERY good at recruiting--one left the draft with a list of texts already waiting on his phone. Expect more people to sign up for the Open because they're asked by the Captains; this is the whole point of the Intramural Open. We had 22 signed up before the Draft, and hit 60 before 6am the next day. In the past caps were a little tough to manage, but you can actually set and adjust them on the Echelon platform so it manages it for you.

PEAK MOMENT OPPORTUNITY: Have members post “I’m drafted! #gymnameopen2019” on Social Media. Even better, have each drafted member sign a “contract” to play for their team, and then take a picture of themselves holding it on draft day.

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For example: create a certificate that says ‘DRAFTED!’ on it, and email to the client after they agree to be on the Flying Monkeys 2019 team. They take a selfie to confirm they’re on the Flying Monkeys and post it on Instagram and Facebook. To encourage other members to sign up, drafted clients can also NOMINATE other people in the gym. For example: “I’ve been DRAFTED! I’ll be a proud member of the Flying Monkeys in 2019! #catalystopen2019 #crossfitopen I nominate Richard Simmons to sign up!”

SKILLS SEMINARS Leading up to the Open, consider the main areas of potential "Bright Spots" for clients:

ü First time hitting a gymnastics skill, like toes-to-bar ü First time reaching "Rx" in a workout ü First time eating for performance ü First time competing like an "athlete."

Schedule a specialty seminar for different skills or habits for the four weekends leading up to the Open. For example, several of my mentoring clients have a "pullup clinic" template they use mid-January. Attendees pay $20-$200 for the clinic, depending on the length and amount of homework, then spend the next four weeks working on their pull-ups. Many hit their first during the Open. We recommend some kind of hanging seminar (pullups, toes-to-bar, knees-to elbows) paired with a high-rep squatting seminar or a “special skills” seminar, like double- unders.

THE OPEN 8. Hold a large “Announcement Party” for at least the first event. Really amp up

the excitement as Dave Castro announces 19.1. Then have some members throw down right away, as soon as the stars go! Play loud music, have some beverages.

9. Encourage teams to celebrate their spirit with shirts, noisemakers, etc. 10. Points are awarded to encourage participation and FUN. 11. A sixth event is added to level out the scoring. One year, we used road

hockey. Another year, we created a workout called “Captain Gone Bad.”

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This year, Event #6 can be anything you want. You could use dodgeball in 2019, or a Zwift team race, or a giant marathon row, or dodgeball. But we’ve had road hockey parties and other ideas, too. After doing an Escape Room challenge in 2017, I realized that every CrossFit gym could easily handle one or two “escapes” at a time. Last year, Event #6 at Catalyst was an Escape Room, and members of the TwoBrain family got our full Escape Room plan, with a list of clues and materials they could buy really cheaply. If you don’t have a plan, you can buy an Escape Room kit from these guys for about 40 bucks. We’ve also done a Biathlon: teams get one rower and a Nerf gun. Each person on the team rows 250m, then picks up their rifle and shoots at homemade targets. You could use your wall ball targets (we strung pie plates across the gym instead). A shooter does their row, then fires at five targets. For every target they miss, they do 5 burpees before the next rower starts. The winner is the first team to 10k. Finally, you could set up a Ninja Warrior Course and rank teams by their total time to complete. This is really easy in a gym like ours. POINTS AND SCORING The Intramural Open is built to increase participation and fun. Scoring reflects those goals:

1. Teams are given 1 point for every athlete who completes a given Open workout.

2. Teams are given 3 points for every athlete who finishes among the top 3 women or top 3 men in the gym per workout.

3. Teams are given 5 points if they win the "Spirit of the Open" award on any given week, including Week 6 (your secret "fun" event.)

Echelon takes care of this for free here. Athletes are charged $5. ADDITIONAL POINT IDEAS TO GROW YOUR BUSINESS During these 5-6 weeks your points become a powerful currency, so use them to drive your business and grow your currency.

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Example: • Earn a point by leaving a review on Google • Submit a testimonial video of how the gym has changed your life. 1 point for a

submission, 3 for the best one. • Check-in to the gym for an entry into a random drawing each week for 3

points.

SCHEDULING 1. All regularly-scheduled groups on Fridays during the Open will host Open

workouts. Athletes can attend any group and score points for their Intramural team.

2. We promote the Friday evening group heavily to get as many people in the building at once as possible.

3. Members of our competitors' program go first at 5:30, followed by everyone else. We try to have 1-2 members of each Intramural team represented in each heat.

4. We also host a "last-chance qualifier" on Sunday afternoons for athletes who can't make any group on Friday or those crazy enough to attempt the workouts twice.

PRICE Admission fee for the Intramural Open at Catalyst is simply the athlete's registration on the Games site. I believe it's important for them to register. Athletes attempting a "redo" on Sundays (or visiting from other gyms to be tested at ours) can purchase a special 5-class punch card. Registration in the Intramural Open at Catalyst includes being judged one time per event. We sell a "2019 Catalyst Intramural Open T-shirt" but most teams will show up with homemade Team shirts. That's great. Our official “Open” shirts are made by Forever Fierce. They make it easy. Have them set up a preorder form, take orders from members until Feb 1, and have them for Opening Night. Click here to talk to Forever Fierce.

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EVENT OPERATION Many gyms do a "Friday Night Lights" event. Since you know how to run a group, I won't write about how to promote the actual workouts. But make it loud, and make sure your gym is spectator-friendly, even if only temporarily. We've found that 5 Fridays in a row can be taxing on both members and staff, so change it up. Have a live announcement event where athletes do the workout as soon as it's announced. Or a Sunday Funday event, that is the WOD then a brunch. PODIUMS • Keep the hype level high. Build up to Dave Castro's event announcements;

interview athletes on video after each workout, and share them through the week. Talk about point spreads with "expert commentary." If you see something done on the Games site, you can do it too: client stories, interviews, commentary.

• Copy HQ: do a weekly “Open Review” show where your goal is to name as

many athletes as possible. Do it live on Facebook Live, or record it to share on YouTube.

• Tag your photos with your gym name, #crossfitopen, #intramuralopen and

#twobrain (so we can share your gym's pics!)

PRIZES Our "grand prize" is a week of lunches for the winning team. But you can arrange anything. We’ve found social events to work best. Hang a banner (you’ll see it in the “post-open” section) in the gym with team members’ names on it. Forever Fierce can also print these for you.

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ADDITIONAL POINTS TO CONSIDER: This is HQ's largest branding expense of the year. Capitalize on it! The Intramural Open is a fantastic excuse to invite families and friends into the gym. Using our "Mavens" strategy, approach spouses and ask them to take pictures, or run the BBQ, count reps or otherwise help out.

Invite friends and family to help in the “sixth challenge”, whatever that is. Or just host a party and invite kids, parents, cousins and buddies to play along. If you don't have a photographer on staff, hire one. Tell them to focus on the human element over the sweat. And let them bring lights if necessary, but don't let them stand directly in front of anyone with a flashbulb.

POST-OPEN

The top team should be celebrated with some sort of "medal ceremony." We've used shiny wrestling belts, medals and trophies in the past. But last year, we raised a banner to the winning team, and they took pictures of themselves with it. Great social media hype!

Follow the Open with a specialty group for newcomers, or a recruitment strategy (like Fit It Forward). You've stirred up all sorts of pride and love within your gym; now turn that outward.

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Finally, this is a fantastic opportunity start doing Goal Reviews with your clients (unless you're already using the "Bright Spot" system, in which case you have that covered.)

Book Goal Reviews, and follow the template we give you in the Incubator. When the Games come up, get ready to amplify the hype! Show Games events on your wall with a projector, or on your gym’s televisions. Organize a “Games bingo” game where teams can earn points by doing certain workouts or tasks around the gym (like leaving a Google review.) The Intramural Open is a consolidation period: it pulls clients into the fervor of your gym and lets you celebrate peak moments for several weeks in a row. It can ALSO burn people out, so make sure your programming is very novel following the Open (plan a powerlifting specialty group; go outside more; or just bring in a new toy.) It’s a very low-cost way to boost retention and client excitement. It’s also incredibly effective; many gym owners say it’s the best thing they do with their members all year.

FINAL NOTE ON PARTICIPATION IN THE CROSSFIT OPEN: We give this guide away for free every year. I do this to help you, the gym owner, capitalize on HQ’s largest marketing push of the year. I DON’T do it to provide an alternative to doing the Open. And enjoy every second of it! Stock up on coffee, and THANK YOU for continuing to change the world, one bright shining life at a time. Coop!

Chris Cooper Founder, TwoBrainBusiness.com