Special #1309

Pilates Contrology Forum

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In May 2013, at the third annual International Conference in Monchengladbach in Mönchengladbach, Germany, Kristi Cooper met with Reiner Grootenhuis to discuss how he started one of the biggest forums for the Pilates Community. He goes into detail about the Pilates-Contrology forum and how he moderates the personal promotion, aggressive behavior and comments, and who can be a part of the forum. Listen in as these two passionate instructors discuss their ideas and feelings on the future of Pilates and what we need to do to keep our future bright.

*The pilates-contrology forum is exclusively for Pilates instructors. If you like to become a member of the pilates-contrology-forum, please send Reiner a link or document to verify. Thanks for your understanding.
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Nov 22, 2013
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Um, I know you to be big in community and um, I'm really interested in finding out more detail about how you started that, what I know to be the biggest politesse forum or at least the most vociferous, one of the bigger okay. For sure. And that's the Facebook forum and I know it has a home site, uh, which I want you to talk about. Cause I knew that and kind of forgot because I go straight to Facebook. Fuck yeah. And we started in April, 2011 with the original Internet forum. Right. Okay. And in May we started the Facebook close rest very close.

It was because of the conference in May where she said to us, go out there and connect better via via other social communities about, and she was speaking about Facebook and all these communities and I thought, okay, let's found a Facebook group. Let's see where it grows. Yeah. That went good. Yeah. Really fast. Yeah. I kind of focused on that one. Yes, absolutely. Which is I think a difficulty because first of all, Facebook is not, let's say a saint. Yeah. But it's a business. Right. Secondly, I think also Facebook will see a wave. Yeah. It will go down like other places and you cannot access information so good.

So if I, if I try to go back in our forum in the pillars controlled you for on Facebook a year, right? It's very hard scrolling work and after 12 months or something little bit more somehow no matter which is probably use internet or Mozzarella or it doesn't matter, you don't get there any longer, it just crashes and then you have to restart the explorer again. So all the knowledge, exactly. All the knowledge inside there is not accessible any longer. That's the reason why I sometimes say to the people, come on also if there is an interesting topic, make a copy paste of it.

It doesn't matter whether you do it in [inaudible] connections or in the pillars controllers you form no matter, but do it somewhere else where people can access it over time. So it's, there's so much knowledge which is shared freely. Yeah. And we need to somehow establish a better way as a community to to also film it like you do a blast in time. But also to write it somewhere. Yeah. Yeah, definitely. To write it. I all of a sudden there was 2000 people on Facebook forum. There's a lot of knowledgeable people on your site and a lot of people who are newer and, and it's a really nice discussion that happens.

And so I guess let's start by saying how about how many people are on the [inaudible]? I think it's 2,700 something like that. Yeah. And it's growing every week by let's say 10 people or so anybody can join anybody who is either pilots teacher or is on the way being a [inaudible] teacher. So it shouldn't you check that? I tried to check it as, as good as I can. So I write to the people, I Google them. Yeah. Sometimes they don't have a website, but if they write to me, look, I have my done my program with them them or I'm on the way doing it. Yeah. Yeah. For me it's okay.

I mean it's just people just looking in who aren't really interested in ever not clients. Okay. I think that's important because, um, if you want to discuss certain issues with clients or think about this farting. Yeah, it must've smelly feet and you say you think about the farting thing. I need you to explain it, but interesting question. The reason question I'll do people fart. It's a, it's a common question that people are very jealous. Yes they did. Yes, everyone does. And what do you do when we had the two times in the forum, now it's a second time because you're making a stone face and that's all. Well we're not, are not if, yeah, you know, but that was a good discussion. Yes, absolutely. Then it's like, and that's very intimate things sometimes. Oh they, oh they ride. I have a new client who has that and that and that. Has Anybody, have you ever worked with he? Yeah. When you're, when you're posting on Facebook. Yeah. It's a social media.

There's that dilemma, isn't there, that the minute someone, and yet in my case I'm, I do want to promote good palazzos and, and that promote and social media, it kind of don't go together and yet they do with attorney. Right. You know what I mean? So I'm curious, how do you moderate, um, sort of the ethical side or the um, keeping it too these questions and these, um, genuine topics of for consideration versus business promotion? Self Promotion. Yeah. I think [inaudible] does a tough job actually because um, you have to sometimes you, you like people very much. Yeah. And you even learn from them and then you have to at a certain point say sorry. Yeah. But that doesn't work like that. Yeah. We can do that. Yeah.

Like handle all that and then I write to them, uh, explain my point of view, why I will delete this post. Yeah. Specifically or even for example, we have the problem of the events promotion. Yeah. At the beginning I think it was good thing to, to, to have events posted there, but at the end it was only events. Yeah. And we had no discussion any longer because I mean Facebook works with these timelines. Yeah. And if people are 20 people post events, the discussion is, is hidden. It's hidden. It's hidden. Exactly. So I opened this [inaudible] controller g event Facebook page where everybody can just put events. Yeah. And they do. Yeah. That's nice. But um, you know, we received the other thing now stays free.

And if you're somebody who doesn't respect that and people don't, sometimes I have to ride them and say, please, uh, I will delete this event posts. Please post it there. Yeah. And if you do this twice or three times or you don't react to a man's, yeah, yeah. I did lead you from the poem poem and that happened now twice or three times. I mean, it's kind of very small number. Yeah. And I think people understand that these people who own the new of thing, they are not a problem at all. And He, I mean you are regularly posting about Polaris anytime. Yeah.

And that's another problem I do with [inaudible]. But it's not, it's not a problem because you have a good behavior on that and you, you, you, you, you speak about, let's say you don't put an advertising into the forum, but there are where people who for example, Po put on the forum, a continued every day. A quote of a famous person, what the hell? Leave me alone. Please leave up. We have another person, I think she's from Greece and that's not all about Sephora, but she puts on the forum more or less every three or four days I put up a work of art with a pill. Artis, I love pillar. There's no hon. It's so lovely. And that's all about Peloton. And she's not self promoting her. She's promoting the, her love to pill artists. He's so wonderful, so wonderful. And that's a difference, you know? Yeah. And I think what's the good thing about community is that they do not respond at all any longer to that. So they get no likes.

That is topics not like it's not commented on. So it, it goes into the, just quickly into that spin and sometimes when I'm looking for something, I'm scrolling through the whole conversations of two, three, four and then I found stuff I haven't seen before, which I then delete, but nobody commented on it. Nobody liked it. It just sorts itself out. It sorts itself. I feel like people still feel comfortable saying what they feel. Yes. Yes, exactly. And sometimes there were people who've ever ex aggressive and I think sometimes you just a a told me a little story before. Right? Um, and then this progression and this exactly. And this and this, uh, if this happens, I delete the post, this happens. I delete the posts because if they start to, um, if there is a person who starts and you have this, we call in German tolls for home trolls. Trolls. Yeah. Trials. Perfect time. But you know what a troll is perfect. Bridges and they have their really cute dolls. This kind of people.

You need to get them into their boundaries. Yes. And if that doesn't happen, a lot of people wrote me when, when we had to such an aggressive person, they're writing very aggressive stuff. They say, I will not write anything about this and this because I am, I have fears. Or I even had a big person, I don't want to name it, very, very, very famous classical Pilatos teacher. He's very famous. He went into the forum and went out a day later because it was aggressively spoken to [inaudible]. Yeah. And, uh, he will return to the forum. He wrote me several times now. But, um, it's, people are very fearful in our industry. Yeah. They are very fearful. And if our place of the, if the community place starts to be a place where in to fear, it doesn't work any longer, therefore I am quite restrict about aggressiveness, I believe. And counting on it honestly, um, that the, the wave of the future of everything, not just our business, but is, yes, it's sharing his community is, um, and, and I am not someone who sits around bonfires and sings Kumbaya. I'm, it's not me, but it is, it. I just, when, when you're only trying to do more for yourself or for your own studio in our cases, um, it just doesn't work. If you're not growing, you're not growing. You will not grow.

You can grow so much quicker if you're open for what other peoples have to bring to the table. And with this let's say legacy of, of Joseph who, who has taught so differently to different people, maybe because they were so different, we don't know. But that's at least what they tell us. Yeah. We have to try to understand how we are more around. In fact, that's kind of what I thought the whole 2012 thing was. I think it was an end of the time, not actually, or maybe it, depending on how you look at it, but that it's time to, if we're going to keep moving forward. Yes. And not each kid on our own ice flow that are melting. Yeah. And I mean, I, I think all all PLRs instructors who are not, let's say down to this, um, go in your studio, work 12 hours, get back to bed. Yeah.

Who Actually Love Pilatos those plus instructors who still love Pilatos, they cannot stop. I mean we, we've to, we cannot stop to talk about and think our interview has now and learn about pillows. So bringing people together who share that. Yeah. And want to talk about it and want to, to exchange. That's, that's my, that's my mission. Cause those ones, those, yeah. Because those people who who want to connect, yeah. Leave the rest alone. They can do what they want. But those people who want to, to learn every day and to, to, to influence each other. And how easy is it to miss the best book on the market, which is not a hilarious book. Yeah. Right. If not anybody tells you about it.

Yeah. And nobody in tune is forced to tell me about it and I couldn't read it in a newspaper somewhere. Right. Yeah. But I read it instantly. Yeah. If James writes, Hey, look, this cool book. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I found that is the incredible thing for me. You put something on the forum and a day later you have so much more knowledge a day later. Yeah. Yeah. Without going to a library, making calls right here.

Right. Absolutely. Fit people who are passionate about artists, um, usually, um, do not read that much. Yeah. They, the, the intake of information is not so easy for them. So what I do a lot is that I recommend rates book for example to them. So I have, uh, I think hundreds of them given to people already really hundreds. And that's very, that's enough for them.

Very often they, and the questions they have, they are there at a certain point in time. They come from in class, they have a question in mind. They write it down, two or three people respond, but I have not seen that they have picked it up then they're, well, that's, that's really what I'm trying to get at is what in your opinion, do you think the whole, all of us passionate Palladio's teachers can do to spread the word to non [inaudible] teachers to get branding out there? Not of any one company, but our philosophy is coming from the former market. Brander we spoke about that topic last year. I mentioned up there where w where they would, uh, um, um, would we have a panel discussion which we have on Friday too, right on the lifestyle. Last year it was about the future of loudest and um, uh, I think Joseph was completely right in his book. And also when we look at the videos from him, he was very much about we need to teach the next generation. I think those people who are now there in adult, they will come to us when they have a problem and found no resolution elsewhere, but not necessarily will we be able, the way we are structured, we are not luxury tonics.

Gyrotonics is a trademark brand. So they can market [inaudible] every way they like, they can trademark Zoomba and they can do it the way they like. But we see that these are kind of, let's say, um, we don't have this any longer at pinatas. We are so diverse. So we will not be able to make a big advertising. Yes and no. I don't think so. I don't think so.

But I think what we all could do as passionate pillars, teachers would at least spend some of our times, not hunting money or clients, but going there and doing social community works with children. Yeah. Doing much more in the teen sector. Yeah. Offer. Perfect. And this, these whole Brett Howard's pillars, school province. So I think we all should do this. And if everybody, if every prelaunch teacher would teach at least once a week or twice a week, a free class. Yeah. Two, two kids. Yeah. I think we will spread the word of Politesse at a much younger age. Yeah. Yeah.

And it will grow from there, I'm sure. Yeah. And I don't think that, um, anybody has the money in our industry at the moment to really promote Pilatos the other way around by doing big ads or TV commercials yet it could only be associations. It could only be, and I don't think they have the money. I think it could be the manufacturer a bigger, but they, again, if you're looking to let the last pillar style magazine and accounted the ads of who is, who's doing appetizing there and it's the manufacturers who are doing the appetizing and they are now promoting their booty or rape or equinoxes. And we will see this way. We'll say that [inaudible] boody baret very well. Tracy would love that. I think it's called bar. Right. [inaudible] spot. Right, right. I know. Yeah. Well that's just how they have a [inaudible] trend and yeah, it will go a week in my opinion. Tracy. Perfect.

But again, I think polite is here to stay. Yeah. Yeah. And, and Zoomba not, yeah, that's my opinion at least. Yeah. Yeah. You have the forum. Yeah. I think it's through. I use Tracy cause she's my friend. Um, her booty bar is through [inaudible] not, yes. I mean she happens at the dance background and blends that too. But from my vantage, these, I mean she, she ran the rhythm pillar. Yeah. Those are both from me. Um, Eh, they weren't [inaudible], which she mixed in and Yoga and you know, but, and that's okay with me because I know each of their Polaris history. Yeah.

So tell me how the farm has helped you personally as an instructor. Oh, it's too much. I mean it's kind of vague. It's every day. It's every day. So because, um, let's take just one thing. I have clients who have multiple disco roses. Yeah. Um, there is a lady doing a teacher training about that. She's just, yeah. She's just, yeah, exactly. And it's kind of a, you can immediately learn every day something new. Yeah. Bye. Bye. Connecting with those people who have gained the knowledge.

So I cannot, um, think of what I would be without that. Yeah. I think it would be, if I would have only had my training and done the studio, I've wouldn't feel very comfortable to be honest and think it's not the forum only. It's also Peter's anytime. So it's a mixture of both. Right. It's, it's the always getting your emails and look what's happening here and looking at these videos and then going back to the forum discussing stuff again. Yeah, for sure. It's not really what you, for example, when we do the two exercises, this demonstration and feelings is not what's happening on the form. That's a bit kind of, let's say what I'm still missing. Yeah. Yeah. And uh, I think if what people would use more the camera and, and, and, and try to film it with their i-phones or, so to bring it up to the forum, sometimes discussions would be less wordy. Yeah. And where would be less misunderstandings because it's so important. If, if you say, oh, how did you modify your reformer writing about it?

It's difficult. Or if Deborah tried to explain me what she meant with the distance of the springs in the words it gets lost here. Make a photo, make a small video clip here. Yeah. I think that's, that's the, the future. Yeah. To two more. Yeah. To actually more into at a show and, yeah. To show and not to be shy. I think the people are too shy to do it. I do too. And I understand why. Absolutely. Absolutely.

You put yourself on the hotspot. If you, if you're feeling yourself doing your t's are doing you a and then the people start to cruise all your feet or the hands on your mirror and not to mention your own critique that can come of it in that way that the lady with her, um, roles on the candidate was very brave, very, very brave. And I have put light, clear two classes online and don't know whether I've ever seen them in youtube and criticize them. Please. It's a great way to learn. I could tell you that, you know, when you know there's a camera there and then you get to actually review, it's a great way to learn. So that's, that's interesting. I think that's a great idea to start focusing the farm on the ability to actually learn by example versus absolutely eating someone's opinion. Exactly. I think then, then it becomes the, um, what's it called? The yellow press? Yeah. Of the politesse word. And then that's what not, I would like to have the forum to be in the future.

So it's not about rumors and it's not about social chit-chat, it's not about the next color. It's about what we do for our living and because we were passionate about it and that's what I want for them to be one of the people to actually, yeah. Breathe out there and then you know from scene when she found the group, I mean she's member 2000, 600, so I'll shoot. She came in quite late. Just say that way. Yeah. And, but she says she's living where the forum, the forum became her living room. I helped became her living room. That is, that is really like, Oh yes, exactly. Yes, yes. That's what I want.

Yeah. I want people to live there, to communicate with like their best friends. Yes. Yeah. And to, to, even if they have never met, I've never met you in person and still it was like, absolutely. You, you're losing, um, this kind of, um, distance between also between teachers and shippers and students. Yeah. It kind of gets more, more of like a group of people who can speak to each other and learn from each other. And that is something, wow. Yeah. When I listened to Michael Fritz a, um, who, who actually sent last year at the conference, that's how they enjoyed studio work together. Yeah. That's at least how he understood it from the elders, that they all were there at the same time. Not Everybody. I mean the [inaudible] was later for sure. But so certain point, there wasn't only one teacher, there were always three in the room and there were different already at that point in time.

They were different in their opinions and different in the way they taught stir Thursday. I mean, Joe was around, but anyhow, they had their own way of understanding of each exercise and uh, and then actually they were able to accept that. Yeah. And to deal with each other. Thank you for tanks. Oh No, thank you, Christie for being here. I'm happy to be here. I wish I could stay here longer and please do so.

Comments

1 person likes this.
This is great. I never knew this existed. Thanks for the information. I like his level headed attitude.
1 person likes this.
Pilates love all over...after all, aren't we all here to help eachother? thank you for the reminder. plan to check out your 2 sessions. Thank you again PA
Despite the fact that I was completely jet lagged and we only planned to go for a half hour but we enjoyed talking with each other so much I stayed for hours! Thanks Reiner!
1 person likes this.
Yes great forum ! I agree, we can all connect and learn from each other, and share our love to Pilates, what we do! Liebe Grüsse

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