SCHEDULE
2 Days of
Insights
April 26-27, 2021
Vancouver Convention Centre East Building
26th April
27th April
28th April
26th April
8:30 – 12:45
Industry Tour
Meet at Fairmont Waterfront Hotel; End at Vancouver Convention Centre East (Retail Full Delegates only. Limited seats available.)
**ONLY for Full Delegate Retailers
Starting – Fairmount Waterfront Hotel
Fresh St. Market – Vancouver House (1480 Howe St)
Meinhardt Foods – 3002 Granville St
Save-on-Foods – 6455 West Blvd
Bosa Foods – 562 Victoria Dr
Returning – Fairmont Waterfront Hotel
27th April
[CEO/C-SUITE Track] *Pre-registration required
7:00 – 7:45
Breakfast
2nd Floor East Meeting Rooms 1-3
Vancouver Convention Centre East Building
7:45 – 8:15
Member & Policy Update
East Meeting Rooms 1-3
Vancouver Convention Centre East Building
*Morning Conference & Workshop Sessions
8:15 – 9:00
Keynote – Formats and Store Design
What’s driving retail innovation? Neil Stern, Sr. Partner, McMillanDoolittle
East Meeting Rooms 1-3
Vancouver Convention Centre East Building
When looking at retail across the globe, there are clear indicators that the industry is changing at an accelerated pace. We’ll look at the macro trends impacting the retail industry, from demographic and societal changes to the role of technology and the growth of e-commerce. We then provide examples of a wide range of innovative grocery concepts with a focus on examples from small to mid-sized chains that demonstrate what the future of retail will look like. The examples provide a practical roadmap to what it will take to win at retail in the future. Presented by Neil Stern, McMillanDoolittle.
9:00 – 9:10
Coffee Break
East Meeting Rooms 1-3
Vancouver Convention Centre East Building
9:15 – 10:00
Concurrent Workshops
Customer experience
Engineering a winner customer experience. Neil Stern, Sr. Partner, McMillanDoolittle
East Meeting Room 17
Vancouver Convention Centre East Building
HR/Staffing
Solutions to the labour shortage in our sector. Trish Kelly, Sr. Accessibility Consultant, The Presidents Group
East Meeting Room 18
Vancouver Convention Centre East Building
Interac / Payments
Important updates on the payment industry, presented by Mark O’Connell, President & CEO, Interac Corp.
East Meeting Room 19
Vancouver Convention Centre East Building
BC is facing a labour shortage with close to 1 million expected job openings by the year 2025. The grocery and retail industries already feel the strain. Finding and keeping talent is something that every manager wrestles with. However, some retailers, including Buy-Low Foods, London Drugs and smaller retailers, are securing talent by adopting more inclusive and accessible employment practices. Presented by Trish Kelly, The Presidents Group
Mark O’Connell is President and CEO of Interac Corp. In his role, he oversees the operation of one of Canada’s leading payments brands, which is chosen an average of 16 million times daily to pay and exchange money.
Mark is responsible for a suite of trusted payment products including Interac Debit and Interac Flash, Interac e-Transfer (a leading real-time money movement innovation that has grown by 50% year-over-year) and digital technology, such as the Interac Token Service Provider and mobile payment and in-app solutions including Interac Debit on Apple Pay, Android Pay, Samsung Pay and mobile Interac Flash.
10:00 – 10:45
Workshops repeated
East Meeting Rooms 17, 18, 19
Vancouver Convention Centre East Building
11:00 – 16:30
Trade Show Exhibition
East – Halls B & C
Vancouver Convention Centre East Building
13:00 – 13:30
Education Session
Competing as an Independent – From highlighting local to using your social media channels with Neil Stern, Sr. Partner, McMillan Doolittle
Insights & Innovations Trade Floor Stage
14:00 – 14:30
Cheese Pairing Session
Join Saputo’s cheese expert and discover new flavours to cross merchandise and grow your in-store sales. (max 30)
Insights & Innovations Trade Floor Stage
Networking Events
16:15 – 17:00
All Welcome | Free Beverages
Trade Floor Mix N’ Mingle
Federated Insurance Insights & Innovations Trade Floor Stage
18:30 – 19:00
*Pre-registration required
Reception
3rd Floor Summit Room
Vancouver Convention Centre WEST Building
19:00 – 21:00
*Pre-registration required
Dinner & Entertainment
Magician BILL COOK
3rd Floor Summit Room
Vancouver Convention Centre WEST Building
28th April
[Store Manager Track] *Pre-registration required
7:00 – 7:30
Breakfast
2nd Floor East Meeting Rooms 1-3
Vancouver Convention Centre East Building
7:30 – 8:15
Session – Global food and drink trends 2030
Three trends that will shape global food, drink, and foodservice markets over the next 10 years. Presented by Joel Gregoire, Mintel assoc. dir. Food & drink
East Meeting Rooms 1-3
Vancouver Convention Centre East Building
Joel Gregoire serves as Associate Director – Food and Drink at Mintel, specializing in the Canadian food and drink industry. Joel has over 18 years of experience working in market research, 15 of which focused on what matters to Canadians in terms of how they eat and drink. Before joining Mintel, Joel worked at OMD, Loblaw Companies Ltd, where he generated insights for the company’s private label brands, including President’s Choice, and The NPD Group, where he tracked consumer eating patterns and presented the analysis to top tier clients. Joel heads up Mintel’s Food and Drink team in Canada, and has personally authored over 50 reports on various topics related to food and drink during his tenure. Joel also contributes to various publications. Despite Joel’s expertise in understanding what Canadians eat, he’s still trying to figure out what to feed his kids for dinner. You can follow Joel on Twitter at @JoelDGregoire.
*Morning Conference & Workshop Sessions
8:15 – 9:00
Keynote – Relentless adaption
How great companies are really innovating to win. Amber Mac, Digital Maverick, Entrepreneur
East Meeting Rooms 1-3
Vancouver Convention Centre East Building
We obsess over innovation. But innovation is overrated. If you look at the smart companies that are prized for “innovation,” you see that they are actually masters of “adaptation”—of knowing when to adjust, when to speed up, and when to capitalize. It’s not about being first; it’s about being flexible. In this thrilling new talk, Amber Mac looks to leading organizations, many of which she covers for Fast Company, to explore the practice of relentless adaptation. Is your company taking advantage of disruptive new technologies, or simply being disrupted by them? Presented By Amber Mac
9:00 – 9:10
Coffee Break
East Meeting Rooms 1-3
Vancouver Convention Centre East Building
9:15 – 10:00
Concurrent Workshops
Retail Insights
Path to Purchase Institute provides insights into leading grocery trends
East Meeting Room 17
Vancouver Convention Centre East Building
HR
A Gen Z playbook: 4 Steps to a new digital strategy to reach the next generation. Amber Mac, Digital Maverick, Entrepreneur
East Meeting Room 18
Vancouver Convention Centre East Building
Payments
What are the top 5 actionable things your loyalty program should be doing; and things you can do if you don’t have a program. Presented by Rob Shields, loyalty expert, co-founder of Paymi
East Meeting Room 19
Vancouver Convention Centre East Building
While we’ve obsessed about millennials for almost a decade, it’s time to shift focus to the next generation. Generation Z (people born between 1995 and 2010) is an economic powerhouse that represents a quarter of our population—and is growing. They buy differently, engage differently, connect differently, and think differently. In this talk, Amber Mac explains how to break down your digital strategy into four simple steps to reach this next audience: Rethink Mission, Rethink Work, Rethink Platform, and Rethink Communication. Presented by Amber Mac
Loyalty programs reimagined: What’s are the top 5 actionable things your loyalty program should be doing; and top 5 things you can do if you do not have a program. Presented by Rob Shields, loyalty expert, co-founder of Paymi
10:00 – 10:45
Workshops repeated
East Meeting Rooms 17, 18, 19
Vancouver Convention Centre East Building
11:00 – 16:00
Trade Show Exhibition
East – Halls B & C
Vancouver Convention Centre East Building
13:00 – 13:30
Education Session
Hear about some cost-effective green alternatives to single-use plastics out on the market with Jerry Gao, Leaf Environmental.
Insights & Innovations Trade Floor Stage
Loyalty programs reimagined: What’s are the top 5 actionable things your loyalty program should be doing; and top 5 things you can do if you do not have a program. Presented by Rob Shields, loyalty expert, co-founder of Paymi