Conferences

It’s all come as a bit of a shock, really.
 

Grocery professionals have built powerful businesses and successful careers on what were thought to be the unshakable fundamentals of good practice: understand the customer, meet demand with innovative products, create structures to serve the market at minimum cost - all the things that the classic business manuals and MBAs taught us to do.
 

Recently, however, our operating environment has changed radically, moving in directions that would have been inconceivable just a few years ago.
 

Who, in the 1990’s, would have expected that we would now be talking seriously about carbon-costing and carbon-rationing? Who would have predicted such a crisis of confidence in the financial markets, unparalleled energy and commodities inflation and food security returning to the political agenda?
 

Reconciling these forces will be a massive cultural shock for those leading our industry, because no-one has faced this combination of challenges before. How will you cope in an era when it may be increasingly necessary to say “no” to your customers? And how will consumers take the news?
 

This issue, the issue, is the focus of the 2008 Annual Convention, which invites you to throw the text books away and look for alternative solutions.
 

The World Turned Upside Down. Hold Tight!
 

 

 

08.30 Registration and Coffee       09.30 Introduction   Michael Buerk             09.35 President’s Welcome   Alastair Sykes President, IGD       09.45 Leading the Debate:   Joanne Denney-Finch OBE Chief Executive, IGD     Peter Kendall President, National Farmers’ Union     David McCarthy Consumer Analyst, Hobart Capital Markets Limited       Lucy Neville-Rolfe Executive Director - Corporate & Legal Affairs, Tesco     Carolyn Bradley UK Marketing Director, Tesco     Mark Lee CEO, SustainAbility     Alastair Sykes Chairman & Chief Executive, Nestlé UK       11.10 Refreshments       11.50 Leading the Debate:   Rick Bendel Group Executive Marketing Director, Asda     Angus Maciver Group Marketing & Communications Director, Morrisons     Greg Peterson Managing Director, Kellogg UK       12.40 Networking Lunch       14.10 Leading the Debate:   Justin King Chief Executive, Sainsbury’s     Irwin Lee Vice President & Managing Director UK & Ireland, Procter & Gamble     Peter Marks Chief Executive, The co-operative     Mark Price Managing Director, Waitrose           16.15 The Wrap   Michael Buerk             16.30 Close

 

 

 

 

Free IGD primary consumer research:       To request a free copy of 'Shopping Choices: Attraction or Distraction', the primary consumer research revealed at last year's IGD Convention plus the 2008 Convention brochure, complete your details here.

 

 

 

 

 

Feedback from previous events:

 

 

• "With pressures on the Industry ever more demanding, the Convention brought together some fascinating insights on both the challenges and the ways in which we need to go about meeting them."
• "The IGD Convention is the most relevant annual overview of food chain developments in the UK. Thank you."
• "The event managed to carry the themes through from the previous years convention, meaning that for me the convention is less about fads and fashion and more about real issues such as sustainability."
• "I found it extremely interesting hearing the thoughts and views for the future from some of the most influential speakers in the business."
• "I was very impressed by this high quality event, which was very well executed and populated by the industry's top movers and shakers."
• "Once again, great insight into the thinking of major "movers and shakers" in the Consumer and Retail Industries."

See a list of attending companies here.