Editorial Advisory Board Meeting

Opening Cocktail Reception

Opening Comments

Opening Keynote Session

INNOVATIONs IN RETAIL AND BEYOND

To think like a customer � and innovate based on their needs � you need to spend some time being a customer. Lisa Bodell helps you think out-of-the-box, by getting you out-of the office to see not just what�s now � but What�s Next. This presentation gives you a virtual tour of the most interesting, innovative and dynamic happenings in retail and beyond. Based on her team�s expertise in innovation and experience taking leading companies on a variety of Future Fieldtrips around major global cities, Bodell will share insights on:

• What exactly is innovation?
• The Seven Angles of Innovation � and what it means to YOU
• Over a dozen case studies and examples of innovative retail experiences � and more
• Top Tips for finding What�s Next

General Session #1

THE PERFECT MERCHANDISING STORM: WHEN ACCURATE PLANNING CONVERGES WITH PRECISE INVENTORY MANAGEMENT

Moderator: Joe Skorupa, Group Editor-in-chief, RIS News

Speakers: Steven Skinner - Vice President, Customer Relationship Management, Home Depot Direct; Edward Wong - SVP / Supply Chain and Systems, Charlotte Russe

In this session RIS group editor-in-chief Joe Skorupa will host a discussion that will look at both hard-line and soft-line merchandising issues. Joe will be joined by two of the industry�s top merchandising executives.

General Session #2

LEVERAGING ONLINE CUSTOMER SATISFACTION TO INCREASE LOYALTY, PROFITABILITY AND GROWTH  

Moderator: Larry Freed - President & CEO, ForeSee Results

Speakers: Arul Sundaram - Director eCommerce, AOL; Michael Relich - CIO, Guess? Inc.; Kelli Blankenbaker - Director, Web Analytics, The Finish Line

The Retail Executive Summit's first-ever �super session� will focus on e-Commerce with the latest research on Web site customer satisfaction and a panel of top dot.com retail executives from both the pure play and click-and-mortar sides of retail. Our discussion will range from customer acquisition and retention to the effectiveness of loyalty building and tracking of online customers and customer satisfaction.

Break for Golf Outing (click here to register) OR Poolside Hospitality

Networking Breakfast

Opening Comments

Second Day Keynote

ACHIEVING BREAKTHROUGH RESULTS WITH INNOVATIVE STRATEGIES

Keynote Speaker: William Davidson, Ph.D., Chairman, MESA and Author, �Breakthrough: How Great Companies Set Outrageous Objectives and Achieve Them�

How do companies break out of long-term patterns of thought to find and capture breakthrough innovation to enhance growth?  William Davidson, Ph.D. and chairman of Management Education Services Associates (MESA), a research and consulting organization that has worked with over half the Fortune 100 companies in the areas of business planning and leadership development, will lead us through real-world examples from companies that have successfully enhanced growth by breaking entrenched patterns of thought with innovation. Formerly a tenured professor of management at the Marshall School of Business, University of Southern California , Davidson is an active researcher and writer. His book, Breakthrough: How Great Companies Set Outrageous Objectives and Achieve Them , details how incumbents innovate to achieve enduring market leadership. He was recognized as the most widely cited academic in the field of international management during the decade 1985-95, and his books include 2020 Vision , co-authored with Stan Davis. 2020 Vision was selected as Best Business Book of the Year by Fortune Magazine in 1992.

General Session #3

MULTI-CHANNEL LOYALTY

SPEAKER: Monica Woo - President, Consumer Floral Brand, 1-800-FLOWERS

What are the benefits of loyalty? 1-800-FLOWERS chief marketing officer Monica Woo will provide insights into how 1-800-FLOWERS is using loyalty technology to track and analyze customer acquisition and retention goals and costs, as well as customer activity across the company�s online, brick-and-mortar and partner channels.

Networking Coffee Break

GENERAL SESSION #4

PROVIDING ASSOCIATES WITH BETTER TOOLS

HOST: Greg Buzek, President, IHL Consulting

Panelists: Neil Maizen - VP/Strategy & Technology, Canadian Tire Dealer's Association; Mark Stevenson - Director of IT, Northern Group Retail

RIS research partner IHL Consulting president Greg Buzek will discuss trends and systems retailers are using to provide better tools to associates. This session will examine both customer-facing technologies placed in the hands of associates, as well as technologies deployed through POS systems for two-way corporate / associate communication, time and attendance management and portal activity.

GENERAL SESSION #5

CONSUMER SHOPPER TRENDS

SPEAKER: Thom Blischok - Head of Retail Practice, IRI

The latest research and insights into consumer shopping trends will be the focus of this session�s content presented by the head of IRI�s retail practice Thom Blischok.

GENERAL SESSION #6

mining multichannel: real-world analysis and hands-on workshop

Speaker: Rob Garf - Research Director, Retail, AMR Research

This extended workshop session will open with expert analyst commentary on Multi-channel operational excellence, metrics and benchmark achievers of retail. Commentary will then drill down into three areas of discussion that will drive the workshop portion of the session. Attendees will be provided with three facilitated segments of workshop, providing their group's findings to the analyst for a final summation segment. Workshop attendees will receive a compiled report from RIS post event encompassing both the table summation notes and the analyst summation.

�  Supply Chain

�  Merchandising

�  Store Operations

�  Customer Experience

�  Enterprise Strategy

�  Multi-Channel Strategy

Breakfast & General Session #8

WALL STREET ON RETAIL: THE IMPORTANCE OF BUSINESS PROCESS AND TECHNOLOGY ON PERFORMANCE

Speaker: Bob Buchanan - Vice President & Head of the Retailing Analyst Group, AG Edwards

In today's breakfast session, Bob Buchanan, one of Wall Street's most respected, honored and accurate retail analysts year over year will share how Wall Street is focused on process and technology in retail organizations and the impact that is having on the valuations the Street is giving retail organizations.