Sunday, September 19, 1:00 PM - 3:30 PM

The Path to Retail 4.0: Get Ready or Get Left Behind

  • Room: Ballys Platinum
Retail 4.0 is the Age of Metamorphosis. A fundamental restructuring as the industry sees change and disruption unlike any time before, in how retailers operate, go to market, and create value. Like the simple caterpillar giving way to the complex butterfly, retail is undergoing a metamorphosis, the DNA of traditional retail... Read More
Speaker(s)
Panelist
Elise Wood
Managing Partner
Refinition
Moderator
Gary Hawkins
CEO
Center for Advanced Retail & Technology
Panelist
John Thompson
President and Chief Executive Officer
ShoptoCook, LLC
Moderator
Kevin Coupe
Content Guy
MorningNewsBeat.com
Panelist
Kristin Popp
Executive Vice President
Woodman's Markets
Panelist
Laura Zappi
Director of Marketing
HAC, Inc.
Panelist
Mike Hornigold
Executive Vice President of Digital
Accelerate360
Panelist
Orlee Tal
CEO
Stor.ai
Panelist
Roger Heaston
co-founder and CTO
Refinition
Panelist
Ron Bonacci
VP, Marketing & Advertising
Weis Markets
Panelist
Shawn Tuckett
Vice President of Sales and Client Services
WEBSTOP
Panelist
Shekar Raman
Founder and CEO
Birdzi, Inc.
Moderator
Sterling Hawkins
Co-Founder, Operations & Development
Center for Advanced Retail & Technology
Panelist
Yair Holtzer
Vice President, Business Developmen
Trigo
Sponsored by

Sunday, September 19, 3:45 PM - 4:45 PM

Creative Recruiting – Lessons Learned From the Pandemic

  • Room: Ballys Bronze 4
Speaker(s)
Track(s)

E-Commerce - What Do Consumers Want?

  • Room: Ballys Platinum
Speaker(s)
Track(s)
Handout(s)
Sponsored by

Non-Foods Merchandising Strategies

  • Room: Ballys Silver
Speaker(s)
Track(s)

Prepared Foods – Capitalizing on New Demand for Foods To Go

  • Room: Ballys Bronze 1
Speaker(s)
Track(s)
Handout(s)

Promoting Healthy Eating

  • Room: Ballys Bronze 2
Speaker(s)
Track(s)
Handout(s)

Sunday, September 19, 5:00 PM - 6:45 PM

Opening Keynote Session

  • Room: Ballys Event Center
IF YOU CAN SEE IT YOU CAN BE IT  ​In this presentation Jeff shares two decades of life lessons that he gained on his redemptive journey from drug dealer to TV celebrity chef to internationally acclaimed speaker. With his 12 inspiring and pragmatic street-smart recipes for success, audiences will discover their hidden... Read More
Speaker(s)
Speaker
Greg Ferrara
President and CEO
National Grocers Association Foundation
Speaker
Jeff Henderson
Speaker
John Ross
President & CEO
IGA Inc.
Speaker
Mike Stigers
Chief Executive Officer, Cub Foods
UNFI
Sponsored by

Monday, September 20, 7:00 AM - 8:15 AM

The Independent's Guide To Navigating Growth During Complex and Volatile Times -- Wargaming 2022

  • Room: Ballys Event Center
The challenges facing independent retailers in 2022 are expected to significantly intensify as both traditional and digital major market players converge on competing in the evolving retail landscape.  Our discussion focuses on the forces and factors of change destined to reshape the retail environment going forward.  The changing consumer dynamics of... Read More
Speaker(s)
Panelist
Barry Queen
Owner
Queen's Price Chopper
Panelist
Bob Richardson
Director of Sales, Customer Industry Development
The Clorox Company
Panelist
David Smith
Chief Executive Officer
Associated Wholesale Grocers
Speaker
Denny Belcastro
Vice President, Industry & Customer Collaboration
Kimberly-Clark Corporation
Panelist
James Neumann
President
Valu Market
Moderator
Thom Blischok
Chairman and CEO
The Dialogic Group
Track(s)
Handout(s)
Sponsored by

Monday, September 20, 8:30 AM - 9:30 AM

E-Commerce Best Practices

  • Room: Ballys Platinum
Speaker(s)
Track(s)

Produce 2022 - Maintaining Sales Growth

  • Room: Ballys Bronze 1
Speaker(s)
Track(s)

Retail Automation -- Optimizing the In-store Experience

  • Room: Ballys Bronze 2
Speaker(s)
Track(s)
Sponsored by

Winning In Center Store

  • Room: Ballys Silver
Speaker(s)
Track(s)

Monday, September 20, 9:45 AM - 10:45 AM

Alternative Labor Solutions

  • Room: Ballys Event Center
Speaker(s)
Track(s)

Expanding the Reach of E-Commerce: SNAP Online Purchasing

  • Room: Ballys Platinum
Speaker(s)
Handout(s)
Sponsored by

How to Prepare For and Mitigate a Ransomware Attack

  • Room: Ballys Silver
Speaker(s)
Track(s)

Meat Sales: Trends to Watch in 2022

  • Room: Ballys Bronze 1
Speaker(s)
Track(s)
Handout(s)

POS Data: A New Approach to Aggregation and Standards

  • Room: Ballys Gold
Speaker(s)
Track(s)
Sponsored by

Monday, September 20, 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

2022 Outlook: Galvanizing the Growth Consumer

  • Room: Ballys Event Center
At a time when shoppers continue to shift their post-COVID CPG dollars against a backdrop of omnichannel retailing, inflation and income polarization, maintaining growth will be a challenge. For this session, NielsenIQ will leverage its latest Omnishopper data to identify high growth shoppers across both online and offline channels, along with... Read More
Speaker(s)
Panelist
Darlene Murphy
Marketing Director
Metcalfe's Market
Panelist
Dennis Host
VP of Marketing
Coborns, Inc.
Moderator
Harvey Ma
SVP, Omni, Consumer and Retail Performance
NielsenIQ
Panelist
Jamie Collins
Vice President, Marketing and Advertising
Dierberg's Markets, Inc.
Track(s)

Monday, September 20, 1:45 PM - 2:15 PM

Show Me the Money: Serving Cash-preferred Consumers

  • Room: Thought Leadership Theater
Cashless payments may be growing, but trillions of dollars remain in circulation in the US -- and global demand for currency has increased.  With a rapidly changing payment environment influenced by COVID, grocery and convenience stores remain among the only places a cash-paying consumer can pay their bills. By continuing... Read More
Speaker(s)
Speaker
Marjan Habib
Product Manager, Cash & Logistics
Fiserv
Track(s)
Handout(s)
Sponsored by

Monday, September 20, 2:30 PM - 2:45 PM

How to Generate A 1% Increase in Gross

  • Room: Thought Leadership Theater
The benefit of automation technology is this: It can automate the mundane and complex tasks you and your team do every day. The technology can run 24/7, 365 days, and send you reports that overview your important metrics, all without you touching a button. What does this mean? It means you... Read More
Speaker(s)
Speaker
Dennis Toney
Sales Director and Grocery Expert
Storewise
Track(s)
Sponsored by

Monday, September 20, 3:00 PM - 3:30 PM

The Pioneers’ Perspective: Practical Solutions to Address Labor and Inventory Woes

  • Room: Thought Leadership Theater
Eighteen months after the start of the pandemic, our industry is still facing uncertainty and shortages when it comes to labor and inventory availability. What are you doing to solve for it? Is it working? Join Brandon Hill, CEO and Co-founder of Vori; John Fukumoto, Director of IT at Berkeley Bowl;... Read More
Speaker(s)
Speaker
Brandon Hill
CEO & Co-founder
Vori
Speaker
John Fukumoto
Director of IT
Berkeley Bowl Marketplace
Speaker
Michelle Dufresne
Vice President of Sales, Independent Natural Channel
KeHe Distributors
Track(s)
Sponsored by

Monday, September 20, 3:45 PM - 4:15 PM

The Future of Online Grocery

  • Room: Thought Leadership Theater
The global pandemic accelerated purchasing habits. Online grocery sales tripled during the pandemic.  20% of e-commerce shoppers say they do 100% of their grocery shopping via mobile. This session will discuss how to stay ahead of the big-box retailers to keep and retain your shoppers through e-commerce, shopper engagement/loyalty, POS... Read More
Speaker(s)
Speaker
Josh Ray
Co-founder & Chief Commercial Officer
ShopHero
Track(s)
Sponsored by

Tuesday, September 21, 7:00 AM - 8:45 AM

Creative Choice Awards Presentation

  • Room: Paris Versailles
The National Grocers Association (NGA) is pleased to host the annual Creative Choice Awards Contest, presented by Kellogg's and Unilever, to honor and recognize the best marketing and merchandising programs in the grocery industry. Winners of the Creative Choice Awards Contest gain respect throughout the industry and receive national recognition... Read More
Speaker(s)
Moderator
Michael Sansolo
PRESIDENT
Sansolo Solutions
Track(s)
Sponsored by

Tuesday, September 21, 9:30 AM - 10:00 AM

The Power of a “Smile”(y) -- Continuous Real-time Feedback Collection and Applications

  • Room: Thought Leadership Theater
Looking for the answer to increase customer satisfaction?  Want to improve waiting times, correct service procedures, optimize staffing and ultimately increase profits?  You’ll find what you are looking for here…let us introduce you to HappyOrNot and our simple, yet powerful solution which helps companies like yours engage with their customers... Read More
Speaker(s)
Speaker
Corey Conger
Sales Director, Midwest Region
HappyorNot
Track(s)
Handout(s)
Sponsored by

Tuesday, September 21, 10:15 AM - 10:45 AM

Harnessing Data for Independents – NGA/BRdata Cloud

  • Room: Thought Leadership Theater
Learn how you can harness the power of the NGA-BRdata Cloud to leverage your data, in conjunction with other independent’s data, to make data-driven merchandising and pricing decisions. BRdata Cloud, the trusted platform for over 2,000 stores, has partnered with NGA to provide an aggregated data solution for independents across the... Read More
Speaker(s)
Speaker
Mike Abbene
Cloud Services Manager
BRDATA Software Solutions
Track(s)
Sponsored by

Tuesday, September 21, 1:15 PM - 1:40 PM

15 Ideas for Growing Sales

  • Room: Ballys Silver
Speaker(s)
Track(s)

eGrocery – Onramping to Automating Grocery Fulfillment

  • Room: Ballys Platinum
Speaker(s)
Track(s)
Handout(s)

Reading the Incentive Landscape

  • Room: Ballys Bronze 2
Speaker(s)
Track(s)
Sponsored by

Reducing Shrink in Fresh Departments

  • Room: Ballys Bronze 1
Speaker(s)
Track(s)
Handout(s)

Washington Update

  • Room: Ballys Bronze 4
Speaker(s)
Track(s)
Handout(s)

Tuesday, September 21, 1:30 PM - 3:00 PM

WGA Roundtables

  • Room: Ballys Bronze 3
WGA Membership, hosted by Heidi Huff, IGA - Learn more about being a part of WGA and what WGA has to offer! Leadership, hosted by Stephanie Reid, Shelby Publishing - Re-thinking “Leadership” in 2021 …. Stewarding your greatest resource: Your Team! Engaging & Retaining, hosted by Kristin Popp, Woodmans Food Market -... Read More
Sponsored by

Tuesday, September 21, 1:50 PM - 2:15 PM

10 Tips to Infuse Gusto into Promos, Events

  • Room: Ballys Silver
Speaker(s)
Track(s)

Incentive Success Stories - Retailer Benefits Panel

  • Room: Ballys Bronze 2
Speaker(s)
Track(s)
Sponsored by

Making The Case For Micro-Fulfillment Centers

  • Room: Ballys Platinum
Speaker(s)
Track(s)

Meat Case Innovation

  • Room: Ballys Bronze 1
Speaker(s)
Track(s)
Handout(s)

State of the Industry

  • Room: Ballys Bronze 4
Speaker(s)
Track(s)

Tuesday, September 21, 2:30 PM - 2:55 PM

Are you Ready for the FDA's Traceability Mandate?

  • Room: Ballys Bronze 1
Speaker(s)
Track(s)
Handout(s)
Sponsored by

Incentive Ready: How to Implement Incentives in Store

  • Room: Ballys Bronze 2
Speaker(s)
Track(s)
Sponsored by

M&A Outlook for the Food Industry

  • Room: Ballys Bronze 4
Speaker(s)
Track(s)
Handout(s)

The Auto-Replenishment Opportunity

  • Room: Ballys Platinum
Speaker(s)
Track(s)
Handout(s)

The Changing Role of Store Brands

  • Room: Ballys Silver
Speaker(s)
Track(s)
Handout(s)

Tuesday, September 21, 3:05 PM - 3:30 PM

Establishing Incentive Partnerships

  • Room: Ballys Bronze 2
Speaker(s)
Track(s)
Sponsored by

Maintaining E-Commerce Sales Increases

  • Room: Ballys Gold
Speaker(s)
Track(s)

Tuesday, September 21, 3:45 PM - 4:45 PM

Creating a ‘Magnetic’ Store Culture

  • Room: Ballys Platinum
For decades, engaging the customer in a positive, meaningful manner was the ultimate objective of most every retailer.  A customer who felt welcomed and appreciated would surely return and might even become a outspoken advocate. Today, this objective is being rewritten to include our employees.  Once falsely considered, “our most... Read More
Speaker(s)
Panelist
George Veit
Store Director
Zallie - Somerset, Inc.
Speaker
Harold Lloyd
President
Harold Lloyd Presents
Handout(s)