MAIN STAGE
Day 1, 14 April




08:50-09:00

Opening address from the Main Stage host
A short opening address by the Main Stage host, setting the context for the day through the lens of consumer and retail market realities shaping decision-making across Poland and CEE.


09:00 - 09:20

A perspective on operating under sustained pressure
A senior perspective drawn from working across retail and consumer-goods organisations, reflecting on what leaders encounter when expectations rise, buffers stay thin, and operations must keep running.


09:20 - 09:50

PANEL

What matters for position isn’t ambition, but what organisations can carry.

Across organisations, ambition often moves faster than the capacity to absorb change. Growth plans multiply, priorities expand, and expectations rise  -  while the organisation continues to operate at full speed, in environments where margins are thin and decisions show up immediately with customers.


What determines position over time is not what leaders want to pursue, but what the organisation can actually take on without losing stability. This conversation brings leaders together around that reality  -  not to debate ambition, but to recalibrate what progress is built on.


09:50 - 10:10


A perspective on why decisions stall despite visibility

A senior view on what repeatedly slows decision-making in retail and consumer-goods organisations, even when information is abundant and pressure is high.


10:10 - 10:40

PANEL


Having more insight doesn’t automatically lead to better decisions.

Across organisations, visibility has increased faster than clarity about who can act. Signals are everywhere, but authority is often fragmented, escalated, or delayed. In environments where pressure is constant and time is scarce  -  and where decisions show up the same day in pricing, availability, and customer trust  -  decisions tend to slow not because information is missing, but because ownership is unclear.


This discussion creates space to re-focus attention on how authority  -  not insight  -  increasingly determines whether organisations can move.


10.40 - 11:00

Coffee Break

11:00 - 11:30

PANEL


Connecting systems doesn’t just increase efficiency  -  it reveals where organisations are exposed.

As systems become more connected, what was once isolated starts to interact. Dependencies multiply, handovers tighten, and small inconsistencies travel further than before. In consumer-facing operations where availability, fulfilment, and service are tightly linked, that exposure surfaces faster and closer to the customer.


What used to be contained can now surface quickly, exposing weaknesses that were previously buffered or invisible. This discussion brings leaders together to examine where integration has shifted risk  -  not as a failure of systems, but as a consequence of increased connectedness.


11:30 - 11:50

When pressure rises, payment behaviour tells the truth
A short leadership perspective on what becomes visible in consumer spending when prices stay high and choices tighten.


11:50 - 12:00

Pressure shows up first in people’s daily choices
A short perspective on how consumer-facing pressure translates into employee experience across retail and consumer-goods operations.


12:00 - 12:20

What shopper behaviour signals before leaders see it
A short market perspective on how changes in shopper behaviour surface early in retail data, often before they register at decision level.


12:20- 12:40

When scale becomes a daily operating condition
A short perspective on what large-scale retail systems need to deliver reliably when operations never pause and pressure remains constant.


12:40 - 13:10

PANEL

Growth gets the attention. The core still generates the value.

Growth attracts focus across organisations, while the core business continues to fund operations. New initiatives draw energy, leadership time, and investment, but day-to-day performance still depends on the core - where consumers continue to spend, decide, and return.


What sustains the organisation economically is not what is newest or most visible, but what consistently delivers value. This discussion brings leaders together to examine how attention and economics have drifted apart - and what that means for decision-making.


 13:10  - 14:00

Lunch

14:00 - 14:30

PANEL

Adding options is simple. Keeping organisations coherent is not.

As pressure builds, more gets added: new priorities, new exceptions, new ways of doing things. Nothing breaks immediately, but running the organisation starts to take more effort than before  -  all while the core operation keeps moving and targets remain unchanged.


Alignment needs more conversations, decisions take longer, and small inconsistencies begin to matter  -  often showing up for consumers as uneven availability, mixed signals, or inconsistent experiences. This discussion brings leaders together around that reality  -  not to simplify for its own sake, but to understand what coherence now quietly costs.


14:30 -14:50

Commercial pressure is felt first at the customer edge
A short perspective on how pricing, rewards, and loyalty dynamics surface commercial pressure directly in customer behaviour.


14:50 - 15:10

Operational reality defines what is feasible
A short perspective on how internal operating conditions shape what retail and consumer-goods organisations can realistically execute under pressure.


15:10 - 15:30 

Packaging decisions show up where trust is tested
A short perspective on how packaging choices surface operational trade-offs directly for consumers in retail and consumer-goods environments.


15:30 - 16:00

PANEL

Change is constant. What must stay stable is not.
Constant change has become the normal state. Structures evolve, priorities shift, and organisations adapt while still moving at full speed. In that motion, what once held things together can quietly loosen: shared reference points weaken, boundaries blur, and execution starts to depend more on individual judgement than on common ground.


This discussion brings leaders together to recalibrate where stability still needs to hold  -  not to resist change, but to ensure the organisation remains workable while it continues to move.


16:00 - 16:30

PANEL

Instability used to be neutral., It isn’t anymore.

This stage of constant movement has normalised a lot of instability. Priorities shift, dependencies tighten, and uncertainty becomes part of daily operations. That instability was absorbed. Increasingly, it cannot  -  with consequences now showing up directly for consumers in availability, consistency, and trust.


Some forms of instability now travel through the system faster, amplify pressure elsewhere, and begin to shape outcomes directly. This discussion creates space to re-scan where instability has shifted from background condition to defining factor  -  and why that change matters before moving further.


16:30 - 17:00

Coffee Break

 17:00- 17:20

Markets shift before certainty arrives
A short perspective on what pricing and demand signals reveal when external conditions change faster than planning cycles.


17:20 - 18:00

PANEL



Waiting for certainty used to be an option. It isn’t anymore.

Geopolitical tension has become a permanent backdrop to decision-making. Trade routes shift, regulatory signals fragment, alliances reconfigure, and economic assumptions lose stability faster than organisations can adjust. In consumer-facing businesses, those shifts surface quickly in availability, pricing signals, and trust  -  often before clarity arrives.


In this environment, waiting for clarity no longer protects decisions  -  it reshapes them. This closing discussion creates space to re-scan how geopolitical pressure changes decision timing, risk tolerance, and the boundaries within which leaders now have to act.