There are still some tickets available to attend the pub industry’s leading think-tank for business leaders and senior executives this October.
With an unparalleled line-up of speakers this year’s Future of Pub Retailing conference, organised by M&C Report, will be spearheaded by Paul Ormerod, the economist and award-winning author.
Ormerod, whose book Why Most Things Fail was Business Week’s book of the year, will deliver this year’s keynote speech. Ormerod – managing partner at the Volterra consultancy – is someone who subscribes to the view that “an economist who is only an economist cannot be a good economist”.
A founding director of the Henley Centre, he pioneered the use of many quantitative techniques of analysis in marketing. An expert of the business cycle, he will challenge pub leaders to think differently in the downturn and outline the actions and strategies that will separate winners from losers.
A key panel featuring Marston’s Alistair Darby, Punch’s Roger Whiteside, Peach’s Hamish Stoddart, Charles Wells’ Paul Wells, plus industry veteran and former Punch director Francis Patton, will look at the future of the tied pub model and discuss the current mediation process – against the backdrop of a possibly yet another OFT inquiry.
Paul Flatters of Trajectory will use research to cut through the wall of noise created by the media over consumers in a recession. He will use exclusive research to give a clear picture of consumer behaviour across social classes, age ranges and regions of the UK.
Jim Fallon, the former managing director of McQueen, the corporate finance house, will explore the sector’s journey to a brave new world: the wall of restructurings and financings facing the sector, the future shape of sector M&A, company structures and leverage.
There will be two more panel discussions at the event, which will be held on October 1.
One will explore innovation, growth and hot concepts in the pub and bar market and will include Tim Bacon of Living Ventures, John Barnes of Novus, Nick Blair from Pernod Ricard, Richard Bigg of Loupe Group, Patrick Dempsey of Whitbread, and Rhys Oldfield from Be At One.
The remaining panel debate of the day will centre on one of the industry’s big issues – its image: as a seller of alcohol; a significant employer of the UK workforce; and in the context of pubs, as integral parts of communities. It will feature Ralph Findlay of Marston’s, Miles Templeman of the Institute of Directors, Greg Feehely of Altium, Neil Robertson of the BII, John Grogan, MP for Selby and chairman of the all-party beer group, and Ian Edward, the financier and non-executive director.
The high-level event, which is sponsored by Pernod Ricard and supported by the Morning Advertiser, will take place at the Andaz Hotel (formerly known as the Great Eastern) at London’s Liverpool Street.
M&C Report subscribers are entitled to receive a discount of £150, meaning that tickets to this key event are available for just £245.
For more information or to secure tickets contact Helen Law via helen.law@william-reed.co.uk or on 01293 846587.
