Productivity Pulse Episode 8 - Countdown to the Productivity Forum 2026!

The countdown is officially on. We are just two months away from the annual Productivity Forum on September 10th in Birmingham, and this week on The Productivity Pulse, we’re giving you an exclusive sneak peek at what’s in store.

With over 150 operational and productivity leaders already registered, this year’s event is shaping up to be our biggest and most impactful yet.

Join hosts Sue, Simon & James as they break down the 2026 agenda, which is built entirely around real feedback from the industry and our latest retail report.

• Rethinking Efficiency: How leading businesses are tackling rising costs by smartly reducing task loads in-store.
• Deploying Tech Pragmatically: Moving past the hype to look at real-life success stories in implementing workforce and task management tools.
• Managing Capacity Intelligently: A cross-industry look (retail + hospitality) at how to protect and maximise your peak trading periods without burning out your resources.
• Our 2026 Keynote: We are thrilled to welcome serial entrepreneur and ex-Dragon Sarah Willingham, who will be sharing her hospitality and business wisdom!
• Insider Tips: The team shares their top strategies on how to network, collaborate, and get the absolute most out of the day.

📅 Save the Date! Join us live at the Productivity Forum on 10th September in Birmingham. 

🎟️ Secure your spot: ReThink Forum 2026

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:05

Welcome to the Productivity Pulse. I am joined as ever by James and Sue, and at the time of recording, we are two months away from the Productivity Forum on the 10th of September 2026 in Birmingham. Over 150 people registered and plenty, hopefully, to come. Great selection of partners. So we're going to talk a little bit about the day as we know at the moment. James, I think you've been to three now. This is maybe your fourth. Do you want to give people a view of what they can expect on the day?

SPEAKER_02 0:40

Yeah, I think it is my fourth, and it's, you know, it keeps evolving every year or adding new content, new topics, and kind of growing every year, which is a testament to how people are finding it, I think. You know, what I've observed when I've been there and what I've heard people saying to me is they really appreciate the networking opportunities. Um it's rare, I think, that people working together in operations and productivity roles get together just to talk about it. Um, and they really appreciate the opportunity to network with people in similar roles in similar organizations and in different ones. Um, and they really kind of find the speaker sessions and the panel sessions in lightning. We always try and find a range of people to talk about a range of different topics that relate to what people have told us they're interested in. And you know, people go away from that feeling energized, they feel like they've had a thought-provoking day and they they find it really rewarding. So I would say that the highlights of the day are really the networking opportunities and the learning opportunities, and really um the opportunity to take that time out of the business and actually put some thought into what's happening. I think people find that incredibly valuable.

SPEAKER_01 1:46

Good. Yeah, gets bit gets bigger every year. And and this year we've based the agenda around our retail report, which was uh issued a couple of months ago at the retail tech show. And within there, there were six golden rules, and we've we kind of picked out three which are based on the the feedback we get from delegates when they registered about what they'd like to hear about. As you can imagine, AI is in there, planning, deployment, practical applications and productivity, real life stories are all are all key trends. So we're going to kick off with rethinking efficiency. Um, got a panel in there as ever where we've got some uh clients that are going to come on and talk about their stories, but what can people expect from that session?

SPEAKER_00 2:31

It's going to be about kind of the things people are having to do to cope with you know the rising costs and uh the different changes that people have done. So, what we hope is we'll have a number of people talking about things they've done within their businesses to reduce the task load from their stores, kind of what they've learned from it, what worked well, what they'd do differently next time. So, hopefully, something that's really practical about if you're having to drive efficiency and who isn't, then these are some things you you'd hopefully learn from.

SPEAKER_01 3:04

We then move into deploying technology pragmatically. Again, we'll incorporate a panel where we've got some real life stories of people that have implemented technology. We'll have a couple of speakers that talk about their journey implementing task management, workforce management, etc. So a good session that leads us into our partner lounge. So delegates will get a chance to move round and hear from all the partners. This year we've got Sol UM again, solved by Iabac, Sims and Associates are with us again, and Workjam. We've got Quarso, Acasta, the Pricing People, and Logio with their production planning, not forgetting Fujitsu, and you'll also be able to hear from the Rethink team, the MTM team, and look at our online labour budgeting tool, rebudget. So great time we have by all there. Moves into lunch, so people have got a nice opportunity to do some networking. We then move into the afternoon sessions. Sue, we're talking about managing capacity intelligently.

SPEAKER_00 4:06

Yeah, managing capacity was one of the key themes from our report, and it's something that people have been um asking for sessions on in their feedback. So this is going to be people from different industries, so that's within a mix of hospitality and retail, talking about how they manage peak. And as we talked about in the past, as you start to tighten your resource, there's a real risk that you damage your peak business. So we're going to be talking everything peak, how you manage for it, how you prepare for it, how you make the most of it, because that's when you've got your best sales opportunity. And then that'll leads into a fantastic session with our guest speaker, who's uh an ex-dragon, Sarah Willingham, who's got loads of experience in hospitality, is a serial entrepreneur, so she'll be sharing her wisdom with us as well. So we're really excited for that too.

SPEAKER_01 4:54

Yeah, be good to hear from Sarah. Maybe she'll sit there with a water money on the table and take some uh take some pitches, who knows? So lining up to be another great event. James, I'll come to you first. Any tips for people that are attending how to get the most out of the day?

SPEAKER_02 5:11

I think for people to get the most out of the the day, if they're not attended before, like you you get out what you put in. So come with an open mind and talk to as many people as possible, and you will get out. Um you'll get out much more than um much more than you expect. I think it's a great opportunity to meet people working in similar roles and and learn from them. So yeah, come and share and you won't be disappointed.

SPEAKER_01 5:33

Sue, any tips from you?

SPEAKER_00 5:36

My hot tip would be if you're not sure whether it's for you or not, if you're not sure whether it'll be quite your thing when you get there, I'd say sign up because everybody that does come, we get really great feedback from it, and we get loads of people that come back year after year, thankfully. Um, which again is a sign that people get value out of the day. So, you know, we've got loads of space, so bring your team, uh, come along. But actually, it's it's a great day that people get lots out of. So if you're not sure about it, don't miss out because it's a bit of shame to miss something that only happens once a year.

SPEAKER_01 6:12

Yeah, my my tip would be if you're investing the time to come, be present, you know, phone off, concentrate on what's being said, go and meet and speak to five, ten people that you've you don't know who they are or where they're from. We have a really nice community of people. This is our 10th, you know, 12th event, 11th event, even. We have a really nice community of people that have been to everyone and people that have been to, you know, two, three, four onwards. So um closed, closed venue, you know, nothing really goes outside the room. Open and honest. You'll have organisations that are and aren't competitive there sharing stories and and learning off each other. So yeah, we're really proud of what we've achieved. If you're not registered, we will put the link in the show notes. If you have registered, invite the rest of your team. Hopefully, it gives you confidence and helps you understand why you're coming. And we look forward to seeing you on the 10th in Birmingham. Thanks, Sue. Thanks, James. We'll be back next month.