SWA marks one month to go until annual conference
THE Scottish Wholesale Association (SWA) has unveiled further details about its upcoming annual conference with just one month to go until the date.
The upcoming Connex Conference is set to welcome members from across the industry to the Voco Grand Central Glasgow Hotel on Thursday 28 May and will feature a host of business sessions, key insights as well as an evening dinner hosted by broadcaster Zara Janjua.
Speaking ahead of the conference, SWA president Tom Slaven said: “With its focus on preparing Scotland’s wholesale sector not just to respond to today’s challenges, but to thrive in the decades ahead, the SWA Connex Conference really is a ‘must attend’ event for all wholesalers and our supply chain partners.
“This year’s conference is designed to give our members the insight, inspiration and practical tools they need to build resilient businesses that can withstand global uncertainty, embrace innovation and play a vital role in Scotland’s future food system.”
Attendees will be able to benefit from insights across the board to better benefit the running of their businesses, with entrepreneur Felix Riley set to give the keynote speech at the event next month.
Riley, a financier and former comedy writer, is set to deliver a talk about helping organisations and business leaders to adopt “bigger thinking on their biggest challenges” and show how ambition can turn into positive outcomes to benefit organisations across Scotland.
Delegates will also hear from a range of morning sessions under the Building Wholesale Resilience – The Path to 2050 topic, with insights from Tanya Peppin, co-founder and managing director of The Wholesale Company, along with fellow speakers to showcase how wholesale members can build resilience in the face of unstable geopolitical conditions including global conflicts, climate change, supply chain disruption and shifting consumer demand.
For further insights into how the wholesale channel can perform more sustainably, Colin Campbell, chief executive at the James Hutton Institution, will lead a session titled Planet & the Scottish Supply Chain in 2050. He is set to explain why Scotland could play a vital role in sustainable food security and share in-depth knowledge on the likely future impacts that climate change will have on food production and transportation.
This will then be followed by a panel discussion titled Building a Resilience Blueprint – Route to Market Trading to 2050. The SWA has said attendees will be able to engage with a debate on how the channel can move beyond volume-led trading to embrace innovation in the wholesale space. One of the panel members has been confirmed as former Booker executive Martin Swadling, now Co-op Wholesale’s customer director.
And with the Scottish election taking place just weeks before the conference happens, Jayne Swanson, head of public affairs at the SWA, will provide some post-election coverage of Scotland’s new political landscape.
Afternoon sessions will be packed to the brim as well, including talks such as The Future of Marketing: Building Your Brand from Ross Macdonald, head of strategy at creative agency Frame; as well as a talk from Martin McCardle, regional operations manager at Brakes Scotland, will share how changes have helped the wholesaler to successfully recruit for hard-to-fill roles and improve retention across the business.
Another key component to the conference will be the SWA’s Vendor Village, an exhibition taking place at the Voco featuring producers, suppliers and SWA service provider members.
Colin Smith, chief executive at the SWA, said: “The conference presents a unique opportunity for our members, suppliers and stakeholders to gather for a day of discussion, contemplation and networking – a valuable platform for sharing information, new ideas and knowledge that can help everyone focus on their immediate priorities and longer-term goals. Please join us in Glasgow on 28th May.”
