The BIG Handshake 2024 - Gift Cards and Incentives

THE

BIG

HANDSHAKE
Gift Cards and Incentives

Brought to you by the The Gift Club

14th and 15th May 2024: Van der Valk Hotel Amsterdam – Amstel

For the 2nd year running, we’re back with The BIG Handshake and this time in Amsterdam across two days. Bringing companies together to meet and go on to create long lasting partnerships as a result of our hard work, is what makes us super happy.

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Days

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Seconds

ABOUT

The BIG Handshake - Gift Cards and Incentives

An absolute must for anyone associated with gift cards, incentives and rewards in Europe and beyond

Day One, 14th May - 1pm to 7pm

Coaching workshop on 'presence' and 'networking best practices'

90 minute speed networking session. 3 minutes to elevate your pitch, product or services to

40+ companies

Live voting for top 3 partner pitches and best pitch

Winner 'spotlight presentation' and awards

Networking drinks

Day Two, 15th May - 9am to 7pm

Interactive panels, break out sessions and debates. We'll ask YOU what you want to hear, learn and discuss.

Meet exhibitors

European trends, data and insights

Join workshops such as The Art of Partnership Selling and 'Turning Your Gift Card Products into a Loyalty Proposition'

60 minute colour-coded, cleverly curated networking sessions

Networking drinks

WHERE IS THE EVENT :

Joan Muyskenweg 20, 1096 CJ Amsterdam, Netherlands

WHEN IS THE EVENT :

14th and 15th May 2024

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SPEAKERS

PARTICIPANTS

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HOURS OF NETWORKING

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BUSINESS INTRODUCTIONS

OUR SPEAKERS

Meet the industry know-it alls who'll be gracing us with their presence and injecting you with knowledge and wisdom!

Marta Dragović

Global Loyalty Rewards Benefits Leader, IKEA

Jatin Pandey

Director Membership and Loyalty Program, PVH Corp

Dani McManus

Head of Loyalty Europe, Levi Strauss Co

Flora
Leoni

Retail Media and Data Partnership Director, Carrefour Italia

Tamar de Leeuw

CEO, Wonderbox NL B.V

Simon Jamieson

Managing Director, The Marketing Lounge Partnership

Sian Larsen

Senior Customer Rewards Manager, Post Office

Philip Shelper

CEO, Loyalty and Reward Co

Mark Taylor

Senior Director, Marigold

Ryan De Boer

CFO, Loyalty, Reward Co

Hadie Perkas

Founder and CEO, The Gift Club and The BIG Handshake

Tom Peace

Managing Director, The Loyalty People

Georgia Gkolfinopoulou

Associate Marketing Strategist, Marigold

OUR SPEAKERS

Meet the industry know-it alls who'll be gracing us with their presence and injecting you with knowledge and wisdom!

Marta Dragović

Global Loyalty Rewards Benefits Leader, IKEA

Jatin Pandey

Director Membership and Loyalty Program, PVH Corp

Dani McManus

Head of Loyalty Europe, Levi Strauss Co

Flora
Leoni

Retail Media and Data Partnership Director, Carrefour Italia

Tamar de Leeuw

CEO, Wonderbox NL B.V

Simon Jamieson

Managing Director, The Marketing Lounge Partnership

Sian Larsen

Senior Customer Rewards Manager, Post Office

Philip Shelper

CEO, Loyalty and Reward Co

Mark Taylor

Senior Director, Marigold

Ryan De Boer

CFO, Loyalty, Reward Co

Hadie Perkas

Founder and CEO, The Gift Club and The BIG Handshake

Tom Peace

Managing Director, The Loyalty People

Georgia Gkolfino-poulou

Associate Marketing Strategist, Marigold

WORKSHOP SESSIONS

Workshops offer an opportunity for guests to take the first steps towards solving common real life business problems.

Hosted by an industry ambassador, attendees will have the opportunity to choose which workshops to attend after registering online.

16th October – Day One

Session A

by invitation only

Workshop: Creating a loyalty life cycle and a loyal customer from day one

This workshop will be an interactive session where we identify key stages of the ‘loyalty lifecycle’ and the things you can do at each stage to engender long-term loyalty. We will share best practice examples and discuss actionable quick wins that will make your customers more likely to buy more and stay longer.

Workshop: Making loyalty pay – subscription based loyalty schemes

In this session, you’ll learn about the benefits of paid for loyalty and discuss the key facets of creating a package of benefits that offers value to the right customers, at the right time whilst delivering fair levels of long-term profit (e.g. in line with regulatory requirements). We’ll workshop a package of benefits and a price point too.

Making loyalty pay – subscription based loyalty schemes

Supported by The Marketing Lounge Partnership

16th October – Day One

Session B

by invitation only

Workshop: Profit from the Loss ( of your customer)

Discuss points around reviewing the problem of losing customers and how a business can profit from a loss of a customer. Learn about ways to set a business up to allow for the short fall such as identifying the cost of acquiring a new loyal customer, marketing & advertising budgets and the average size of purchase per loyal customer. We’ll also cover making the exit classy and encouraging a return with personalisation strategies. You’ll learn ways to keep the door open, evaluate ‘fit’ and plan for losses.

Workshop: What’s the real value of Sustainability / ESG?

Everyone’s talking about it, but what exactly does it do for your brand?

How to communicate your ESG agenda effectively to customers
Discuss the risk of getting it wrong

Identify what its real value is to loyalty?

17th October – Day Two

Workshop – Profit from the loss (of your customer)

Please get in touch with us for sponsorship and moderation opportunities

17th October – Day Two

Workshop – Getting data to work for you, emotionally

Join the” love personalisation” crew to thrash out how to turn new data into love and friendship. Also, how can brands continue to use traditional forms of communication with customers to elicit these emotions? You’ll go away with practical knowledge on identifying new ways to engage customers through strong emotions and love for your brand.

Please get in touch with us for sponsorship and moderation opportunities

17th October – Day Two

Workshop – Introducing smart risks to loyalty innovation

It’s a tough game to keep customers engaged with a brand, but investing in apps and machine learning personalization, reducing data collection, and NOT copying others are good risks to take. You will discuss and go away with new insights and learnings on how these innovative steps can improve the quality of your loyalty program.

Please get in touch with us for sponsorship and moderator opportunities for this workshop

17th October – Day Two

Workshop – Loyalty strategy best practice with Philip Shelper, CEO, Loyalty & Reward Co

Philip Shelper is the CEO of loyalty consultancy Loyalty and Reward Co. Phil is responsible for highly innovative loyalty strategies for major brands including McDonalds, UEFA, Schneider Electric, Gillette and Klarna and is the author of Amazon bestseller, ‘Loyalty Programs: The Complete Guide’.

Join Phil for this fantastic opportunity to understand the very latest trends in Loyalty through an interactive workshop and bag yourself a copy of the new edition of his book!

Please get in touch with us for sponsorship opportunities for this workshop

OUR SPEAKERS

Meet the industry know-it alls who'll be gracing us with their presence and injecting you with knowledge and wisdom!

Flora Leoni

Head of Data, CRM and Services Carrefour Italia

David Forsyth

Senior Manager, Gift Cards, Adidas

Sian Larsen

Senior Customer Rewards Manager, The Post Office

Karen Dumbrell

Senior Manager, Membership at Arsenal F.C

Denis Huré

CEO Reward the World™

Tiffany St James

Digital Industry Educator

Tom Peace

Managing Director The Loyalty People

Lisa De Vreede

Product Owner of Protectmaxx Alphacomm

Rob Burgess

Editor Head for Points

Jay Atkinson

Head of EMEA and Russia TDS Gift Cards

April
Cox

Retail Solutions Director UK Catalina UK

Dave
Allen

Group Commercial Director, Epsilon

Bill Alexander

Chairman, Motivates

Anthea Crawford

Head of Retail and Payment Partnerships, Google Play

Richard Robertson

Regional Managing Director, epay

Ben Rabb

COO at BitCard

Gaetano Giannetto

Founder and CEO, Epipoli

Flora
Leoni

Head of Data, CRM and Services Carrefour Italia

David Forsyth

Senior Manager, Gift Cards, Adidas

Sian Larsen

Senior Customer Rewards Manager, The Post Office

Karen Dumbrell

Senior Manager, Membership at Arsenal F.C

Denis
Huré

CEO Reward the World™

16th October - Day 1

Session A – VIP Brands By Invitation Only.

Supported by The Marketing Lounge Partnership

For hand picked Heads of Loyalty and CRM from these industries – Financial Services, Insurance, Electrical, Automotive, Home Retail, DIY Retail, and Home Construction

12:00

Welcome and Networking lunch

3 course meal, Prosecco

14:00

Workshop

Creating a loyalty life cycle and a loyal customer from day one

15:00

Keynote Speaker Session Speaker: Simon Jamieson, MLP

Manners in Marketing- How to foster a culture of good manners. Saying Please, Thank you and Sorry to your customers

Great marketing won’t save a company with a poor culture and poor customer service….but great marketers can create a culture of customer care and provide customer facing team members with the tools to deliver great customer experiences. The simplest way to do this, is to create a culture of manners, where your teams feel empowered to say ‘please, sorry and thank you’ and take action to overcome a bad experience, make a customer feel better or by just saying thank you to a nice customer. We will discuss the ways in which you can create this culture and the benefits of doing so.

15:30

COFFEE BREAK

Leg stretching time and recess. Enjoy coffee, tea and biscuits in the company of your peers

16:00

Workshop: Moderator - MLP

Making loyalty pay - subscription based loyalty schemes

In this session, we’ll learn about the benefits of paid for loyalty and discuss the key facets of creating a package of benefits that offers value to the right customers, at the right time whilst delivering fair levels of long-term profit (e.g. in line with regulatory requirements). We’ll workshop a package of benefits and a price point too

16:45

Insight Presentation by Tom Peace, Managing Director of The Loyalty People

Gen Z Loyalty - Why don't they behave like the rest of us?

Tom Peace is Managing Director of The Loyalty People, a strategy consultancy with a laser focus on loyalty, CRM and Customer Engagement. Tom will present on how Gen Zs just don’t react to loyalty in the same way as the rest of us. There is a huge generational gap in their requirements for loyalty! Join Tom for this insightful presentation on how to engage this complex demographic and find out about how we’re all becoming a little Gen Z!!

17:30

Well deserved networking drinks

Session B – VIP Brands By Invitation Only.

Supported by ( Sponsorship Opportunity Available)

For hand picked Heads of Loyalty and CRM from these industries -FMCG, CPG, Fashion, Beauty, Telco, Hotels, Airlines and Travel

12:00

Welcome and Networking lunch

3 course meal, Prosecco

14:00

Workshop

Loyalty program optimisation - with Philip Shelper and Ryan De Boer from Loyalty & Reward Co

Participants will discuss how their existing loyalty programs rate vs best-practice principles. Advice will be provided on approaches to optimise loyalty program effectiveness using data analytics, commercial modelling and adoption of industry trends. A model will be presented which details how loyalty programs can be used to support the full digital transformation of a company with the end result being the ability to deliver omnichannel personalisation. A range of new loyalty tech innovations will be presented for discussion.

15:00

Insight Presentation by Tom Peace, Managing Director of The Loyalty People

Gen Z Loyalty - Why don't they behave like the rest of us?

15:30

COFFEE BREAK

Leg stretching time and recess. Enjoy coffee, tea and biscuits in the company of your peers

16:00

Workshop

What’s the real value of sustainability / ESG?

Everyone’s talking about it, but what exactly does it do for your brand?

How to communicate your ESG agenda effectively to customers
Discuss the risk of getting it wrong

Identify what its real value is to loyalty?

17:00

Well deserved networking drinks

17th October - Day 2 - Open to everyone - Supported by Marigold

09:00

WELCOME AND NETWORKING

Coffee, tea, pastries and some good old early morning networking

09.30

Welcome note from Hadie, CEO of The BIG Handshake and The Gift Club and Tom Peace, MD of The Loyalty People

09.45

Panel discussion with Jatin Pandey at Calvin Klein, Dani McManus at Levi, Sian Larsen at The Post Office. Supported by Marigold

Imagine if the consumer world was 100% digital

Wallets, apps, gamification, AI, the Metaverse and personalisation. In 30 years time, perhaps the consumer world will be 100% digital. Join this relaxed discussion on how brands can market to and engage with their customers using digital loyalty in a future world where there will be no other channel of communication!

10.30

Debate! Moderated by Ryan De Boer at Loyalty & Reward Co who is joined by Dani McManus at Levi and Marta Dragović at IKEA Retail

Subscriptions - Pros and Cons

Take part in this interactive discussion. We’ll throw the debate open to the audience and get you all to decide which is the most effective loyalty marketing strategy in a world of increased competition and skyrocketing customer acquisition costs. Which side of the fence do you sit in this very topical debate?

11.00

COFFEE BREAK AND NETOWRKING

Coffee, tea, biscuits and some good old late morning networking

11:30

WORKSHOP

Loyalty strategy best practice - Philip Shelper, CEO, Loyalty & Reward Co

Phil is the CEO of the fast growing loyalty strategy firm Loyalty and Rewards Co based out of Australia and expanding globally. Phil is responsible for highly innovative loyalty strategy for major global brands such as McDonalds, Flybuys and Klarna. He is also the author of ‘Loyalty Programs: The Complete Guide’. Join Phil for this fantastic opportunity to understand the very latest trends in loyalty through an interactive workshop.

WORKSHOP

Pushing customer loyalty into the centre of your business led by Dave Allen and Ralph Browning at Epsilon

Loyalty should be a key indicator of business success, right ? Yet often it is not viewed in this light. This workshop, aimed towards Loyalty leaders, will cover best practices and practical tools to put your programme at the core of your business and guarantee C-Suite attention and bigger budgets.

Topics will include:

Communicating the high-level concept and vision
Demonstrating business impact so it’s seen as an investment not a cost centre
Managing the 5 C’s of stakeholder engagement: from CEO to CSR

12.45

LUNCH AND NETWORKING

Dine on some delicious dishes with your peers and take a well earned break

14:15

WORKSHOP

Getting data to work for you, emotionally.

Join the” love personalisation” crew to thrash out how to turn data into love and friendship. You’ll go away with practical knowledge on identifying new ways to engage customers through strong emotions and love for your brand.

WORKSHOP

Introducing smart risks to loyalty innovation

It’s a tough game to keep customers engaged with a brand, but investing in apps and machine learning personalization, reducing data collection and investing time in good segmentation are good risks to take. We’ll discuss how these innovative marketing steps can improve the quality of a loyalty program.

15.30

PANEL DISCUSSION ONE

Digital Psychology: Online persuasion for loyalty marketing

What is digital and cyber psychology? We discuss the science of online persuasion in an attempt to digitally transform loyalty programs. - Is psychological insight just as valuable as technological advancements?

PANEL DISCUSSION TWO

NFT’s in Loyalty. Success or fail?

A few brands, such as Starbucks, have leapt at the opportunity to engage their members with NFTs, but NFTs don’t seem to have made the impact in Loyalty schemes that was initially promised. Listen to our panel of experts discuss the opportunity for NFTs and debate whether this is a slow-burn or not a new strategy that works for loyalty.

16:15

COFFEE AND NETWORKING

Coffee, tea, more biscuits and pastries PLUS some more good old late afternoon networking

16:45

Fireside Chat with Tamar de Leeuw, CEO at Wonderbox, Hadie Perkas, CEO at The Gift Club, Flora Leoni, Retail Media & Data Partnership Director at Carrefour, Zsuzsa Kecsmar CEO at Antavo

Women in Loyalty

Embracing female leadership. Our accomplished panellists will share their journeys, challenges, workplace breakthroughs and the future for women in the industry.

17:30-19:00

NETWORKING DRINKS

Time to unwind and relax and turn up the beat of the business conversations

“A BIG Thank You to you for making our day so spectacular. The work put into making it happen must have been immense and the organisation was top notch. The day itself was excellent – the content, the venue, the tone and the people all made it what it was – and everyone seemed to enjoy it, learned lots and made loads of human connections – exactly how we discussed! You tried to give MLP as much value as possible both prior and throughout the day and the little off the cuff ideas like following the cow on wheels to the bar for the networking drinks, really worked! Thank you again!”

Simon Jamieson, Managing Director at The Marketing Lounge Partnership. Lead Sponsor for Day 1 at the BIG Handshake Loyalty, Amsterdam

Tickets now on sale

SPONSORS AND PARTNERS

PHOTOS FROM THE BIG HANDSHAKE MAY 2023

In May 2023 The BIG Handshake in London attracted over 100 companies and over 140 attendees.

TESTIMONIALS

WHAT OUR ATTENDEES SAY

Check out below to see what our past attendees have to say about their experience.

"Thank you for a well-run and valuable networking event. Many thanks for helping make great things happen across so many partners/experts in our industry. It was a pleasure to attend."

Karice MooreManaging Director SELP North America

"A BIG Thank You to you for making our day so spectacular. The work put into making it happen must have been immense and the organisation was top notch. The day itself was excellent - the content, the venue, the tone and the people all made it what it was - and everyone seemed to enjoy it, learned lots and made loads of human connections - exactly how we discussed! You tried to give MLP as much value as possible both prior and throughout the day and the little off the cuff ideas like following the cow on wheels to the bar for the networking drinks, really worked! Thank you again!"

Simon JamiesonManaging Director at The Marketing Lounge Partnership. Lead Sponsor for Day 1 at the BIG Handshake Loyalty, Amsterdam

"Well done on a great event. It was done in style, well organised and felt different to other ones."

Bill AlexanderChairman, Motivates

" The overall atmosphere was testament to your unwavering commitment to excellence. I was particularly impressed by some of the speakers. You catered for the diverse audience which is never easy to do. I have walked away with valuable insights and had the thinking space to truly think about my business, so thank you for that."

Prem PatelVP Managing Director, Catalina UK

"Thank you for today and for a job well done. Great event with many new faces so congrats on the organisation and execution"

Richard RobertsonRegional Director, epay

"Meticulous organization by The Gift Club team created an exceptional experience."

Sparta Loyalty

"Thank you The Gift Club for such a creative event, we thoroughly enjoyed it. We thought the venue choice was excellent too, with plenty of room to spend time networking with 140 attendees"

Jigsaw Business Solutions

"The Big Handshake by The Gift Club was an exceptional, informative and great networking event for the Loyalty, Rewards and Gift Card industry."

Inspireme.ai

"The two days of #TheBigHandshake were an absolute blast! We were blown away by the insightful talks from industry leaders and experts at #TheBigHandshake, and the exciting connections we made left us buzzing with energy that ignited a spark of creativity and collaboration. A huge shout out to The Gift Club for organizing such an amazing conference that brought together professionals from the relevant industry. We're already looking forward to the next one!"

Lokendra MishraSenior Vice President, Advantage Club

"It was an incredible experience, and I truly appreciate the effort the team put into making it a success. The event was not only informative but also engaging, and I gained valuable insights from the speakers and fellow participants. The networking opportunities were exceptional, and I had the pleasure of connecting with some inspiring professionals in our industry. The Gift Club thank you from team EZ PIN"

Ajay KumarBusiness Development Manager, EZ PIN

"Thrilled to have been part of The Big Handshake 2023! The day was filled with enthusiasm, meeting talented individuals, and captivating discussions about the future of loyalty & CRM. Thanks to Hadie Perkas (G.I.R.L) 😊 from The Gift Club for organizing a brilliant event! Thank you all for the amazing turnout! See you next year!"

Prepay Nation

"Yet another fantastic Big Handshake Event by The Gift Club! 🤝 We've shared smiles, exchanged ideas, and forged connections that extend far beyond the clasp of hands"

Tillo

"Fantastic event. Great selection of brands and industry folk. Superb networking opportunities."

Tiffany St JamesFounder, Transmute

"One of the (un)expected returns of attending one of The Gift Club's events is definitely developing business partnerships which could bring extra revenue to the company. At The BIG Handshake, every delegate started with physical handshakes and overrun the networking sessions. I am proud to say all because of The BIG Handshake events, both Globetopper and Prezzee UK have formed a solid partnership and we've been able to keep learning from each other in terms of marketing, brands and technical integration. Thankfully, all these have turned out to increase sales remarkably every quarter and strengthened our offers to clients."

Jeffrey LauDirector - Products and Partnerships at Globetopper

LATEST NEWS AND BLOG

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Hello world!

Hadie Perkas February 15, 2023 1 Comment

GET IN TOUCH

CONTACT US FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

If you need more information about the event, please don't hesitate to contact us. We are happy to answer any questions you may have and provide you with additional details.

EVENT VENUE:

Van der Valk Hotel Amsterdam – Amstel, Joan Muyskenweg 20, 1096 CJ Amsterdam, Netherlands

EMAIL ADDRESS :

THE

BIG

”

HADIE PERKAS

ABOUT

The BIG Handshake - Gift Cards and Incentives

WHERE IS THE EVENT :

WHEN IS THE EVENT :

Attending Companies

OUR SPEAKERS

Marta Dragović

Jatin Pandey

Dani McManus

Flora Leoni

Tamar de Leeuw

Simon Jamieson

Sian Larsen

Philip Shelper

Mark Taylor

Ryan De Boer

Hadie Perkas

Tom Peace

Georgia Gkolfinopoulou

OUR SPEAKERS

Marta Dragović

Jatin Pandey

Dani McManus

Flora Leoni

Tamar de Leeuw

Simon Jamieson

Sian Larsen

Philip Shelper

Mark Taylor

Ryan De Boer

Hadie Perkas

Tom Peace

Georgia Gkolfino-poulou

WORKSHOP SESSIONS

16th October – Day One

Session A

16th October – Day One

Session B

17th October – Day Two

Workshop – Profit from the loss (of your customer)

17th October – Day Two

Workshop – Getting data to work for you, emotionally

17th October – Day Two

Workshop – Introducing smart risks to loyalty innovation

17th October – Day Two

Workshop – Loyalty strategy best practice with Philip Shelper, CEO, Loyalty & Reward Co

OUR SPEAKERS

Flora Leoni

David Forsyth

Sian Larsen

Karen Dumbrell

Denis Huré

Tiffany St James

Tom Peace

Lisa De Vreede

Rob Burgess

Jay Atkinson

April Cox

Dave Allen

Bill Alexander

Anthea Crawford

Richard Robertson

Ben Rabb

Gaetano Giannetto

Flora Leoni

David Forsyth

Sian Larsen

Karen Dumbrell

Denis Huré

AGENDA

16th October - Day 1

Session A – VIP Brands By Invitation Only.

12:00

Welcome and Networking lunch

14:00

Flora
Leoni

Flora
Leoni

April
Cox

Dave
Allen

Flora
Leoni

Denis
Huré

Register your eligibility for a free VIP ticket for Day 1 and Day 2 including a three course meal and training with peers plus one night accommodation on Day 1.
No vendors allowed on Day 1.