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THE
BIG
HANDSHAKE
Gift Cards and Incentives
Brought to you by the The Gift Club
14 May 2025: Novotel, Amsterdam City Centre
For the 3rd year running, we’re back with The BIG Handshake (TBH) Gift Cards for a one day networking event in Amsterdam
”
HADIE PERKAS
CEO and Founder of The Gift Club and The BIG Handshake
Days
Hours
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Seconds
Take a look at what we got up to in May '24
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
- Joyalty panel - happiness that resonates from leadership to employee to customer
- More Than a Gift Card Keynote: Unleashing the power of rewards & incentives for engagement and growth
- 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
- Best Pitch award
- Networking drinks
Day Two, 15th May - 9am to 4pm
- European trends, data and insights
- Win Win Win - Cashfront vs Cashback, a unique gift card use case, presented by Marc van Venrooij, Coca Cola
- The Art of Partnership Selling
- How to create a fast-selling, brand new gift card
- Marketing: Can it make or break your gift card programme?
- Brighten Brand Experience and Customer Retention by Turning Your Gift Card Product into a Loyalty Proposition
- The Gift Card and Incentives IQ Showdown
- Meet exhibitors
WHERE IS THE EVENT :
Novotel Hotel Amsterdam City Centre, Europaboulevard 10, 1083 AD Amsterdam, Netherlands
WHEN IS THE EVENT :
13 and 14 May 2025
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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!
“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
Companies that attended May 2024
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AGENDA
Here's the breakdown of your day to include all networking, learning and entertainment opporunities.
Day One - 14th May
Supported by Blackhawk Network Europe
13:00
Registration and Welcome
Coffee, Tea, Pastries
13:30
Opening address and The BIG Handshake
With Hadie Perkas, CEO of The BIG Handshake and The Gift Club
13:45
" Joyalty " - happiness that resonates through a business from leadership to employee to customer.
Discover the scientific link between employee engagement and customer loyalty and how a remarkable correlation can impact this relationship and the business outcomes. Explore the role of leadership in creating employee happiness. Customers can feel if an employee is happy or not based on the experience they have. And learn how business can positively impact that by keeping a close eye on the employees’ level of engagement. Join us for insights on cultivating a holistic approach to promoting business values for sustained success.
14:30
More Than a Gift Card: Unleashing the Power of Rewards & Incentives for Engagement and Growth
It is challenging to meet business goals in the current economic climate and to keep employees and customers engaged. Gift cards have the potential to go beyond their traditional role and become a tool for engagement, productivity, and growth. By adjusting our perspective, gift cards can be the driver of employee satisfaction, customer loyalty and organizational success Presented by Chris Ronald, VP EMEA B2B, Blackhawk Network
15:00
Coffee Break
15:30
The BIG Speed Networking Session
Get ready for some fast talking, close-up conversation ( mints and business cards / QR codes at the ready!). We invite everyone to enjoy The BIG Handshake’s first BIG speed networking session on Day One. In this session, you’ll have 3 minutes each to introduce your products or services to the person sitting opposite you before moving along to the next delegate. Listen out for the bell and our MC’s instructions
17.00
Best Pitch Award followed by Networking Drinks in Club Pampus Bar
Delegate voting for the best pitch followed by The BIG Handshake’s best pitch presentation and awards
Day Two - 15th May
09:00
Registration and Welcome
Coffee, Tea, Pastries sponsored by EZ PIN
09:30
Welcome note from BVCNL, event partner and The Netherlands gift card association
Wendy Trienen, Senior Operations Manager at Blackhawk Network in The Netherlands and Chair of the BVCNL, will open the second day of the conference. She will talk about the mission and vision of the BVCNL and the great achievements the BVCNL as industry association has achieved since its founding. Furthermore a key summary of the BVCNL market data will be shared giving insights in the size of the Dutch gift card market and its audience.
09:50
The BIG Handshake and table introductions
10:10
Presentation
Win Win Win - Cashfront vs Cashback, a unique gift card use case for targeted sampling in collaboration with retailers, intersolve and Coca-Cola Europacific Partners NL.
Focus: Building a new digital industry standard for driving trail of new products, growing existing user (fan)base and rotation of products on shelf. While driving traffic (buyers) to physical retail outlets at the same time. All connected with the fast growing “Digitizing the Path to Purchase” focus of brands and retailers. Win Win Win: Consumer, Retailer, Brand.
Presented by Marc van Venrooij, Head of Digital Marketing and Innovation at Coca-Cola Europacific Partners and sponsored by Intersolve
10:40
Interactive Panel Discussion sponsored by Jigsaw Business Solutions
Marketing: Can it make or break your gift card programme
Inadequate marketing efforts can lead to low sales. Investing in smart and effective strategies will raise awareness and incentivise gift card and gifting purchases. From making better processing decisions to diverse digital or physical approaches this panel will also delve into how the consumer will most likely respond to them.
11:10
Coffee and Networking
11:40
Audience Workshop
The Art of B2B Partnership selling
Do you think selling a product or service is easy?. What about selling the idea of a concept? The BIG Handshake invites our audience to join this 45 minute practical workshop that will challenge what you think you know about securing new partnerships whilst learning a new type of sales skill. Is partnership selling an art or a science or a whole new ball game entirely?
12:35
Keynote
How to create a fast-selling, brand new gift card
We invite our guests to join Annemijn Borsten, MD of Wonderbox in The Dam. She’ll be sharing what her 14 year B2B product journey has taught her about launching and marketing the fastest growing gift card in the Netherlands.
13:05
Networking Lunch
14:30
Panel Discussion
Brighten Brand Experience and Customer Retention by Turning Your Gift Card Product into a Loyalty Proposition
With more and more customers seeking distinctive shopping adventures, our panel will question the necessity of designing a unique “brand experience” to influence purchasing behaviour. Will the investment engender retention of the new world consumer with ever-increasing expectations? Through the lens of the gift card buying customer, they’ll debate the lengths companies should go (or not) to delight and reward customers and employees in an attempt to cement loyalty.
Using real life examples, they’ll look at brand retention strategies such as digital experiences, play tech solutions (gamification), immersive and sensory dimensions personalisation, eco-credentials and sustainability…
15:00
The BIG Gift Card and Incentives IQ Showdown
Gift Card and Incentives IQ Showdown
Find your team, secure your seats, and brace yourselves for the ultimate industry showdown of the year with our interactive multiple-choice inter-table quiz. This challenge will put your industry expertise and attentive listening to the test! While it's more than just a game, there are exciting prizes awaiting the victorious team.
15:45
Winning table awards, closing note and coffee
Tickets now on sale
OUR SPEAKERS
Meet the industry know-it alls who'll be gracing us with their presence and injecting you with knowledge and wisdom!
Jock Jordan
Regional Vice President B2B at Blackhawk Network, One4all Ireland, Netherlands & DACH, Blackhawk Network
OUR SPEAKERS
Meet the industry know-it alls who'll be gracing us with their presence and injecting you with knowledge and wisdom!
Jock Jordan
Regional Vice President B2B at Blackhawk Network, One4all Ireland, Netherlands & DACH, Blackhawk Network
Isobel Finlayson
Senior Account Director (Partnerships) & Sustainability Lead at Mando-Connect
Wendy Trienen
Senior Operations Manager at Blackhawk Network in The Netherlands and Chair of the BVCNL
Photos from The BIG Handshake May 2024
In May 2024 The BIG Handshake in Amsterdam attracted over 87 companies and 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 
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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:
Novotel Hotel Amsterdam City Centre, Europaboulevard 10, 1083 AD Amsterdam, Netherlands