Agenda Day One
6:30 pm - 8:30 pm
PRE-EVENT NETWORKING DRINKS RECEPTION
1
7:30 am - 8:30 am
REGISTRATION, BREAKFAST AND NETWORKING
8:30 am - 8:35 am
PROGRAM DIRECTOR'S WELCOME
Callum O'Brien, Program Director, CX USA Exchange 2026
8:35 am - 8:45 am
CHAIR'S OPENING REMARKS
Michela Brooks -
Consultant,
Temple & Theory
8:45 am - 9:15 am
KEYNOTE PRESENTATION: AI THAT MATTERS: MOVING FROM EXPERIMENTS TO EVERYDAY IMPACT
TS Balaji -
Vice President of Digital & Customer Experience,
Cox Communications
AI is everywhere, but most implementations fail to deliver. This keynote will cut through the noise and show how organisations are successfully embedding AI into everyday customer experiences.
9:15 am - 9:45 am
PRESENTATION: ARCHITECTING A GLOBAL CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE IN THE AGE OF AGENTIC AI
Heather Morgan Shoemaker -
Chief Executive Officer,
Language I/O
As AI becomes central to customer support, the real challenge is not automation, but preserving the human connection customers expect.
In this workshop, Heather Shoemaker explores how AI can reduce agent friction, prevent burnout and scale global support without replacing the people at the heart of the experience. While research from MIT shows the nearly 95 percent of AI initiatives fail to deliver real business value, this session focuses on how to be in the five percent that succeed by designing AI around what matters most: better customer experiences, more efficient and confident agents and measurable results. The session showcases the most effective AI enhances human connection rather than competes with it.
Sponsored by: Language IO
1:1 BUSINESS MEETINGS
10:20 am - 10:50 am 1:1 BUSINESS MEETINGSTHINK TANK: FROM DATA TO DECISIONS: CX THAT MOVES AT CUSTOMER SPEED
8:00 am - 8:30 am THINK TANK: FROM DATA TO DECISIONS: CX THAT MOVES AT CUSTOMER SPEEDCustomers don’t wait and neither should your data. Learn how real-time behavioral insight turns fragmented journeys into decisive, human-centric experiences that drive measurable growth.
Sponsored by: Celebrus
1:1 BUSINESS MEETINGS
10:50 am - 11:20 am 1:1 BUSINESS MEETINGS1:1 BUSINESS MEETINGS
11:25 am - 11:55 am 1:1 BUSINESS MEETINGSTHINK TANK: VOICE CHANNELS FROM HIDDEN RISK TO CX OPPORTUNITY
11:25 am - 11:55 am THINK TANK: CALL TO ACTION: DESIGNING AN OPTIMIZED CALL ESCALATION STRATEGY Mike Pappas - Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder, ModulateEvery customer call carries unique levels of risk, urgency, and complexity; however, too often escalation decisions either overload senior staff or frustrate customers with long handle times. This interactive workshop will walk through three real-world call scenarios to explore how to balance caller context, agent expertise, and AI/IVR coverage when determining escalation paths.
Through group discussion and scenario mapping, attendees will examine the tradeoffs of escalating too early versus too late and learn how to tune systems for smarter, faster outcomes.
Takeaways: Learn how optimized escalation reduces costs, cuts call times, alleviates agent attrition, and boosts customer satisfaction. Walk away with actionable frameworks for building escalation strategies that connect the right callers with the right agents—quickly, accurately, and without unnecessary friction.
Sponsored by: Modulate
12:00 pm - 12:30 pm
NETWORKING BINGO
12:30 pm - 1:00 pm
PRESENTATION: CUSTOMER JOURNEYS ARE SHIFTING MAKE EVERY INTERACTION COUNT
Allyson Morena -
Director of Client Insights & Strategy,
Verint
Customer journeys are no longer linear, their starting point is continuouslyshifting. Every interaction matters. This session explores how AI and Voice of the Customer (VoC) insights help organizations orchestrate journeys and anticipate friction before it becomes a struggle, ensuring seamless conversions at critical moments.
• Emerging Trend: AI + VoC combine to eliminate friction and boost conversions.
• Best Practice: Anticipate and prevent friction through real-time orchestration.
• CX Tools: Modern platforms turn feedback into immediate action across channels.
Sponsored by: VERINT
1:05 pm - 1:55 pm
NETWORKING LUNCH BREAK
AI, data and personalisation promise step-change improvements in customer experience, yet many CX leaders still struggle to answer the board’s simplest question: what has this actually changed?
This think tank explores why traditional CX ROI models break down, and how leading organisations are reframing ROI around decisions, behaviours and trust, not just metrics and dashboards.Through peer discussion, we’ll identify practical ways CX leaders can connect investment to outcomes that resonate at board level
Sponsored by: Gate One
Richard Theodore - AI, Analytics & Business Automation Leader, IBM
AI has been in the contact center for years, yet results remain limited: low containment, frustrated customers, overwhelmed agents, and stalled adoption due to trust and security concerns. The problem isn’t AI, it’s the absence of orchestration.
Sponsored by: IBM
3:35 pm - 4:05 pm
PRESENTATION: CLOSING THE CRITICAL INSIGHTS GAP BETWEEN YOU AND YOUR CUSTOMERS
Skai Kang -
VP of Customer Success,
unitQ
Dana Infante - Chief of Staff, DraftKings
Sponsored by: unitQ
AI is full of bold promises, but only some projects create real value. This discussion will benchmark what’s actually working and where organisations are hitting roadblocks.
5:25 pm - 5:55 pm
PRESENTATION: HOW TO BUILD VOICE AGENTS THAT ACTUALLY WORK
Sponsored by: Simple AI
5:55 pm - 6:25 pm
PANEL DISCUSSION: SIMPLYFYING COMPLEXITY: PERSONALIZATION THAT WORKS ACROSS INDUSTRIES
Matt Prainito -
Managing Director - Airport Operations,
Alaska Airlines
Sree Sreedhararaj - Chief Technology Officer, Ipsy
Natalie Barnes - VP of Product Management & Product Design, Zumba
