Industry professionals from across the country gathered this week in Louisville, Kentucky for the 12th Annual Axis Retail Leadership Forum.
Day 1 kicked off with a presentation on the security program implemented for the Mall of America in Minneapolis, Minnesota and the proactive measures taken to keep customers and patrons safe. The agenda then moved into presentations on building strategies to respond to violent incidents including how to train employees on de-escalation and disengagement when violent incidents arise. Dave Thompson from Wicklander-Zulawski rounded out the day with a discussion on best practices for trauma-based interviews if a violent incident were to occur.
The day also featured updates from Julie Lawson at the Loss Prevention Foundation on the importance of industry certifications along with Dr. Read Hayes from the Loss Prevention Research Council who provided insight into their ongoing projects and initiatives. Information was then provided on the curriculum and value of the Axis Academy and retailers learning how to enhance their knowledge of industry technology. The day was capped off at the Louisville Slugger Museum where the group toured the factory and took in some batting practice.
Day 2 was just as impactful with Tom Meehan of CONTROLTEK kicking things off with a discussion on the ever-evolving world of AI and how it will affect the industry in the future. Axis showed off many of their enhanced technologies and spoke to different customers on how they built the roadmap to implement the technology in their environments. With the implementation of processes and technologies, there are serious considerations and privacy issues which were presented by a leading retailer who spoke on how they overcame these issues. A leading company in the storage business world then gave an insightful presentation on how they built an internal security operations center to enhance their response and resolution to nefarious activity on their properties.
The day ended with breakout sessions for various retailers to share ideas on how they make business cases for adding new practices and technologies within their own companies since getting that buy-in from the C-suite is so critically important.
When in Louisville, the local flavors had to be sampled as Axis sponsored an evening at the Angel’s Envy Distillery at the end of the day, where participants were able to taste the local fare.
All in all, James Stark and the Axis teams hit it out of the park with an all-star agenda and collection of speakers. It should be another first-class event in Denver, Colorado next year. Reach out to James Stark, segment leader, retail at Axis Communications if you want to be a part of this event that brings together networking opportunities, retailer collaborations, and continued education. We look forward to seeing you there!