Symposium ’25: New York City
The Plumb Club is pleased to partner with JCK, to host the second annual retailer-focused learning forum, “Symposium ‘25”. Jewelers Mutual® continues its guiding role, as the founding sponsor. This leadership event will take place on Thursday, March 13, 2025, at City Winery, Pier 57 (25 11th Ave, NY), during New York City’s week of jewelry festivities.
Below can be found the program of key learning areas and a robust list of renowned authorities providing insightful seminars and case studies on business, marketing, and industry trends. This program was developed with the assistance of a retailer advisory group to ensure that the information is geared toward retailer-centric pain points and topics.
We anticipate this free-of-charge, limited-seating event, to sell out so please do not wait to pre-register:
Jewelry Retailers Only – Pre-Register to Attend Here
Pre-registered requests will be considered first when formal registration opens in mid-late January.
One free night of hotel accommodation (up to $300) will be available to all jewelry retailer attendees. Hotel room block information will be available shortly and will be sent to all pre-registered attendees.
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Program and Schedule
• 8am – 8:50am: Buffet Breakfast
• 9 am – 9:50 am: Keynote: Erica Keswin – Click Here for Complete Bio
Session: Becoming a Great Human Leader in the Age of AI
Description: Recent research from the Gartner Group found that 54% of managers suffer from work-induced stress and 44% struggle to provide personalized support to their direct reports. These findings directly impact a company’s bottom line. Keswin will provide leaders with a roadmap to help them navigate these challenges. She will also teach attendees how to lead with humanity, grow and develop employees and deepen employee connection and engagement – by being intentional.
• Wall Street Journal Bestselling Author, ‘Bring Your Human to Work,’ ‘Rituals Roadmap,’ and ‘The Retention Revolution.’
• Founder, Spaghetti Project
• Advisor to Iconic Brands Nike, NASA, the NFL, and More
• Workplace Strategist – specializing in workforce culture
• 9:50 am – 10 am: Break
• 10 am – 10:50 am: Facilitated Keynote Breakout Session:
Attendees will be separated into smaller facilitated groups to discuss the information acquired from the keynote session and how it can be implemented in their businesses.
• 10:50 am – 11 am: Break
• 11am – 12 pm: Paul Aaron – Click Here for Complete Bio
Session: Jewelry’s Next Frontier: Unlocking AI for Innovation
Description: Artificial Intelligence (AI) can feel intimidating at first, yet it offers an unrivaled edge for savvy jewelers. In this session, Paul Aaron will dismantle AI myths, spotlight how innovators are using AI to streamline operations and enhance customer experiences and then map out the practical steps a jeweler can take now. Attendees will walk away with concrete strategies to future proof their business in this fast-evolving market.
CEO & Co-Founder of Addition, an AI research and development company devoted to the future of brands in the Generative AI area. Addition works with marketing organizations like Prudential, Unilever, Google, Twitch, and The New York Times to discover insights, generate content, and create customer experiences using Generative models. In his session, Paul will include practical applications of
existing AI tools to help you in your everyday business.
• 12 pm – 1:20 pm: Lunch Buffet
• 1:30 pm – 2:30 pm: Keynote: Chris Voss – Click Here for Complete Bio
Chris will speak on the area of: Employee Engagement/ Retention and Communication
• Former FBI Lead Hostage Negotiator and Authority in High-Stakes Negotiation
• CEO and Founder of The Black Swan Group Ltd.
• Wall Street Journal Bestselling Author, ‘Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It’
• Chris Voss imparts the tools for listening to win and speaking to inspire – helping leaders attract and retain top talent.
• 2:30 pm – 2:45 pm: Break
• 2:45 pm – 3:35 pm:
Track A: Seth Mattison – Click Here for Complete Bio
Session: Common Ground – Driving Growth Across the Generations.
Description: Understanding generational differences is no longer enough! True competitive edge emerges when leaders uncover the shared human advantage in every generation on their team and in their market. Leaders can then build environments where top talent thrives, and customers feel genuinely understood and appreciated. Mattison will unpack a practical roadmap for harnessing common threads to unify a workforce and elevate customer experience. One or two shifts will unlock a chain of alignment, loyalty and growth.
- Workforce Strategist and Management Trendspotter
- Author of The War at Work
- Editors’ Pick for Favorite Speakers by MeetingsNet
- Mattison takes business leaders through a highly customized program focused on leadership, generational differences, and revamping workplace dynamics, even remotely.
Track B: Sheena Iyengar – Click Here for Complete Bio
Session – Think Bigger: Make Meaningful Choices to Spark Innovation
Description: Innovation is a top priority for 80-90% of leaders, yet only 6% are satisfied with their performance! How can you leverage choice, think bigger, generate ideas and pursue the important ones? Iyengar connects the dots between choice and innovation. She addresses misconceptions about choice that hinder consumers and professionals, highlights how innovators leverage the power of choice to create impact, and illustrates how shifting one’s perceptions can spark breakthroughs.
- Director, Global Leadership Matrix
- Author, ‘Think Bigger’ & ‘The Art of Choosing’
Since her TED Talk, “The Art of Choosing,” went viral, she has been a sought-after speaker for C-Suite audiences. As the inaugural S.T. Lee Professor of Business at Columbia Business School, Iyengar studies how we make choices, how we feel about those choices, and how leaders can harness neurological and cognitive science knowledge to lead effectively and better understand the people they lead.
• 3:35 pm – 3:45 pm: Break
• 3:45 pm – 4:35 pm:
Track A: Retailer / Supplier Panel: Moderated by Victoria Gomelsky, editor-in-chief of JCK Magazine – Click Here for Complete Bio
This panel will consist of pre-selected retailer and supplier symposium attendees and will be an honest and transparent conversation about how suppliers can help their retailers and how retailers can help their suppliers.
Track B: (Part 1): Harvard Business Case Study Presented by Frank Cespedes – Business Case Study pertinent to the jewelry industry. Click Here for Complete Bio
Session: Sales & Performance Management – Giving Effective Feedback
Description: Managing talent and sales initiatives is key to successful business. This two-part session draws relevant jewelry retail parallels from a situation in another industry. The session will start with a discussion of the case study, then segue to an interactive presentation about performance management practices including evaluating sales activities, improving sales conversations and closing rates, and conducting performance reviews. Participants should come to the session having read the case study and with questions and perspectives about good and bad practices in these areas of business development.
- Professor and Senior Lecturer at Harvard University and also teaches Entrepreneurial Marketing in the MBA program and the “Owner President Management” (OPM) executive program
- Faculty Chair of the Aligning Strategy and Sales executive program at Harvard Business School
- Author of 6 notable business books
• 4:35 pm – 4:45 pm: Break
• 4:45 pm – 5:35 pm:
Track A: Charles Duhigg: Click Here for Complete Bio
Session: Super Communicators: The Power of Conversation and Hidden Language of Connection
Description: Why do some conversations succeed while others fail? How does Communication work within our brains, families, workplaces, and relationships? Supercommunicators know how to hear the complex emotions, subtle negotiations and deep beliefs that color what we say and how we listen. Duhigg will explain why some people are able to make themselves heard and hear others so clearly. He will share tips to navigate the most important conversations in order to connect with anyone.
- New York Times Bestselling Author, ‘The Power of Habit’, ‘Smarter Faster Better’, and ‘Super Communicators’
- Pulitzer Prize-Winning Columnist for The New York Times Magazine
- Host the “How To!” Podcast
- Recipient of the Business News Visionary Award
- Duhigg’s work explores why – and how – people and companies develop habits (and how to change them) and how we can communicate during some of life’s most important and most difficult conversations.
Track B: (Part 2*): Harvard Business Case Study Presented by Frank Cespedes – Business Case Study pertinent to the jewelry industry (*requires participation in the Part 1 session at 3:45pm noted above).
• 5:35 pm—8:00 pm: Brief closing remarks followed by guests invited to a cocktail reception with heavy hors d’oeuvres, including interactive wine tastings/cheese pairings with knowledgeable sommeliers!