Agenda

All attendees, sponsors and speakers must check in at the registration desk and pick up a name badge. Please wear your badge at all times during the Summit.

The registration desk will be open throughout the entire Summit.

The automated retail industry is evolving rapidly. This keynote highlights current market forces, macro trends, and emerging technologies shaping operators, brands, and suppliers. Attendees will gain actionable insights on growth opportunities, investment strategies, and scaling programs across venue types, providing a clear understanding of the forces driving the industry and where to focus for competitive advantage.

Join us at the start of the Expo for a chance to network with attendees, speakers, and sponsors over cocktails and hors d’oeuvres.

Scaling automated retail requires strategic planning, capital alignment, and partnerships. This keynote explores expansion across geographies and venue types, ROI considerations, and best practices for efficient growth. Attendees will learn how operators navigate operational and financial complexities while building successful collaborations, providing actionable frameworks for profitable scaling of unattended retail programs.

Successful automated retail products balance innovation with usability and operational realities. This session explores customer-centered design, concept validation, and cross-functional collaboration. Attendees will learn to avoid costly pitfalls, optimize lifecycle management, and adapt products for venue-specific needs, equipping product, strategy, and operational leaders with practical approaches to delivering impactful solutions.

This panel examines deploying kiosks and vending across airports, healthcare, higher education, corporate, and mixed-use venues. Attendees will learn about infrastructure, operational considerations, and stakeholder alignment, gaining strategies to integrate automated retail effectively while enhancing customer experience and driving operational and financial returns.

Kiosks and automated retail devices are only as reliable as the strategy behind their installation, maintenance, and ongoing service. This session breaks down the real-world risks operators face when lifecycle management is treated as an afterthought—unexpected downtime, revenue loss, brand damage, and security exposure.

Attendees will learn what “good” looks like across install, preventative maintenance, and field service, and how a proactive approach protects uptime, customer experience, and ROI in high-traffic environments like retail stores, airports, and public venues.

In the automated retail and kiosk ecosystem, operators and vendors play distinct yet highly interconnected roles. This session explores how each side contributes to program success—from technology development and equipment manufacturing to deployment, operations, and customer engagement.

Attendees will gain clarity on responsibilities, revenue models, support structures, and performance expectations, while learning how effective collaboration drives scalability and long-term profitability. Ideal for both new and experienced professionals, this discussion helps stakeholders navigate partnerships, evaluate solutions, and align strategies for sustainable growth in an evolving marketplace.

The Automated Retail & Kiosk Innovation (ARKI) Awards recognize the companies, technologies, and individuals pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in self-service. From cutting-edge kiosks and vending systems to transformative payment solutions and socially responsible innovations, these awards spotlight the best in the industry.

Each year, we shine a light on the most impactful work shaping the future of automated retail and kiosk technology. Whether you’re launching a groundbreaking product, driving industry change, or leading by example, this is your opportunity to be recognized by your peers and seen by the entire industry.

Categories include:

• Best Automated Retail Innovation
• Best Kiosk Innovation
• Responsible Innovation Award
• Influencer of the Year

As labor markets tighten and consumer expectations for speed hit an all-time high, the kiosk has moved from a “luxury add-on” to a “mission-critical” asset. However, a kiosk that sits idle or confuses the customer is a sunk cost. This session dives into the Kiosk Success Matrix-a framework for measuring more than just “uptime.”

We will explore how to quantify the psychological shift in customer behavior, calculate the true ROI of automated upselling, and use operational KPIs to turn hardware into a high-performing team member. Whether you are in retail, hospitality, or healthcare, learn the specific benchmarks that separate a failed experiment from a transformative digital rollout.

As kiosks, micro markets, and automated retail continue to reshape the customer experience, payment technology is evolving just as rapidly. This session explores the full spectrum of unattended payment options—from traditional cash and card swipes to contactless tap, mobile wallets, and fully cardless ecosystems.

Learn how operators and technology providers are balancing convenience, security, and speed while meeting rising consumer expectations for frictionless transactions. We’ll dive into real-world deployment insights, emerging trends like biometric authentication and app-based payments, and the infrastructure required to support seamless, always-on commerce.

Whether you're upgrading existing machines or planning new deployments, this session will equip you with the knowledge to choose the right payment mix, reduce friction at the point of sale, and future-proof your unattended retail strategy.

AI and autonomous technologies are transforming kiosk interactions. This session examines voice, computer vision, and intelligent automation to improve accessibility, speed transactions, and personalize experiences. Attendees will review real-world deployments, learn integration strategies, overcome adoption challenges, and gain a roadmap for leveraging AI to enhance operational efficiency and customer engagement in unattended retail.

Learn how these customers have leveraged kiosks and automated self-service to transform the experience in-store, at the hospital, at a restaurant, at the airport, at your local sports arena, etc.