Experience ’26 felt different.

Not because of the scale. Not because of the production. Not because of the announcements.

It felt different because the industry itself has crossed a line.

Across financial services, hospitality, retail, logistics, automotive and more, leaders are no longer asking how to measure experience better.

They are asking how to help transform their business as experiences are evolving at an ever increasing rate of change.

How to connect experience to revenue.
How to remove structural inefficiency.
How to reduce risk.
How to unify fragmented journeys.
How to adapt to a world of human, hybrid, AI-powered, and soon, agentic experiences.
How to embed intelligence into the operating model itself.

The shift is no longer incremental.

It is structural.

Here are my biggest takeaways.

Experience friction is a financial problem

For many years, CX was structured around measurement. Surveys were deployed. Scores were tracked. Dashboards were reviewed.

Measurement matters. But measurement alone does not change performance.

In many organizations, metrics were a proxy for progress because surveys were the only signal available. Movement in a score was interpreted as improvement. But improvement only happens when the underlying system changes. It doesn’t explain the why, or the how, or the root cause of experience failure or excellence.

Today, experience no longer lives in a single survey response.

It lives in calls, chats, digital sessions, behavioral signals, and operational data across the full journey.

For the first time, we can see the system in motion.
Where it breaks.
Where effort increases.
Where emotion shifts.
Where revenue is exposed.

That was the shift at Experience ’26.

The conversation moved from observing sentiment to addressing structural friction.

Because friction is not abstract.

A failed redemption in an app.
A broken API.
A transfer from chatbot to IVR.
A repeat contact that should never have happened.
A customer who simply does not come back.

Individually, these appear operational. At scale, they are financial.

, Mark shared the story of a single high value customer whose journey broke across three departments. The digital failure was invisible to the contact center. The contact center failure was invisible to operations. The customer left.

One customer lost is unfortunate.

Twenty thousand customers lost for the same reason is a structural flaw.

At a lifetime value of $20,000 per customer, that is a $400 million problem.

Not a CX issue, a business problem.

That is the difference between score watching and transformation.

The role of modern experience leadership is not to observe sentiment. It is to identify structural friction, trace it to its origin, and remove it systemically.

As I said on stage:

“We are more than the survey people.”

We have to be connectors across silos.
Conductors of the journey.
Architects of systems that did not exist five years ago.
Business leaders who map experience directly to outcomes.

That is what this moment requires.

AI is becoming operational infrastructure

Last year, many organizations were experimenting with generative AI.

This year, the focus has shifted to operational integration.

The question is no longer whether to use AI. It is how to embed it responsibly into daily workflows.

Capabilities like conversational analytics and automated topic discovery lower the barrier to insight. But insight alone does not create value.

Value is created when signals are unified across journeys and tied directly to outcomes:

Revenue growth.
Cost to serve efficiencies.
Risk mitigation.
Operational performance achievement.

When you can quantify the financial impact of friction and launch action within the same environment, experience becomes a management system.

The advantage in 2026 will not belong to the company with the most dashboards.

It will belong to the organization that can consistently close the loop between insight and action.

That requires governance.
Clear ownership.
Defined accountability.

Technology enables the shift.

Leadership operationalizes it.

Alignment is the new advantage

One of the most powerful aspects of Experience ’26 was seeing how organizations are reshaping their internal models.

From the to the Expy Awards.
From the Customer Advisory Board sessions to MUG roundtables.
From the Partner Summit to the Executive Summit.
From masterclasses and workshops to a product hub that never stopped buzzing.

Everywhere you looked, .

Leaders from Shipt, Hyatt, Maersk, Verizon Business, Bank of America, Toyota Financial Services, CIBC, and so many more shared how they:

• Elevated experience metrics into company objectives
• Connected feedback directly to revenue and retention
• Embedded intelligence into frontline workflows
• Built executive sponsorship across finance, operations and technology

What stood out was not perfection.

It was alignment.

Experience is no longer being managed as a reporting function.

It is being positioned as a strategic capability.

And the organizations leaning into that shift are moving faster because of it.

Change is built between sessions

Transformation is strategic. It is also deeply human.

Yes, we spent our days debating models. Reviewing use cases. Walking the product hub and seeing new capabilities in action.

But we also created space to connect.

The dog park was one of my favorite stops.

There is something grounding about watching leaders who manage experiences at global organizations sit on the floor for a few minutes and reset.

The ����ԭ�� Market brought a different kind of energy. Shopping brands like the Disney Store, Kate Spade, and Vuori. Testing reflexes in the McLaren simulator. Conversations that started in breakout sessions continued over dinner, music, and a lively dance floor.

These moments are not side notes.

They build relationships.
They build trust.
They build the informal networks that make real change possible.

Strategy scales faster when relationships are strong.

Looking ahead

Experience ’26 was not defined by features.

It was defined by direction.

Experience is moving from measurement to management.
From dashboards to decisions.
From insight to institutional change.

The organizations that win in this next chapter will:

• Tie experience directly to revenue, efficiency and risk
• Embed AI into disciplined operating models
• Empower leaders across the enterprise to act on intelligence
• Build accountability into how work gets done

This is a defining moment for our industry.

The opportunity is significant.

And it belongs to the changemakers.

Day one of Experience ’26 introduced our rally cry: be a changemaker.

Day two proved why standing still is no longer an option.

The morning opened with the Expy Winner Spotlight featuring CIBC, Verizon Business, Santalucía Seguros, and Vanguard. These teams weren’t celebrated for running polished experience programs. They’re recognized for changing how value actually gets delivered inside their organizations.
→

The conversations were raw, tactical, and refreshingly honest. Leaders talked about the moments they chose to challenge convention instead of accepting it. The decisions that felt risky at the time, but created real momentum. And the hard-earned lessons that come from turning millions of experience signals into insight the business can act on.

This was not victory lap storytelling. It was a clear look at what happens when experience stops chasing scores and starts shaping decisions. Driving growth. Improving efficiency. Empowering frontlines to fix what is broken and scale what works.

Across sessions moderated by ����ԭ��’s Sid Banerjee and Jodi Searl, and reinforced through a full day of deep dive breakouts, one message landed with force: The old CX playbook does not just slow you down. It makes you irrelevant. Measuring experience without mobilizing the organization around it leaves teams stuck while the business moves forward without them.

, who led the first American Women’s Everest Expedition, closed the day by bringing the urgency home. Drawing on what it takes to survive and succeed when conditions are constantly changing, she made the parallel unmistakable.

In moments where hesitation has real consequences, one truth holds on mountains and in business: complacency will kill you.

Experience programs can no longer run on soft metrics.

The blunt reality of 2026: NPS alone won’t get you budget.

The advanced programs have built rigorous valuation frameworks. They translate sentiment into specific financial figures. The kind CFOs actually care about.

CIBC didn’t just track customer satisfaction. They built a four-stage maturity model: Driver Simulators, Operational Analysis, Financial Linkage, Valuation. The company partnered with their digital and analytics teams to create driver simulators that predict how operational changes impact NPS. Reduce wait times. Watch NPS move. Watch revenue follow.

They didn’t work in a silo. They embedded themselves in the teams that control the levers.

They did the analysis to understand that promoters generate 15% more revenue and have lower attrition than detractors. With that evidence, CIBC’s CX team stopped being a cost center. They became a strategic value partner. They are building the capability to prioritize initiatives based on projected revenue generation, not gut feeling.

Maersk demonstrated what this discipline looks like in B2B at massive scale. They built a CX program across over 100 countries, incorporating relationship and touchpoint feedback through multiple channels. 100,000 employees. 130 countries. Five years of work to drive business engagement, senior sponsorship, and strong ROCXI.

Maersk wasn’t afraid to step back, review, and challenge their approach to chart a way forward. They proved that even in complex B2B environments (and occasionally real-life crises) the partnership between agency, technology, and brand can deliver tangible impact. Now they have a powerful, embedded CX program with a clear roadmap.

If you can’t connect your work to the P&L, you’re not getting funding. Period.

→

The customer journey doesn’t care about your org chart.

Today’s discussions hammered home a reality that should be obvious, but isn’t.

Customer Experience. Employee Experience. Contact Center operations. These are not separate functions. Treating them that way is organizational malpractice.

This came to life in our panel with Verizon Business and Hyatt Hotels. Both have stopped pretending these teams can operate independently. They’re co-owning initiatives across CX and EX. Linking customer feedback directly with employee experiences. Finding root causes of friction that isolated data sets miss entirely.

Employee engagement is a leading indicator of customer loyalty. When your frontline staff is struggling, your customers feel it. Verizon Business and Hyatt treat this connection as operational fact, not theory.

U-Haul, AdventHealth, and Exelon have also aligned priorities between CX and contact center teams — two groups that historically chase different goals and leave customers caught in the gap.

When these teams are aligned, resolution is faster. Agents are happier. The contact center stops being a complaint department. It becomes a strategic insight hub.

Santalucía Seguros demonstrated what this looks like at scale. Millions of customer signals turned into “human insights” that drive empathy and active listening. Not just in the contact center. Not just in the CX team. The entire organization.

Data doesn’t change minds. Stories do.

The final theme of day two acknowledged something most practitioners learn the hard way: Data alone rarely inspires change. You need the soft skills to drive hard results.

Alison Levine, who captained the first American Women’s Everest Expedition, closed the conference with a keynote that drew parallels between high-altitude mountaineering and modern business leadership. In environments of uncertainty, clarity and decisive action are the only paths forward.

For experience leaders, this means navigating “extreme altitudes.” Uniting teams to make progress even when the path isn’t fully visible. 

It’s not about having all the answers.

It’s about moving forward anyway. As Alison decreed, “Complacency will kill you.”

Vuori demonstrated this leadership when sharing how they use ����ԭ�� signals to pinpoint behaviors of top-performing stores. The team doesn’t try to make store teams “more data-driven.” They reduce noise and give managers clear operational priorities tied to customer friction and business outcomes. They turn insights into repeatable playbooks that actually work because it fits how stores actually operate, not how HQ wishes they would. Leadership now coaches specific behaviors that drive sales and consistency.

Many sessions throughout this event demonstrated that to secure executive buy-in, you must move beyond charts and dashboards. You need narratives that resonate with the C-suite and frontline alike.

What did Experience ‘26 actually prove?

Overall, Experience ’26 made one thing unmistakable: the age of watching and waiting is over.

This is a new era.

Experience is no longer something you track. It’s something you operate. The leaders winning today aren’t chasing NPS. They’re connecting omnichannel signals and turning them into real business outcomes.

They’re changemakers. 

Partners across the enterprise. Leaders who use frontline-ready AI to democratize insight, fix root causes, and deliver measurable value.

This isn’t a moment. It’s a seismic shift.
And it’s only the beginning.

Follow #����ԭ��Experience on social media and .

The first day of Experience ‘26 is complete! 

����ԭ�� CEO Mark Bishof, CSO Sid Banerjee, and CPO Fabrice Martin opened our conference with a declaration: the “Next Era of Experience” is here. 

Their keynote laid out a new rally cry for experience leaders to step into a bigger, more impactful role — moving from scorekeepers to changemakers who bring the business together and turn insight into action. How? Unite the organization, democratize the data, and establish operating models that empower everyone.

No more vague measures of success. Just results the business can’t ignore.

In line with this vision, ����ԭ�� has been focusing on evolving Frontline-Ready AI toward Agentic AI. We’re blending proven analytics with generative AI to uncover insights you wouldn’t know to look for, while maintaining the governance and consistency that global enterprises require. 

It was a bold opening, amplified by inspiring stories from our special guest speakers from Bank of America and Accenture. →

Our closing keynote shined a light on real changemakers from Hyatt, Shipt, Maersk, and Toyota Financial Services, who spoke candidly about how they’re turning insights into influence to move their organizations forward. Attendees left with a renewed belief in what’s possible inside their own organizations. →

Here are the other important themes from day one of Experience ‘26.

Some of the best growth stories worked with lean budgets and smarter strategies.

It may be unexpected, but some of the most impressive results shared on day one came from world-renowned companies with the tightest constraints.

Santander had walked into a perfect storm: core cloud migration, branch closures, cost containment mandates, and exactly zero dollars for CX improvements. So they stopped asking for tools and started demanding discipline. Instead, they focused on governance and specific behaviors — the inputs they could control.

Their internal global NPS benchmark ranking increased 15 points in three years. During branch closures, they realized only 21% of projected attrition. All because they executed a sound strategy of investing in behaviors, not systems.

Mazda took this even further. The team radically decoupled dealer incentives from survey scores. The pressure to score high was creating survey manipulation, not better service. Their internal analysis revealed that a customer who gave a 10 but left no comment spent the same as a passive customer. But a customer who gave a 10 and left a positive comment, indicating a genuine relationship, spent substantially more and returned for service more often.

So they shifted from outputs (the score) to inputs (behaviors). They emphasized Omotenashi, or Japanese hospitality, and removed the score pressure entirely. And customer service retention increased 15%.

This is what a changemaker strategy looks like: the willingness to kill the metric you’ve been optimizing for years because you found a better way to measure what actually matters.

Digital isn’t where brands listen. It’s where customers are.

The leaders who stood out today aren’t chasing customers with surveys. They’re listening where customers already are: online, in-app, and in the actual flow of their experience.

Mayo Clinic Laboratories walked through their pivot away from standard relationship surveys. Their digital-first approach captures real-time web interactions — the kind of signals that tell you what’s breaking before customers have to tell you it’s broken. This allows the teams to view actionable insights that flow across the organization, not just pile up in a dashboard.

BAC Credomatic showed what happens when you actually use those insights. BAC didn’t just track digital banking errors; they systematically eliminated friction in navigation and security verification. The logic is straightforward: reduce digital friction upstream, prevent contact center volume downstream.

This isn’t revolutionary. It’s just smart. But somehow, most companies are still treating digital as one channel among many instead of the connective tissue of the entire customer journey.

→

GenAI joined the frontline, and it’s already pulling its weight.

If 2025 was the year everyone experimented with generative AI, 2026 is the year it has become a teammate that makes frontline staff faster and more confident.

The Venetian Resort Las Vegas shared a number that made people sit up: 25% more work with 25% less investment, with no quality drop. How? AI summaries became the single source of truth, which killed what they called “operational bias” — the game where different departments blame each other for low scores instead of fixing the actual problem.

Case in point: Pool sentiment scores dropped. Pre-AI, that would’ve triggered weeks of finger-pointing. With AI analysis, they identified the root cause in days: there were not enough chairs. Not service failures, not staff issues — chairs. Sometimes the answer is that simple, but you need the data infrastructure to see it.

Sekisui House also demonstrated an interesting case: AI as a trust-builder in high-stakes industries. By using Smart Response to close the loop with customers, Sekisui House pushed response rates from the low 30s to nearly 90%. They emphasized that in homebuilding, responsiveness is a proxy for competence. When a builder responds quickly to feedback, customers assume they’ll be equally attentive to building the actual house.

Alyse Fuller from United Rentals also showed what AI means for small teams punching above their weight class. Operating as a team of one supporting 20 regions, Fuller used to cut regional analysis time from a full day to two hours. United Rentals managers are now closing alerts six hours faster on average using AI drafting tools. The result: more time solving problems, less time describing them.

Action over scores. Every time.

In high-stakes industries, a survey apology can’t fix a failed live event.

As Material and Encore highlighted, real impact stems from action, not just data collection. Encore moved beyond score-watching by treating CX as a managed, ongoing capability rather than a one-time project. In the events business, the experience is the product, and there are no second chances.

By anchoring insights to customer emotions and operational standards, Encore ensured that feedback fueled real-time strategy instead of sitting in a static report. This shift from passive monitoring to active enablement allowed their frontline teams to anticipate risks and pivot before issues escalated. They effectively redesigned how insights move through an organization, making data digestible and immediately useful for the whole team.

This disciplined approach led to a staggering 87% customer satisfaction rate and maintained venue retention above 90%. 

This serves as a meaningful reminder that while scores provide a pulse, it is the systemic change in behavior that actually moves the needle. True business value is won through agile execution and emotional resonance.

The real takeaway of day one? True changemakers sit on experience teams.

The leaders who stood out today aren’t keeping score. They’re changing the game, partnering across business lines to fix systemic root causes — not isolated issues. They’ve embedded themselves into the financial and operational engines of their companies. They’ve established operating models that democratize insight and drive decisive action at scale.

The proof is in the execution: operational excellence beats unlimited resources.

Day two of Experience ‘26 will prove this value to the C-suite. But day one already answered the fundamental question: can you transform CX without infinite resources?

Yes, if you’re willing to lead like a changemaker.

Follow #����ԭ��Experience on social media and .

Unparalleled networking opportunities. The chance to ask CX experts anything, and get the unvarnished truth. Insights you can actually use to make the lives of your customers better, and deliver business impact that proves your worth. That’s what you can expect when you attend Experience ‘26. 

Plus, a whole lot more.

Attendees come for sessions that give a play-by-play on measuring CX ROI with real-world examples, and show how category leaders (like Verizon, Mazda, and Hyatt) are breaking down silos for a greater impact. (Peruse the full list of sessions here, and you’ll see what we mean.)

They also come to learn from and connect with global leaders from Bank of America, Mayo Clinic, Kantar, and more.

But that’s not all. There’s also the magic that happens between the sessions. 

Experience combines high-impact learning with a lot of fun, offering a rare chance to recharge and connect with over 1,500 peers in a luxury setting. 

This isn’t just a conference: This is the smartest room in CX. 

What makes ����ԭ�� Experience the best customer experience event?

The Venue & Vibe

The Wynn Las Vegas Resort is the picture-perfect backdrop for Experience. This resort offers five-star accommodations, where attendees can let loose and unwind between sessions and after the conference events.

This is the epicenter of the CX renaissance—a place for fresh tech and real answers.

Last year’s participants couldn’t stop buzzing about this conference:

“I get treated like a VIP when I am here.”

“The networking opportunities and the learning experience is phenomenal.” 

“There’s fun, there’s people, there’s networking, I get to learn, and just hang out.”

Watch our 2025 recap video for a behind-the-scenes look at ����ԭ�� Experience, and hear what past participants say are the top highlights of the event.

1:1 Time with Your Tribe

From the Welcome Reception to the final goodbyes as we close out Experience ‘26 at XS Nightclub at the Wynn, there will be no shortage of opportunities to meet and connect with your people.

• Join industry networking sessions with leaders from across verticals like retail, healthcare, and finance
• Book 1-1 time with one of ����ԭ��’s CX, EX, or product experts for new perspectives and hands-on solutions to your biggest challenges
• Wander the Experience Exhibit Hall and mingle in the hallways between sessions—that’s when networking happens organically, connections that stick are made, and you’ll find the minds that are moving the industry
• Get to know our ecosystem of partners who will be on hand to help you elevate your experience strategy

Nights to Remember

When the Training Labs and sessions wrap up each day, that’s when you’ll get to experience the best of Vegas, where the night life shines.

We’ve got three evenings of one-of-a-kind events lined up, offering plenty of ways to build connections and make memories, while enjoying views of the famous Sphere.��

• Global Street Fair Welcome: This world food tour serves up the bold cuisines of four iconic cities, immersive experiences, and keepsakes
• Expalooza: Interactive activations, headliner beats, and custom SWAG await at this festival set under a neon moon
• Queen of Hearts Masquerade: For our last bash, it’s all red, black, and masks plus glam, mischief, and unforgettable moments at a top-rated, upscale nightclub

Moments of Joy

Sometimes you need to step away from the data. That’s why we’ve put together a thoughtful collection of fun activities to help you decompress throughout the event. Be sure to check out some of our favorites.

• The Dog Park: Join the pack! We’ve created a designated area to hang out with dogs—for a cute and cuddly break from learning.
• The Need for Speed: Get behind the wheel of one of our McLaren Racing Simulators to get your heart pumping and enjoy a thrilling jolt of adrenaline.
• The Retail Therapy: Shop the ����ԭ�� Market, which brings together favorite brands like Disney, Vuori, and Kate Spade.

What are you waiting for?

In case you couldn’t tell, this isn’t your average customer experience conference. The difference is in the details, from the speakers and the venue to the networking, nightlife, and thoughtful activities.��

Experience is where you’ll find insights you can’t Google and moments you can’t miss. But don’t keep it to yourself! Bring the whole team, because the fun is better shared! Register now to attend this year’s hands-down best customer experience event, taking place February 10–12, 2026.