The fourth annual global DIY summit opened in Stockholm last week, with hundreds of delegates flooding to the Waterfront Congress Centre.
The theme of the summit was "A Disruptive World - New Trends in Home Improvement," with speakers discussing the challenges of retailing and supplying DIY goods in today's market.

The main programme of talks kicked off on Wednesday morning, with Kingfisher CEO Veronique Laury giving a keynote speech on the disruptive world of DIY retail, incorporating six experiences: "Changing the mindset, changing the way we measure and reward performance, changing the way we look at the customers, changing the way we interact with customers and what is not changing, namely being purpose lead."

This was followed by talks from Bunnings' John Gillam on best practice for team leadership and the business' exciting plans for 2017. Kesko's Jennie Stenbom spoke about developing a high performance culture and Chris Roebuck of Cass Business School gave a talk about how to lead, engage and deliver maximum performance.

The day concluded with a glittering gala dinner event at Stockholm City Hall, where Prof. Klaus Fischer was presented with a DIY Lifetime Award. Prof Fischer was recognised for his 40 years of experience within the industry and his contribution towards the transformation of the DIY market through his work at Fischer Holding GmbH & Co.

Keynotes on day two came from online experts John Gerosa from Google and eBay's Kris Beyens. A trio of speakers - Thomas Roeb from the University of Bonn-Rhein-Sieg, USP's Reiner Zuydgeest and Cleveland's Mark Herbek - then gave delegates a discussion of the impact of disruption on DIY.

The conference was interspersed with several break-out and networking opportunities for retailers, suppliers and industry experts to mingle.