// On Stage

The 2026 Agenda

From bold ideas to powerful connections, the Summit delivers two days built to challenge and inspire how you think, operate, and lead in performance.

The working programme for 2026 is now live, dive in below.

2026 Programme

Wednesday 11 November 2026
8:30 – 9:30

Start Strong: The BON CHARGE Recovery Experience

Before your conversations at the Summit begin, create the conditions for better ones

Join Leaders and BON CHARGE for a guided Yin Yoga and Sound Healing experience designed to help you slow down, reset and prepare for a day of learning and conversations. Combining gentle movement, breathwork and immersive sound healing, this session offers a rare opportunity to step away from the pace of performance and reconnect with your recovery, focus and wellbeing. Suitable for all experience levels.

BON CHARGE
Working Breakfast
8:30 – 9:30

Mission Critical: Communicating Performance When Every Second Counts

Rethinking performance communication for athletes making decisions under pressure. In this Daktronics session, in partnership with T1V, we'll explore how to create greater understanding and absorption of key information.

8:30 – 9:30

Mission Critical: Communicating Performance When Every Second Counts

Rethinking performance communication for athletes making decisions under pressure. In this Daktronics session, in partnership with T1V, we'll explore how to create greater understanding and absorption of key information.

In elite sport, coaches rarely struggle to find information. The challenge is communicating the right information at the right moment. During a match, halftime, a substitution or a training intervention, coaches may have only a few seconds to communicate a complex tactical message to an athlete who is fatigued, emotionally engaged and processing multiple stimuli simultaneously. Yet critical context is often fragmented across video clips, analysis tools, presentations, and staff conversations. In this Daktronics session, in partnership with T1V, we’ll explore how to create greater understanding and absorption of key information.

You will learn:

  • Why athlete attention, not data, has become the limiting factor in performance communication
  • How elite organisations are delivering deeper tactical context in just a few critical seconds
  • Common communication bottlenecks that reduce message effectiveness during competition and training
  • How coaches, analysts and performance staff can align around a shared visual understanding of performance
  • Ways to reduce operational friction so staff can spend less time managing tools and more time influencing athletes

Brought to you by Daktronics

Daktronics
Welcome
10:00 – 10:15

Welcome to the 2026 Performance Summit

Setting the intent for two days of human-first performance

10:00 – 10:15

Welcome to the 2026 Performance Summit

Setting the intent for two days of human-first performance

Moving beyond inspiration, turn ideas into action inside your own teams, organisations and environments by connecting to the Summit’s core themes:

  • Leading yourself and leading others
  • Sustaining people and culture
  • Learning through pressure, failure and fun
  • The future environment of human and technology
Kate Richardson-Walsh Host
Leadership
Fireside Chat
10:15 – 11:00

Emma Hayes: Leading Yourself, Leading Others

How to reshape football to meet the demands of athletes today

Emma Hayes OBE Head Coach, USNWT (U.S Women's National Soccer Team)
10:15 – 11:00

Emma Hayes: Leading Yourself, Leading Others

How to reshape football to meet the demands of athletes today

Go inside Emma Hayes’ leadership journey, from building one of the most successful teams in women’s football at Chelsea to leading the US Women’s National Team into a new cycle of international competition, including the upcoming 2027 Women’s World Cup in Brazil. 

You will learn:

  • How to lead yourself and lead others when you’re on the world stage and the pressure is on
  • What preparation for the next major tournament, phase or game can teach you about how to work with today’s athletes
Emma Hayes OBE Head Coach, USNWT (U.S Women's National Soccer Team)
Fireside Chat
Leadership
Presentation
11:30 – 12:15

The World is Changing: Building Adaptable People and Systems

What is an ‘Octopus Organization’ and how can it make us and our teams more adaptable

Phil Le-Brun Co-Author, The Octopus Organization and Executive in Residence, Amazon
11:30 – 12:15

The World is Changing: Building Adaptable People and Systems

What is an ‘Octopus Organization’ and how can it make us and our teams more adaptable

Drawing on their work with executive teams across global organisations, Phil Le-Brun will explore why most organisations do not fail because they cannot change, but because they are trapped in repeated cycles of reset. 

You will learn: 

  • The recurring “anti-patterns” that keep teams, systems and leaders stuck, and the practical levers that help organisations become more adaptable over time
  • What performance can learn from the world of enterprise transformation about pace, uncertainty, technology adoption and building the discipline for continuous change
Phil Le-Brun Co-Author, The Octopus Organization and Executive in Residence, Amazon
Presentation
Performance Environments Learning & Resilience
Q&A
12:15 – 12:30

Unpacking The Octopus Organization

Time to ask your questions

Phil Le-Brun Co-Author, The Octopus Organization and Executive in Residence, Amazon
12:15 – 12:30

Unpacking The Octopus Organization

Time to ask your questions

Phil Le-Brun Co-Author, The Octopus Organization and Executive in Residence, Amazon
Kate Richardson-Walsh Host
Q&A
Lunchtime Masterclass
12:30 – 2:00

Performance Innovation Lab: What’s Shaping the Future of Performance

Explore new technologies and help shape how they’re applied

12:30 – 2:00

Performance Innovation Lab: What’s Shaping the Future of Performance

Explore new technologies and help shape how they’re applied

Get closer to emerging technologies and explore how they could be applied within high-performance sport. Hear from SonicBone Medical, using ultrasound technology to assess skeletal age and biological maturation, and Game On Technologies, using automated video technology to support coaching and performance analysis. Then join small-group discussions with fellow performance leaders to test potential applications, explore adoption opportunities and share candid feedback.

You will learn:

  • How growth and maturation technology and automated video analysis could be applied to real performance challenges
  • Where these technologies could add the most value across athlete development, coaching and performance analysis
  • What your peers see as the biggest opportunities, barriers and unmet needs, while sharing feedback directly with the companies developing the solutions

Brought to you by SonicBone Medical & Game On Technologies

Lunchtime Masterclass
12:30 – 2:00

Performance Innovation Lab: What’s Shaping the Future of Performance

Explore new technologies and help shape how they’re applied

12:30 – 2:00

Performance Innovation Lab: What’s Shaping the Future of Performance

Explore new technologies and help shape how they’re applied

Join Hexis and Entourage AI for an interactive Performance Innovation Lab exploring how nutrition technology, AI and proteomics can support better decision-making in high-performance sport. Hear directly from both companies before joining small-group discussions to explore practical applications, adoption opportunities and where technology can add most value. You’ll have the space to test the thinking, share candid feedback and influence the development of solutions helping to create better performance outcomes.

You will learn:

  • How nutrition technology, AI and proteomics could give performance teams deeper, more personalised insights to support better decision-making
  • Where technology can add the most value, from nutrition planning to biological and organ health insights, and where human judgement, context and expertise still matter most
  • How your peers are approaching adoption and integration, and the practical challenges they face when bringing new technology and health data into performance environments

Brought to you by Hexis & Entourage AI

2:00 – 2:10

Choose Your Performance Deep Dive

Select a session shaped around the challenge most relevant to your environment

Kate will introduce sessions that explore the Summit themes in greater depth. You’ll then choose the session most relevant to you before moving to the corresponding room.

Kate Richardson-Walsh Host
Fireside Chat
2:10 – 3:00

Inside the WNBA: Giving Power Back to the Athlete at Portland Fire

Giving critical decision-making back to the athlete

Vanja Černivec General Manager, Portland Fire
2:10 – 3:00

Inside the WNBA: Giving Power Back to the Athlete at Portland Fire

Giving critical decision-making back to the athlete

You will learn:

  • How a new franchise can establish an aligned organisational identity from day one
  • Design techniques that encourage athletes to make micro-decisions and take ownership of their preparation
  • How to rebalance data and human connection to ensure athletes and staff feel valued, inspired and empowered to perform creatively
Vanja Černivec General Manager, Portland Fire
Fireside Chat
Technology & Innovation
Workshop
2:10 – 3:00

Words That Move Us: What Makes People Listen?

How to communicate with clarity, connection and conviction

Simon Eastwood Head of Leadership Skills, Management Futures
2:10 – 3:00

Words That Move Us: What Makes People Listen?

How to communicate with clarity, connection and conviction

In this session, you’ll explore: 

  • The science of persuasion and motivation: how language, emotion and storytelling capture attention and inspire athletes and teams to act
  • Practical techniques to craft and deliver messages that build connection, create lasting impact and move people again and again

Brought to you by Management Futures

Simon Eastwood Head of Leadership Skills, Management Futures
Interactive Workshop
People & Culture
Fireside Chat
3:20 – 3:50

One Athlete. All The Data.

Never before have performance teams been able to know so much about an athlete. And increasingly, AI is helping teams process and connect that information faster.

Andy Boyd Head of Research, Development & Innovation, Scottish Rugby
Luke Passman Head of Performance Science Academy, Chelsea FC
Ryan Naylor Senior Technogym Educator and Founder of Maverick Gym and Maverick Strength Coaching
3:20 – 3:50

One Athlete. All The Data.

Never before have performance teams been able to know so much about an athlete. And increasingly, AI is helping teams process and connect that information faster.

This session explores how today’s performance teams can bring together data, technology, scientific research and practitioner expertise to create a more complete picture of the athlete, and, crucially, turn that picture into better decisions. From identifying the information that really matters to connecting previously siloed disciplines, discover how performance science can enable more personalised training, sharper interventions and better conversations around the athlete.

You will learn:

  • Where AI can remove friction from the day-to-day work of performance teams and give people more time for the work that matters.
  • Why the most valuable data in your organisation may be the data you’re using least.
  • Specific use cases and success stories for those in player health, coaching, strategy and alignment.
Andy Boyd Head of Research, Development & Innovation, Scottish Rugby
Luke Passman Head of Performance Science Academy, Chelsea FC
Ryan Naylor Senior Technogym Educator and Founder of Maverick Gym and Maverick Strength Coaching
Fireside Chat
Fireside Chat
3:50 – 4:25

New frontiers: Inside Sir Ben Ainslie's America's Cup Quest

How Ainslie and his team are building Britain’s team to win the 2027 America’s Cup

Sir Ben Ainslie Principal & CEO, Emirates Great Britain SailGP Team
3:50 – 4:25

New frontiers: Inside Sir Ben Ainslie's America's Cup Quest

How Ainslie and his team are building Britain’s team to win the 2027 America’s Cup

From Olympic gold medals to leading Britain’s America’s Cup challenge, Sir Ben Ainslie has built a career on pushing the boundaries of performance. Now, as he prepares GB1 for the 2027 America’s Cup in Naples, AI, advanced engineering and data-driven design are opening new frontiers in competitive sailing. 

Leading across the America’s Cup, SailGP and talent development, Ainslie faces challenges that extend beyond the water.

You will learn: 

  • The unique qualities and skills of a resilient team and leadership
  • The pressures, setbacks, learnings and fun involved in this America’s Cup preparation
  • How to innovate with performance resources and investment
Sir Ben Ainslie Principal & CEO, Emirates Great Britain SailGP Team
Fireside Chat
Close
4:25 – 4:30

Thank You & Close

One idea to test, one conversation to continue and one action to take back

4:25 – 4:30

Thank You & Close

One idea to test, one conversation to continue and one action to take back

Kate Richardson-Walsh Host
4:30 – Close

Drinks

Enjoy drinks with your peers at Water's Edge, Fulham Pier

Networking
Thursday 12 November 2026
8:30 – 9:30

Start Strong: The BON CHARGE Recovery Experience

Before your conversations at the Summit begin, create the conditions for better ones

Join Leaders and BON CHARGE for a guided Yin Yoga and Sound Healing experience designed to help you slow down, reset and prepare for a day of learning and conversations. Combining gentle movement, breathwork and immersive sound healing, this session offers a rare opportunity to step away from the pace of performance and reconnect with your recovery, focus and wellbeing. Suitable for all experience levels.

BON CHARGE
Welcome
9:55 – 10:05

Welcome Back

Putting your learnings from Day 1 into action

9:55 – 10:05

Welcome Back

Putting your learnings from Day 1 into action

Kate Richardson-Walsh Host
Networking
Orange Box
10:05 – 11:05

Courage, Competition and the Hidden Cost to Performance

High performance prizes being hard as nails. What happens when that toughness starts holding performance back?

Sam Conniff Creator, Uncertainty Experts
10:05 – 11:05

Courage, Competition and the Hidden Cost to Performance

High performance prizes being hard as nails. What happens when that toughness starts holding performance back?

What does it cost your team when someone spots the problem but says nothing? In high-performance environments, the teams who don’t challenge the head coach, or departments that never speak to each other, can quietly undo marginal gains. Drawing on peer-reviewed research and his national Hard As Nails campaign, author and rule-breaker Sam Conniff shows how workplace courage and competitive culture shape performance. And he’ll invite the room to put it to the test, live on stage.

You will learn:

  • How workplace courage drives performance, and why speaking up breaks down silos between departments
  • Where competition stops driving performance and starts getting in the way
  • Why one small, visible act of bravery can shift a culture, and the evidence that it lasts
Sam Conniff Creator, Uncertainty Experts
Presentation
Orange Box
11:25 – 12:15

Not Just Programmes! Embedding Development in Our Day to Day

Iain Brunnschweiler Elite Performance Consultant, Focus Performance Consultancy
Keith Sharpe 25 Beyond
Tash Angel UK Sport Coaching Network Advisor, UK Sport
11:25 – 12:15

Not Just Programmes! Embedding Development in Our Day to Day

When teams want to develop their people, we often hear ‘programmes.’ It might be a course, a qualification, a leadership pathway or a block of time away from the day job. These certainly add value and are tried and tested approaches, but can treat development as an add-on. They run for a set period, often sit outside the daily work and can fade once people go back to their day to day.

In this session, Iain Brunnschweiler leads a workshop, alongside insights from Keith Sharpe, 25 Beyond (Former Head of Coach & Leadership Development at British Cycling) and Tash Angel, UK Sport Coaching Network Advisor (UK Sport) to discuss the key principles that make development programmes work, and arguing why embedding these approaches into regular workflows can supercharge your people. You’ll then work with teams in the room to consider how these approaches could fit into your own organisation.

You will learn:

  • Key principles of effective development programmes
  • How external and internal development can be interlaced
  • Ideas to stimulate your teams in-house
Iain Brunnschweiler Elite Performance Consultant, Focus Performance Consultancy
Keith Sharpe 25 Beyond
Tash Angel UK Sport Coaching Network Advisor, UK Sport
Interactive Workshop
Workshop
11:25 – 12:15

What Are We Actually Building?

Rachel Vickery Human Behaviour & High Performance Strategist, Breathing & Performance
11:25 – 12:15

What Are We Actually Building?

High-performance sport is full of exceptional people, sophisticated programmes, cutting edge technology and specialist expertise. But does having all the right components necessarily mean we’re deliberately building the Human Capability our future performance requires? What if we started with a different question: What must our people, across the entire organisation, be capable of doing, under what conditions and for how long, to achieve our ambitions?

In this interactive workshop, Rachel Vickery will challenge senior sporting leaders to think differently about how their organisations develop, enable and sustain Human Capability. Drawing on practical examples from elite sport and Special Operations, Rachel will explore how existing expertise, everyday practices, leadership decisions and operating environments can either deliberately develop critical capability or unintentionally compromise it.

Participants will then work individually and with peers to examine whether the capabilities their organisations need are the natural outcome of how they operate, identify opportunities they may be overlooking, and consider what they might currently be leaving to chance.

You will learn:

  • How to reverse-engineer Human Capability from your organisation’s performance ambitions
  • Whether your everyday practices and operating conditions are developing, enabling or unintentionally compromising the capabilities you need
  • How to identify missed opportunities and assumptions about the Human Capability your organisation is producing
Rachel Vickery Human Behaviour & High Performance Strategist, Breathing & Performance
Interactive Workshop
Workshop
11:25 – 12:15

Performance Outcome vs. Performance Growth: Where Do You Sit?

Darren Shand Founder of Winning Teams
11:25 – 12:15

Performance Outcome vs. Performance Growth: Where Do You Sit?

This session, led by Performance Advisor Darren Shand, will explore how high‑performance leaders differentiate between driving performance outcomes and cultivating performance growth, and what each philosophy means for long‑term success.

Darren will share real examples from his experience shaping the culture and environment behind the New Zealand All Blacks, prompting you to reflect on where you sit on this spectrum. You will engage in shared discussion and leave with practical ideas to strengthen your approach to building sustainable, high‑performing teams.

Darren Shand Founder of Winning Teams
Interactive Workshop
Lunchtime Masterclass
12:30 – 2:00

When the World is Watching: Going for Gold for Athlete Care

When schedules compress and intensify, can athlete care keep pace with the demands of global sport?

Dr Celeste Geertsema Match Doctor – 2026 FIFA World Cup
12:30 – 2:00

When the World is Watching: Going for Gold for Athlete Care

When schedules compress and intensify, can athlete care keep pace with the demands of global sport?

Drawing on two global sporting moments, Milano Cortina Winter Olympics and the 2026 FIFA World Cup, Dr. Celeste Geertsema will share with you how these moments:

  • Impact athlete health and medical systems performing under extreme pressure (climate, travel, condensed schedules, media pressures)
  • Can inform how global research can be better translated into decisions, systems and behaviours that protect athletes long-term
  • Position athlete health research as a responsibility, not just an output, in future proofing performance for the next generation

Brought to you by Aspetar

Dr Celeste Geertsema Match Doctor – 2026 FIFA World Cup
Dr Omar AlSeyrafi Aspetar
Fireside Chat
2:00 – 2:30

Ending the Wait: Inside the New York Knicks’ Championship Story

How the Knicks built a championship team 53 years in the making

Gersson Rosas Former Senior Vice President of Basketball Operations, New York Knicks
2:00 – 2:30

Ending the Wait: Inside the New York Knicks’ Championship Story

How the Knicks built a championship team 53 years in the making

After more than five decades of near misses, heartbreak and expectation, the New York Knicks are NBA champions once again. In June, the Knicks defeated the San Antonio Spurs to secure its first title since 1973. Behind the breakthrough was a multi-year effort to reshape the organisation, assemble the right roster and build a team capable of delivering when the stakes were at their highest. Gersson Rosas, who joined the Knicks’ front office in 2022 was part of the leadership group behind that transformation. 

You will learn: 

  • The key decisions behind this defining moment: how recruitment, roster construction and collective judgement helped turn championship ambition into reality
  • What it takes to build a team under extraordinary pressure: balancing individual talent, shared purpose and the expectations that come with representing one of the most renowned fanbases in the world
  • The lessons behind a 53-year wait: what sustained belief, strategic patience and the ability to deliver when it felt like.  
Gersson Rosas Former Senior Vice President of Basketball Operations, New York Knicks
Fireside Chat
Orange Box
2:30 – 3:00

Leading the Lions: What’s Behind Collective Performance?

Inside the conditions that turn different teams, systems and perspectives into one Lions performance

Ben Calveley The British and Irish Lions
2:30 – 3:00

Leading the Lions: What’s Behind Collective Performance?

Inside the conditions that turn different teams, systems and perspectives into one Lions performance

Every four years, players, coaches and staff come together from different teams, systems and cultures to turn team expertise into collective performance. Behind them sits an organisation balancing the demands of the field with commercial priorities and the expectations that come with representing one of rugby’s most iconic institutions. In this conversation, CEO Ben Calveley takes us inside the Lions to explore what leadership from the top can contribute to performance.

From his relationship with the Head Coach and performance staff to creating the conditions for trust, autonomy and alignment, Ben will consider where a CEO should influence the performance environment and when to step back. The conversation will also explore how learning is carried from one Tour to the next, the leadership required when sporting and organisational priorities compete, and how the Lions respond to pressure and expectation. Looking ahead, Ben will share how those lessons are informing preparations for the inaugural Lions Women’s Tour and shaping ambitions towards 2029 and beyond.

You will learn:

  • How front-office leadership can enable high performance
  • How the Lions turn individual expertise into collective performance
  • How trust, alignment and autonomy are created across changing teams
  • How learning from previous Tours is informing the Lions Women and the organisation’s future
Ben Calveley The British and Irish Lions
Orange Box
3:00 – Close

Close & Connection Time

3:00 – Close

Close & Connection Time

Networking

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Member Registration

Member registration

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