What’s on?
Wednesday 12th June (afternoon):
AKAM Technical on Delivering Customer Centricity through emerging technologies
Thursday 13th June:
All day workshopping – sessions led by an AI entrepreneur, a professor and a wellbeing trainer/facilitator.
They’ll talk about:
- AI potential in KAM communication
- The role of emotions in Key Account Management
- Danger of corruption in KAM (with some shocking quotes)
- Well-being in the workplace: Managing stress
Find out more below!
Advance your expertise at AKAM's Annual Forum, 2026
Mark your calendars for March 19-20, 2026, and join us in London for an essential gathering of Key Account Management professionals.
This in-depth, 2 day event is tailored to equip you with the latest tools and insights to continue excelling in KAM.
Meet the speakers
Adrian Davis,
Whetstone Inc.
Kim Arnold,
Email Attraction
Diana Woodburn,
AKAM
More to be announced!
Members
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This ticket is for those with Corporate, Programme or Individual membership. *Refundable deposit required, returnable when you arrive.
Non-Members
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Get access to this 2 day event! Unlock opportunities to network, connect, develop and learn with like minded KAM professionals, adacemics and experts.
The Future of KAM: From Individual Performance to Team Intelligence
In the future, KAM will be a team sport. Success won’t depend on a single account manager’s brilliance but on how effectively cross-functional teams think, learn, and act together. In this highly interactive session, Adrian Davis will explore how the principles of The Hero’s Journey and Formula 1 Pit Crews redefine KAM for the next decade—shifting from heroic individuals to high-performing teams united around the customer’s mission.
Using The Brain Game – live experience that reveals how teams think under pressure – participants will discover how cognitive bias, siloed expertise, and outdated structures limit collaboration. They’ll then explore practical tools to build collective intelligence and strategic alignment that drives transformational value for customers. The Brain Game at the beginning of the conference is a great ice breaker and will lead to richer conversations through the rest of the conference.
Learning Outcomes:
- Experience firsthand how information gaps and assumptions shape team decision-making.
- Understand the future role of the KAM as the orchestrator of a cross-functional pit crew.
- Identify the behaviors and structures that build “team intelligence” and accelerate strategy execution.
- Explore practical steps to train, coach, and align teams to operate as a unified system of value creation.
Adrian Davis
Adrian is an international speaker, business strategist and trusted advisor for chief executives and sales leaders. He speaks on the subjects of Key Account Management and Strategic Selling.Adrian has achieved the highest distinction in the professional speaking industry – Certified Speaking Professional (CSP). He is also a certified professional in Business Process Management (P.BPM) and a certified Competitive Intelligence Professional (CIP).
Adrian is the author of Heroes, Villains and the Thrill of Professional Selling: How to Direct a Winning Buying Experience, and Human-to-Human Selling: How to Sell Real and Lasting Value in an Increasingly Digital and Fast- Paced World.
He is the President of management consulting firm Whetstone Inc., Principal Partner of The Summit Group, and a leading faculty member at The Strategic Account Management Association Academy. He has trained 1,000s of sales professionals around the world.
His highly talented team has developed a reputation for leading organizations to innovative and practical solutions that enhance customer value and dramatically increase sales and profitability.
Influence: Your Human Superpower for KAM in an AI-Enabled World
Everyone involved in KAM knows the buzz of a hard-won ‘Yes’, and the sting of a ‘Not now, thanks.’ This masterclass by Kim Arnold shows you how to get clients and stakeholders (happily) on your side – whether that’s in greenlighting a project, signing off a budget or simply agreeing to a meeting without endless follow-ups.
Expect real life stories, rapid-fire exercises and interactive frameworks as Kim Arnold lifts the lid on the behavioural science behind influence. You’ll dive into the iconic research of Nobel Prize-winner Daniel Kahneman and persuasion legend Dr Robert Cialdini, to discover how principles like Liking and Scarcity can unlock stalled conversations, boost internal buy-in and help you grow accounts.
You’ll learn:
- Why people really say no
- The small shifts in language, framing and timing that dramatically increase your chances of a yes
- How to use AI to enhance your influence, not dilute it
Walk away with a punchy, practical toolkit of science-backed nudges that make you more persuasive in every phone call, meeting and message.
Kim Arnold
Kim Arnold is one of the world’s leading authorities on persuasive communication and influence – the expert leading organisations call when they need to stand out in crowded markets and win more business.
As founder of the consultancy, Email Attraction, she works with big names across the world including Meta, EY, AstraZeneca and The Wall Street Journal. An ex-marketer, she’s hooked on using behavioural science to boost results, and fascinated by how to harness AI effectively in a world of overwhelm.
Kim is the author of the award-winning, best-selling book Email Attraction – Get What You Want Every Time You Hit Send, and has been featured in Forbes, the Financial Times and on BBC Radio.
New world: new KAM. Is your organisation ready?
It may be hard to keep up – but it’s still absolutely necessary.
So what does all this change mean for Key Account Management?
- Companies are partnering with multiple specialists to keep up their offer up to date.
- Key account managers need to work in the supply side of these ecosystems as well as the building customer relationships
- It’s a different job now that requires different capabilities (or capabilities that were always needed but largely ignored)
Organisations are struggling to operate in these new realties. While some elements of their approach has changed, other aspects of operations are out of step and undermining new initiatives and ways of working.
Dr Diana Woodburn will identify key business environment developments and their consequences for KAM and key account managers. And point the way to the most robust ways of responding to them, addressing:
- Why things can’t be simplified in a complex world
- Ecosystems, why they exist and what they do
- The expanded role of key account managers
- What’s wrong with how key account managers are recruited and remunerated.
Diana Woodburn
Dr Diana Woodburn is one of the world’s leading authorities on key account management. A specialist in KAM for more than 25 years, Diana has taught over 2,500 key account managers and 500 directors.
A former international marketer turned consultant, researcher and educator, she brings deep commercial experience together with decades of insight into what truly makes key account management succeed.
Her teaching is renowned for turning complex ideas into practical actions that deliver real commercial impact.
Diana is the best-selling co-author of Key Account Management: The Definitive Guide and the industry-defining Handbook of Strategic Account Management, which have shaped how organisations worldwide design, lead and elevate their KAM programmes.
