Coffee Chat #31 with Eric: Pushing Outside of the Comfort Zone

October 4, 2025

This week’s Coffee Chat is about pushing outside of the comfort zone and was filmed under the House of Parliament in London 🇬🇧, where I attended the IMA Europe Summit at Church House Westminster for a global gathering of incentive, reward, gift card, and loyalty experts.

Beyond the sessions and panels (wonderful outside keynote speakers Kamel Hothi OBE and Dr. Stacie Weiss), I set a personal goal for the week: to talk to people I didn't already know.

It’s easy — especially at conference events — to gravitate toward familiar faces: coworkers, industry friends, or long-time peers. This time, I chose to push outside my comfort zone and intentionally start new conversations.

Grab your coffee. In under 90 seconds, I share examples of inspiring people I met and the conversations that followed: Amanda Et-Tibary from Blackhawk Network, Rune Eirby Poulsen from Huuray, Glenn Sizer from Currys plc, Laura Willavoys from Google, Matt Laubscher from Roblox, Andrew Johnson from Voucher Express and more. 

Next up: I’ll be in Minneapolis this coming week for the Retail Gift Card Association Forum, and I’ll again encourage myself to keep connecting and learning.

Thanks you to everyone (old and new) that I met and spoke with at this year's IMA Europe Summit. NeoCurrency was proud to help sponsor the event, too, Andrew Johnson and Phil Mooney CPIM. 

Till next week, Eric ☕️