Creating the Ultimate Customer Experience.
Brought to you by Dalebrook Media, producers of DataFest, Marketing Café, and Culture Café.
About the Event
Where CX Strategy Meets Real Conversation.
Most conferences give you a seat in an audience. CX Café gives you a seat at the table.
Taking place 19 – 21 October 2026 at the Houghton Hotel in Johannesburg, CX Café is a curated three-day event for the leaders shaping customer experience strategy across South Africa. The format is built around conversation: fireside chats, open roundtables, peer debates, and structured discussions that get into the detail rather than skim the surface.
The speakers are practitioners. Senior professionals from financial services, retail, healthcare, and technology who are navigating the same complexity your organisation faces. Not consultants presenting from the outside.
The question CX leaders ask most often is not “what should we do?” It’s “how do we actually make it work?” The CX Café programme is built around that question. Every session is designed to help you leave with something you can operationalise, not just a slide deck to file away.
With a maximum of 100 delegates, this is not a large auditorium event. A smaller room means better access to the people on stage, more honest conversations during the breaks, and peer connections worth keeping well beyond the three days.
What to Expect
The format is intentional. Every element of CX Café is designed to produce the kind of honest, useful exchange that rarely happens at a standard conference.
The Filter
NO PASSIVE LISTENING.
This is not a sit-and-absorb event. Roundtables, fireside chats, and open peer discussions replace passive panels. You are here to participate, and the format makes that easy.
The Double Shot
No filler. Just the real thing.
Every speaker works inside a real organisation. Senior professionals from financial services, retail, healthcare, and technology sharing what actually works in their business, not what looks good in a presentation.
The Small Batch
The Flat White
The Long Black
The Blend
Meet the Speakers
South Africas mostrespected CX leaders.
Senior practitioners from the organisations building customer experience at scale. Financial services, retail, healthcare, technology, and beyond — in one room, for three days.
Trusted by South Africa’s Senior Business Community
CX Cafe is new. Dalebrook Media is not.
Dalebrook Media has been producing B2B conferences in South Africa across data, marketing, and culture, events known for the quality of the people in the room, the honesty of the conversations, and a format that respects the time of senior professionals.
CX Café has been developed in close collaboration with CX practitioners, business leaders, and industry voices to make sure the programme reflects the real priorities of the people it is built for.
What past Dalebrook Media guests have said
“The conversations couldn’t have been more real. Thank you for holding the space so intentionally for each and every speaker!”
Kyla-Rei Mulligan — Head: Culture & People, Eden Care Medical
“An energising convergence of ideas and people. Sharing my work and learning from passionate professionals made it a rewarding experience.”
Charl de Villiers — Machine Learning Lead, Tiko
“Last week I was inspired at the Dalebrook Media Marketing Café by the brilliant speakers and conversations that took place over this 3-day event. We had fun engaging in several relevant topics discussed, from AI to what constitutes real Value Creation.”
Christian Nee-Whang — CCO, Ask Africa
“Thank you to the entire Dalebrook Media team for creating a space that doesn’t just host events but truly launches dreams.”
Thembeka Snethemba Jiyane — Data Modeler, Nedbank
Agenda Highlights
The CX Café programme is built around the topics that matter most to leaders responsible for customer experience strategy, delivery, and commercial performance. Download the agenda for the full programme.
CX as a Boardroom Priority
How customer experience is being measured, reported, and held accountable at leadership level.
Operationalising the Customer Journey
Moving beyond journey maps to drive real business change, aligning data, teams, and processes to deliver consistent experience.
CX and Commercial Performance
The direct link between customer experience investment and revenue, retention, and growth.
AI in the Customer Experience
Where AI is genuinely changing how organisations design, deliver, and improve CX, and where it is not.
Voice of the Customer at Scale
How leading organisations collect, interpret, and act on customer insight without drowning in data.
Employee Experience as a CX Driver
Bridging the gap between the internal experience of your people and the external experience of your customers.
Loyalty and Engagement
How the best loyalty programmes go beyond points to build genuine customer commitment.
The Future of CX
Top trends heading into 2027: what's changing, what's staying, and what leaders need to prepare for now.
Want to see the full programme?
Download the CX Café agenda to explore the sessions, speakers, and topics across all three days.
Complete a short form to receive the agenda directly to your inbox.
Go Deeper. Leave With Something You Can Use.
The CX Café conference is built for strategic thinking. The workshops are built for application.
Taking place on 19 October 2026, the day before the main conference, the workshops bring together a smaller group for a full day of facilitated, practical work. No passive listening. No generic frameworks. Focused time on topics that matter, alongside people working through the same challenges.
There two workshops are available:
01
OPERATIONALISING THE CUSTOMER JOURNEY
Facilitated by Antonia Oakes, Chairperson, CXSA
Most organisations understand customer journey mapping. Fewer know what to do with it. This workshop is about the “so what?”, how to align journey maps with data and insights, drive real business change, and bring cross-functional teams together to implement CX improvements that stick.
02
WINNING IN THE AGE OF AI & SYNTHETIC ATTENTION
Facilitated by Simone Zanetti, Co-Founder, Zanetti AI Institute
How AI is changing the way customers discover, evaluate, and trust brands. The rise of synthetic attention, what it means for CX, and how organisations can stay authentic and effective in an AI-shaped world.
Places are limited. Workshops are available as a paid add-on when you register for the conference. They cannot be purchased separately.
Workshop Add-On: Starting at R1,999 per person (excl. VAT)
Available when you register for the conference. Workshop places are limited.
Who Should Attend
Register
Register forCX Café 2026.
19 – 21 October 2026 | Houghton Hotel, Johannesburg
R6,999
per person (excl. VAT)
R1,999
per person (excl. VAT)
Add the pre-conference workshop when you complete your registration. Workshop places are limited.
Partner WithCX Café.
Sponsorship opportunities are available for CX Café 2026. Connect your brand with 100+ senior CX and experience leaders from across South Africa’s leading organisations.
Ready to Secure
Your Place?
19 – 21 October 2026 | Houghton Hotel, Johannesburg
100+ senior CX leaders. Three days of real conversation, practical sessions, and peer connection worth keeping.
