Allow me to catch you up on plans for our Future Smarts conference on Dec. 5. Our return to New York City after two years of successful virtual shows promises to deliver an expert lineup as good as we’ve ever hosted.

Just yesterday I confirmed our most recent speaker addition: Michael Del Pozzo, the new president and general manager for PepsiCo’s Gatorade Performance Portfolio. The unit includes Propel, Muscle Milk, Evolve plant-based protein shakes, and now Fast Twitch energy drink for athletes. We haven’t announced Del Pozzo’s appearance, so consider this a sneak peek. BodyArmor in recent years has re-ignited a category that had become sleepy. It’s now a free-for-all and Gatorade hasn’t backed away from the challenge to its supremacy. I’ll see what Del Pozzo has to say about it all during a fireside chat.

Here’s what you’ll see on stage at FS22:

• Panel discussion with Gen Z consumers to explore their views on beverages, pop culture and everything between. You’ll have a chance to ask questions, too.

• Our always popular Wall Street analyst panel featuring Kaumil Gajrawala from Credit Suisse, Bonnie Herzog from Goldman Sachs, and Nik Modi from RBC Capital Markets.

• Deep dive into the brain and consumer behavior with a panel featuring neuroscientist Sigi Hale, a PhD who uses modern brain research to illuminate the consumer decision-making process.

• Coca-Cola’s Henrique Braun, who is a rising talent to watch at the $39 billion global beverages company. He is president of the agenda-setting Latin America market.

• Coca-Cola Beverages Florida Chairman and CEO Troy Taylor. He’s a banker-turned-bottler who entered Coke’s high- powered US distribution system seven years ago.

• G&J Pepsi-Cola Bottlers CEO Tim Trant, who leads PepsiCo’s largest fully independent US franchise bottler and has a deep understanding of how trends play out on the store aisle.

• BlueTriton President of Retail Paul Norman. The former Kellogg executive will make one of his first appearances since BlueTriton acquired Nestle’s North America bottled water portfolio.

  All that, and we still have more to come. I can’t wait to see you there and, best of all, in person.