PCR Boot Camp 2014: Did you miss anything?

This year’s Boot Camp event for retailers and resellers saw a number of speakers take to the stage to speak on some of the biggest topics in the tech industry – take a look below for some of the biggest moments from the day.

THE CONFERENCE

“Britain’s gone mad for coffee machines,” said GfK’s Carl West and Megan Moore, speaking on the latest product sectors firms should be paying attention to during their ‘Diversify or die’.

Christopher Phin of MacFormat led a panel discussion on ‘How to beat Apple on service’, with Adam Simon of analyst Context arguing that “Indie innovation and focus” is key.

Harley Street Hypnotist Frank Deer took to the stage to provide a unique perspective on how to engage customers. “If you can relax your customers, they are more likely to buy from you,” Deer said, demonstrating the possibly unexpected links between hypnotism and shopping.

During his talk on ‘The future of in-store technology’, Philip van de Mortel of Intel Embedded highlighted connected devices as a massive transformative force in the industry, telling delegates: “The Internet of Things is changing the retail landscape.”

Another panel discussion chaired by Scott Bicheno from Strategy Analytics said that “offering services is key to retail and distribution”, with GfK’s Carl West, Microsoft’s Phil Moore, Computers Unlimited’s Craig Hume, and Northamber’s Luke Masterton all weighing in on the current state of the economy and its effect on tech businesses.

Himanshu Pal of market tracker Kantar Retail (pictured, above) gave a timely talk on why “indies need to worry about Dixons again”, saying that the retail giant’s recent merger with Carphone Warehouse was a sign that it had learnt from its past mistakes.

Centerprise founder Rafi Razzak closed the conference half of the event with the lessons he has learnt from the past 30 years of the UK IT industry, advising that “we must embrace the changes in technology” for the future.

THE EXPO

A number of vendors and distributors brought along their latest products and services to show off to hundreds of attending delegates.

Some of the highlights included:

Headline partner Microsoft providing every attendee with free training and a complimentary copy of Office 365.

Distributor Entatech bringing along a number of its vendors and their products – plus a popcorn machine.

Peripherals specialist Turtle Beach proudly displaying its range of gaming headsets – and its PCR Award for Peripherals Vendor of the Year.

Philips and AOC showing off their latest 4K and gaming PC monitors.

Vendor MSI demonstrating its powerhouse gaming notebooks.

Plantronics offering delegates the chance to win one of its gaming headsets by taking part in a virtual F1 Grand Prix.

Exertis Micro-P showcasing its offerings in one of the hottest products sectors right now – wearable tech.

And many more – see the PCR Twitter feed for more highlights from the day.

THE BREAKOUT SESSIONS

There were also many breakout sessions held by firms throughout the afternoon, on topics ranging from how to boost recurring revenue and maximise memory sales to optimising consumers’ in-store audio experience and how to cope with life after XP.

AFTER-PARTY AND PICTURES

See more pictures from throughout the day-long event on the PCR Facebook page, and check out all of the news, information and announcements about the day on the PCR website.