LPRC - Episode 14 – Live @ IMPACT 2018

Episode Date: October 25, 2018

The post Episode 14 – Live @ IMPACT 2018 appeared first on Loss Prevention Research Council.

Hi, everyone. Welcome to Crime Science. In this podcast, we aim to explore the science of crime and the practical application of the science for loss prevention and asset protection practitioners, as well as other professionals. Co-host Dr. Reid Hayes of the Loss Prevention Research Council and Tom Meehan of ControlTech discuss a wide range of topics with industry experts, thought leaders, solution providers, and many more. Be a leader in loss prevention by implementing Bosch security solutions that enhance safety, reduce shrink, and help improve merchandising, operations, and customer service. Bosch Integrated Security and Communication Solutions, demonstrated at Impact this year, are available today to experience in our own innovation lab. Bosch Technology Solutions spans zones one through four in the LPRC's zones of influence while enriching the customer experience and delivering increased retail profitability. Learn more by visiting Bosch online at boschsecurity.com. Welcome, everybody, back to another episode of Crime Science.

Hello, everybody. This is Tom Meehan with the Loss Prevention Research Council's Crime Science Podcast. We're taping live today from the University of Florida, the Loss Prevention Research Council's IMPACT 2018 conference. Throughout the day we'll be talking to different attendees. My first guest, someone I've known for a very long time, is actually one of our keynote speakers. It's Deputy Chief Joseph Dowland with the New York City Police Department. Thanks for joining us. Thank you, Tom. Appreciate it. So I know that you've been to a couple different conferences and you're doing a keynote today. Can you tell the listeners a little bit about

what your keynote is about? We look at the research and how we develop our crime control strategies and how we focus on grand lawsonry crimes and working with retailers in order to get our mission accomplished to help the retailers retain their products and stop the losses. And I know that we work together personally, so I'm a little biased here, but in New York City, probably the best police department in the world to work with. What would you, if you could give any advice to anybody listening to the podcast about how to develop a better relationship between the retail and law enforcement community, what would it be? You know, we work directly with retailers and with different businesses. And most of our best cases are when we work with, you know, private businesses as well as,

you know, with other law enforcement agencies. So what you need to do is find out who's your precinct commander that's in your area, who handles the different types of crimes that you want to prevent against, and just reach out to them. Go to different community council meetings and introduce yourself to the community so the community knows you, and just coordinate with us. We do it well up in New York, and I'm sure in other areas of the country they do it well too. It's just a matter of locating and reaching out to them. Well, I appreciate you taking the time today.

Again, I want to personally thank you for all the stuff that we've done together and the help that you gave me, but also for the industry, what you've done. So thank you very much for joining me. Thank you, Tom. My pleasure. Thanks. We're here live at IMPACT 2018, the Loss Prevention Research Council's annual conference with record attendance.

I'm joined by my co-host, Dr. Reed Hayes, and our special guest, who was a keynote speaker, Dr. Renee Mitchell. It is Renee's first attendance. She did an excellent keynote, you know, and I got to look at the slides, and I'm really excited to see it. So I just wanted to ask Renee for our listeners, being that this is your first impact, what do you think of the conference, and what can you tell the listeners about the conference, and a little about yourself and what you do? Well, I'll do the little bit about myself first. So I am a sergeant with the Sacramento Police Department. So I am in uniform working on the streets every day toiling away. But I also run

the American Society of Evidence-Based Policing, which we're an organization that advocates, educates, and facilitates the use of research in policing. So, and that's how I ended up here with Reed is because I see LPRC closely aligned to like what we do as far as like running the randomized control trials and trying to figure out what actually works in the field. But what I enjoyed the most about the conference is your layout because you have the learning labs. You've got these networking sessions. So to me, I think the experience for the attendees is learning from each other, but actually having a good educational experience. I know that doesn't sound like exciting, but it actually, I mean, to me, it's when you walk out of here, your brain's going to be really, really tired. Well, thank you very much, and thank you for attending.

I think you hit the nail on the head for the first conference. The LPRC and the Impact Conference is all about collaboration and education, so you couldn't have said it any better. I really wanted to thank you for participating. I hope that you are here next year and also would love to have you on as a guest. I know Reid and I would love to have you on. I think our listeners would really appreciate it. Throughout the next two days, we'll be talking to a lot of folks at the conference live, so definitely a different format.

I think everybody will enjoy it, and we have folks from the law enforcement community, the retail community, and the solution provider side. So over 400 people attended, and you're going to hear from a handful of them. So I'm here with Eric Williams. Eric, tell us what you think about the conference so far. So far, a little over 400 attendees, great collaboration, and some great research that's going to be released. Thanks, Eric. Eric, compared to some of the other conferences, I know they're all very different. What would you say is the one thing for folks that have never been to Impact that makes it different? For me and my team, just being able to talk to other people in similar businesses that have been there, done that.

Instead of reinventing the wheel, just talk to some of the people that have been there, done it. And you get a lot of time to spend with your solution providers, whereas some of the bigger conferences, you're kind of rushed from here to there. But here you really get a chance to sit down. The solution provider find out what your issue is, and then they give you solutions that they can help you with that problem. So big difference. Eric, thank you very much. I appreciate it. I know the listeners do as well.

Thank you. Thank you. Hello. Once again, we're live from Impact 2018 and I'm here with Abe Gonzalez from Bloomingdale's. Abe, why don't you tell the listeners what you think of Impact? What's different about Impact compared to

some other conferences that you attend? Well, there's an emphasis here on using data and evidence-based reporting to really make decisions in the retail scape and that's not something we traditionally do everywhere else. I mean, other conferences are very vendor heavy. This isn't even close to the same animal. It's a completely different feel. You're sitting here, you're speaking to vendors, you're communicating but you're partnering and you're working together rather than folks providing

solutions for you. So there's a completely different approach at what a conference should be in the scope of this field. And again it's research-based, it's data-based, it's all decisioning based on things that we can that we accurately can kind of put together, see, and hold. And I know that you're heavily involved in the working groups. Can you tell us a little bit about the working group and some of the things you'll be doing here from the working group at the conference? So I'm part of the ORC working group and what we do is we every year we sit down together at this conference and we decide what initiatives we're going to take on over the course of a year. There's a representation of different retail leaders whether it be a pharmacy retailers, big box, small box, specialty

stores. We sit together and we decide what we're going to do that impacts us all. We've done things as far as create very general lists, contact lists to white papers on different propositions and research studies on how offenders travel across the United States. So it's all based on what the total need of all the companies at that time. Well, thank you for joining us. I'm looking forward to seeing your presentation later on today. And right now, signing off live from Impact. Thanks, Abe. Thanks for having me.

We're here live from the Impact 2018 LPRC's conference, and I'm here with Chad McMantis. Chad, why don't you tell us what you think of Impact and LPRC? Hey, Tom, appreciate it. I love it. I've been down here quite a few times over the last years from Georgia, and we're up in Georgia with the Georgia Retailers Organized Crime Alliance, so we have a great partnership with LPRC. Love to come down here and talk about the technologies,

talk about the science of loss prevention, and take some actionable things back to Georgia that we can share with folks up there to help fight crime. Great. Thank you. How can people join your organization? So I know that the listeners are pretty familiar with Loss Prevention Research Council, but if they want to get more involved with the Georgia Retail Alliance, how do they do that? Yeah, just go to our website, which is grayorca.org. We recently had a name change. We're now G-Rock, just to change our branding.

So you'll see that when you go to the website. But if you're a retailer, if you're a law enforcement officer, you can join G-Rock, and we share information about crimes taking place in the state of Georgia. So just visit us at www.grayorca.org. Well, thanks, Chad. I appreciate your time. All right. Thank you.

Once again, we're here live at the Loss Prevention Research Council's Impact 2018 Conference. I'm here with Fred Becker from Bloomingdale's. Fred, can you tell the listeners a little bit about the Loss Prevention Research Council's Impact Conference? Sure, Tom. Well, we spend the year working as a team, be the solution providers, the retailers, manufacturers, working on different projects, pilots. You know, we're working on over 60, almost 70 right now this year.

So when we get to a point we want to share and work with everyone that's contributed, we bring that to the impact conference. So right now we have 41 completed projects. So this is the opportunity to share the results, what's important, get feedback from the industry, and really kind of bring everything together. So you know, a lot of breakouts we have 11 learning labs where we're talking about the different projects we've completed and really there's a piece for every part of the industry so people select what do they want to go learn about etc then we have a lot of general sessions

again all aimed at learning talking about how we apply science to our problems and how we create solutions. So that's kind of the reason why we're here at Impact, is really kind of talk about, okay, what's working, what's not, what do we need to work together on to drive solutions. And I know that you're heavily involved in the planning of the conference. You're on the Impact Planning Board. What goes into that? What does a conference like this take to create, design, and get ready? Sure. Yeah, I'm the chair of the planning committee.

That's my biggest contribution to the LPRC, along with working on and helping support some of the action teams and working groups. But it really starts, I'd say, 10 months out, right? So right after this conference, we kind of get a lot of feedback, what worked, what didn't. We're, as retailers, we're right into season. So right after the new year is when we start planning for the next one. start planning for the next one. Again, starting with, you know, how do we change it up and make it even more applied? How do we apply some of the things we learned for next year and what changes that we need to put in place? So we start from the very beginning, putting outlines together next

year, and then it ramps up looking at projects and what's important, what we're going to talk about in the next October conference. And then it ramps up as it gets closer. So the, you know, eight weeks out is when we're going through all the data, all the different decks, making sure every attendee walks away with something. So, and then it gets real busy. LPRC team here is great. I mean, the last two weeks, I don't think they sleep much, but yeah, a lot of planning goes into it. Well, thank you for sharing with the listeners and I appreciate your time today. Thank you, Fred. Sure. Thank you, Tom.

So once again, we're here live at LPRC's Impact Conference 2018, and I'm here with Brian Baser. Brian Baser is heavily involved in the Los French and Research Council. He's actually the chair of the Board of Advisors. So Brian, what can you tell some of the listeners that have never been to Impact? What would the two things that you would say about Impact that make it different or why they should attend next year? Yeah, great question. Thanks Tom. And also just for those people listening who might not have heard our earlier podcast that we did a couple weeks back, please check that out in your series of podcasts. And thanks to you for what you're doing for the industry here. You know, the Impact Conference is the crown jewel for Loss Prevention

Research Council. It is the culmination of the year of research that we've done. And so far, year to date, we've done over 40 research projects with a projection of doing over 60 this year. And the beautiful thing about ImpactMPACT is it's an opportunity for retailers, solution partners, manufacturers, other agencies to get together and to not only take a deeper dive into the research that's been conducted already, but then also to have dialogue about what research

do we want to continue now for next year? What are those problems? Because it's environmental, so we're constantly reacting to what's going on out in in the ecosystem today and so this gives everybody that opportunity to look at celebrate the research that's been done better understand it and then start preparing for the research for tomorrow thank you brian and for those of you listening we are live so the chatter that you hear is here at the concert uh at the conference so brian when it comes to loss prevention research if you're a vendor or a solution provider what would you say i know that the number one at the concert, at the conference. So Brian, when it comes to loss prevention research,

if you're a vendor or a solution provider, what would you say? I know that the number one question from me is often that. So from your perspective, what would you tell a vendor or a solution provider about loss prevention research council and why it's important for them to attend Impact? Sure, I think it goes in regards to really better understanding the voice of their customer

and what people need in the industry. There have been occasions, and I won't mention any names or vendors, where these solutions are being developed and it's wonderful, and then they try to come out and talk to retailers and say, let me tell you about a solution for a problem you don't have. And then they want to know why people aren't jumping on it or as excited as they are about this product. And the reality is that, yes, it might be a great product but it's not providing a solution for the retailer at the moment and so this environment LPRC

gives the solution provider partners and manufacturers a really a clear opportunity not only to hear the voice of the customer but then to work with those retailers to then develop those possible solutions so that it's truly providing solutions to problems we have. Well, that's some great feedback. Well, thank you for your time. Again, this is Brian Baser. He's the chair of the Board of Advisors for the Lost Prevention Research Council.

Thank you from me to you for all that you do for the Lost Prevention Research Council. Thank you very much, and congratulations, and welcome to being a Board of Advisor member. Thank you very much and congratulations. And welcome to being a Board of Advisor member. Thank you very much. We're here live once again at the Los Perrenges Research Council's 2018 conference. And I'm sure the listeners are asking why I keep saying that. That's because we're taping segments throughout the day. So if you hear that same intro over and over again, it's because we are going through and just actually grabbing people off the side as they're transferring through the networking sessions.

I'm here with Tim Hickey with LP Innovations. Tim, why don't you tell the listeners a little bit about Impact? I know this isn't your first Impact. What do you think about the Impact Conference and the Loss Prevention Research Council? Well, Tom, thanks for having me first and foremost. But I think the LPRC brings such a valuable bit of information to everyone, not just the retailers, but to the solution providers as well. And I think by having this conference every year

and having the interaction with the LPRC and Dr. Hayes' group, it gives not just the retailer ideas on how to better address shortage, but it also gives the vendor side of the fence an opportunity to see what they're doing and really begin to understand if what they're doing is correct and if they have to have a change of thinking and take their products in a different direction. And all of us at LPI are really happy to be a part of it. I think this is our seventh or eighth impact conference. And every year it just keeps getting better and better. So it's an important part of the loss prevention industry.

And I look forward to many more conferences throughout the years. I appreciate it, Tim. Thank you so much for stopping by. This is Tom Meehan signing off again with Tim Hickey. And we'll talk to you soon. Thank you very much. Hello everybody, Tom Meehan here taping live at the Loss Prevention Research Council's IMPACT Conference.

I'm here with Randy Dunn, the VP of Sales for Tyco. Randy, why don't you tell us a little about Loss Prevention Research Council. I know we've sat on a couple of different working groups together and done a lot over the years. Just tell the listeners a little bit about what your perspective is. Sure, this is great. This is my fifth loss prevention research council, and I cannot believe the growth and pardon the pun, but the impact that the LPRC is having on the loss prevention community. There's a lot of change going on in retail. And so much of that early

change was really around, you know, how do I deal with the new behavior of the, you know, the good shopper, the omni-channel shopper. And a lot of what was going to be required to deliver on the control and loss prevention programs behind that was, you know, kind of left wanting. And so we got involved with Loss Prevention Research Council about four or five years ago. I do a lot of work in the RFID space. We can see a lot of these changes coming. And really the data-based or information-based approach to loss prevention, figuring out how to have a strategic seat at the table. Those are all things that I think there's no place else in the loss prevention industry that you get the information that you need as a practitioner to be able to solve or handle those kinds of questions. It's a great organization. Well, I kinds of questions. It's a great organization. Well, I really appreciate it.

It's a great, great perspective. Thanks for spending some time to us today at the conference. Great. I'm looking forward to the rest of the conference. And thanks, Tom. Appreciate it. Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone.

We're here live at the Loss Prevention Research Council's Impact Conference 2018. We've moved to the second floor in the second half of day one, and I'm here with Kyle Grotini from CapIndex. And Kyle has a different perspective than most because he actually worked for the Loss Prevention Research Council, then a retailer, and is now a solution provider. So Kyle, what can you tell the listeners about the Impact Conference from your perspective? The Impact Conference has really changed a lot over the years. Back when I was working it, we had a very small handful of people, predominantly the full-time LPRC employees, and we would bring in some of the students to help guide the presenters and the attendees. Now it seems like the organization is expanding so rapidly that,

you know, we have seven full-time members now there are students everywhere making sure that you're getting where you need to go you're getting your fancy lab jackets and your crazy pictures with those and obviously the attendance has also shown this increase in magnitude of the impact conference you're getting more content you're getting more research and really you're getting a lot more out of the LPRC. So record attendance here, over 400 people this year. And I guess you've actually been involved for many years because you were at the Lost Prevention Research Council. So Kyle, being that you have such a broad perspective and you worked at the Lost Prevention Research Council as a researcher and you went to an international retailer,

what could you tell some of the listeners that don't necessarily know about the loss prevention research? It's their first time listening to the podcast, Crime Science, about fact-based research and how retailers or how practitioners could use it in a real-life environment. I think there's a lot that you can take away from the LPRC. From what I've seen within the loss prevention world, there's a lot of anecdotal evidence out going on out there. People see that something has worked once and they try to expand that to a larger network where the treatments aren't as always efficacious as they have been in that one instance. So what the LPRC does is give you a very nice cross-section of retailers that participate in the whole scientific experiment of collecting information, analyzing it, and then using those findings to apply to a broad array of retail environments.

And that's not something you always get within the retail community if you're just working at your one retail vertical. I think it's getting the different perspectives. one retail vertical. I think it's getting the different perspectives. It's really having the community effort in putting some research towards an issue that's affecting all retailers. And then when you can take that into your own domain, I think you'll see a lot more improvement of the methods in which you apply asset protection technology, data analytics. And then I think that gives you a much more broad view of an issue than you may have captured just in your one retail setting. So, you know, retailers, solution providers alike have a lot of different conferences and choices to attend meetings.

What's the one reason they should be attending impact next year if they're not here this year? I mean, I'm here, so that's always a good start. But really, the LPRC is a place to share ideas. You don't always get to see your Walmarts and Targets interact with one another in a professional setting. What you do get here is people openly discussing issues, talking about what they've tried within their own retail space to solve those issues. And that's a type of frank conversation that you don't always get in the competitive retail world. And also with the solution providers, there's a lot of neat technology out there. There's a lot

of different ways to look at data that you may not have thought of to look at, or maybe it's a technology you've never even considered applying to your own retail setting. So having that conversation with your solution partners is another great way to stimulate ideas, basically see what's out there new and emerging in the tech industry and again figuring out how it all can impact your bottom line. Well thank you Kyle Ghertini, I appreciate your time stopping by and your perspective. Always happy to help, Tom. Thank you. Hello again, everyone. We're here taping live from the LPRC's 2018 Impact Conference. I'm here with Pat O'Leary

with NeedApp Retail. And Pat, thanks for joining us. Thanks for having me, Tom. If you could just give the listeners a little bit of an overview, you've been around for a long time. What's the main thing you get out of the LPRC? Well, I think it's probably one of the best places to come to where you could see retailers and the vendor community really work together. There's a lot of engagement on both ends and just the research that the REED provides is beneficial to all. Great. And then from a conference standpoint, Impact, why should someone who's not here this year come next year?

Well, I didn't come last year and actually I haven't been here for three years and my team came last year and said how good it was. And my team came last year and said how good it was. So I decided to come back this year. And the attendance, the material, just, again, the camaraderie with the end users and the vendor is just amazing. So there's a lot of opportunities, a lot of good discussions, and a lot of good networking that's taken place. Great. Thank you so much, Pat. Thanks for stopping by and talking to us today. Thanks for having me, Tom. Here we are again.

We're here live from the Lost Prevention Research Council's IMPACT 2018 conference. I'm here with Garrett King. Garrett King is heavily involved in the Innovation Lab. We actually sit together and help bring technologies in. So, Garrett, why don't you tell the listeners, especially the listeners that don't understand what the Innovation Lab is, what it is and some of the maybe new, cool, exciting things that are going on in it. So the Innovation Lab is pretty much a sandbox of technology for us to try out

and to see and experiment with. There's not many places in our industry, as you know, Tom, that we get to take out the dollars of what it would cost to put something in and see what the results would be. So the lab gives us an opportunity to put in just about anything we can think of, try it out, really push the envelope with technology and solutions and see what we can get out of it. And, you know, since for several years you've really been involved, can you just give the listeners kind of an idea of if either from a solution provider or a retail side how they can get involved with the items that are in the lab?

So the best way to get involved in the lab is to really bring something that that is not out there today. That's cutting edge that we can really progress and see what the results of it are going to be. Reaching out to myself, you, Jordan Birchall is also there now as part of a project manager that can really help put things in and we can coordinate them and see what we can integrate with and bring about a mentality of what could it do, what can it do, and not just what is it capable of today. And for everyone listening, thinking about what is this impact conference, I know that throughout your career you've been to many different conferences and heavily involved in LPR's impact. If someone's not attending the conference this year,

what's the main reason why they should be next year? Two biggest things are education and collaboration. There is no other conference that you can go to, either from the solution provider side or from the retailer side, to where the two parties really come together in an effort of education and collaboration to progress the industry, to be better together. Education and you said it thank you very much Garrett appreciate your time thanks Tom please like and subscribe to the podcast give us feedback let us know if you're interested on being being a guest in the podcast reach out to Kevin Tran our producer and myself Tom me and or read his you should if you have any questions you can also just reach out directly to us through a LinkedIn or via email. Thank you, everyone.

Thank you, everyone, for tuning in. We would like to once again thank Bosh for making this episode possible. If you would like to suggest topics for future episodes or provide feedback, please email kevin at lpresearch.org. See you next time.