Image Gallery: Dell EMC World/Global Partner Summit

Dell EMC World 2017/Global Partner Summit, held May 8-11, in Las Vegas, attracted 13,500 attendees — including about 4,000 partners. “Realize Extraordinary” was the conference theme.

There was no shortage of ways for attendees to fill their daily agendas, with more than 500 sessions and three breakout tracks – technology, IT leadership, and code and modern operations – and more than 20 technical certifications. The Global Partner Summit offered three tracks based on role type: technical, services and marketing.

When they weren’t treated to education and company updates, attendees got to see performances from magician David Blaine and Zac Brown Band, the popular country act.

Click through our gallery for highlights and a recap of the event.

Follow senior editor @LynnHaber on Twitter.

Michael Dell, CEO, kicked off Dell EMC World 2017 praising partners and customers while standing in front of a screen of logos. He said 100 percent of the top SaaS companies run on Dell technologies, 90 percent of the top 20 IaaS companies, 70 percent of the top 100 cloud companies, and 100 percent of the top 20 retail, banking, and insurance firms, among others.

More importantly, Dell talked about digital transformation as the first step in the process of IT transformation and the modernization of the data center.

David Blaine, magician, illusionist and endurance artist, made a special appearance at the Dell EMC World keynote, and grabbed the audience’s attention with an ice-pick-through-the-hand trick, among others.

A Dell rack-mounted server served as the tabletop for the magic.

It was the best-ever opening of a Global Partner Summit. The smoking Scottish Red Hot Chili Pipers, a band after the heart of Dell EMC Global Channel Chief John Byrnes, kicked off and closed the Global Partner Summit keynote.

Byrnes asked partners to grow their top line and grow faster — as in double the growth; sell a richer portfolio or sell more lines of business; attach services; and bring new business to Dell EMC.

This Global Partner Summit panel included: Bill Scannell, president, global enterprise sales and customer operations; Nina Hargus, senior vice president, marketing; Marius Haas, president and chief commercial officer; Howard Elias, president Dell EMC services and IT; and John Byrnes, global channel chief.

The group talked Dell EMC business and the opportunity for partners to grow their revenue. This followed a comment by Byrnes, who said that the company was still the dark horse in the industry but striving to become No. 1 in the channel.

The Dell EMC World Hands-on Learning Lab offered 46 unique labs in a variety of formats, plus interactive demos and subject-matter experts.

Among the lab offerings: Native Hybrid Cloud, VMAX All Flash, Data Domain Cloud DR, PowerEdge FX2 and VxRail 4.0, the new standard in hyperconverged appliances, to name a handful.

The Internet of Things (IoT) was a hot topic at the conference. In the Solutions Expo hall, the IoT & OEM Solutions booth showcased how Dell EMC EdgeX enables distributed IoT deployments.

The new Dell Edge Gateway 3000 Series, for example, is designed for small spaces and embedded solutions in industrial automation, energy, transportation and digital signage markets. Product availability is early summer.

Hello Alice debuted at Dell EMC World. The Circular Board’s Alice is the first-ever artificial intelligence platform for women entrepreneurs. It was developed in partnership with Dell and Pivotal.

Driven by data analytics, Alice is a virtual adviser that connects women entrepreneurs in real-time with resources needed to scale based on startup stage, location, industry, revenue and individual case needs. Machine learning allows Alice to predict the founders’ needs and guide them to referrals, events, mentors and access points to capital and other resources.

The guest speaker at this year’s annual Women Advocating for Change luncheon was Vernice “FlyGirl” Armour, author of “Zero to Breakthrough,” a seven-step process for success. Armour, the first African American female combat pilot talked about her experience as a U.S Marine Corps pilot supporting troops over the deserts of Iraq.

The “Flygirl” philosophy: “Acknowledge the obstacles but don’t give them power.”

CenturyLink, a sleepy southern telco, is waking up and reinventing itself. Look no further than its cool booth in the Solutions Expo Hall.

The company recently hired fresh intellectual capital and recruited channel professionals with a background in telecom, software, distribution, etc. CenturyLink is in the process of acquiring Level 3 Communications – and announced the acquisition of Seal Consulting earlier this year – to expand IT services and integrated solution capabilities.

What’s a conference without a Partner Appreciation Party? This year, it featured the Zac Brown Band at the Marquee Nightclub atop the Cosmopolitan Hotel.

Dell EMC partners lucked out, as the band’s Welcome Home 2017 Tour kicked off in Georgia on May 12.