Dr. Michael Haydock gave a presentation on quantum computing at the National Retail Federation. He explained that quantum computing allows computations on many values at once using superposition and entanglement. The number of possible computations increases exponentially with each additional qubit. Some potential applications of quantum computing mentioned include simulating quantum systems for chemistry and materials science, improving machine learning models like support vector machines, cryptography, and solving optimization problems. However, challenges remain in developing quantum applications and achieving quantum advantage over classical computers.