Dentaltown December 2013 - (Page 22)

professional courtesy column » It's (Always) Showtime by Thomas Giacobbi, DDS, FAGD, Editorial Director, Dentaltown Magazine National dental meetings are like portable bigbox stores with aisle after aisle of dental products; all the equipment, services and supplies that make it possible for me and you to make a living. This longstanding concept is quite logical. Take the items that are often only seen in catalogs and bring them to life so a dentist can rapidly gain an appreciation for the items available in the marketplace. However, the system seems a bit broken lately with some shows reporting a decline in attendance and exhibitors under financial strain to justify the enormous expense associated with exhibiting at a show. We are the participants in this system and it will be up to us to guide the solution. I have provided questions after each section to generate some discussion online about this complex topic. How many shows is enough? I referred to national dental meetings in the opening paragraph and I should provide more detail. Each year I attend some of the biggest meetings in the country: CDA North, ADA, Greater New York, Chicago Midwinter, Townie Meeting, CDA South and AGD to name a few. We should not forget Yankee Dental Congress and the Hinman Dental Meeting which, similar to Chicago, are local meetings with a national presence. I would be remiss not to mention the Western Regional Dental Meeting held in Arizona every spring. There are also state dental meetings for nearly every state in the union, as well as local dental society meetings and numerous academies. You get the idea. Do we need to change the number of meetings? The financial burden on exhibitors is tremendous. I know a couple of you said, "I'm glad, their stuff is too expensive." There is not enough room for that debate right now. These exhibitors are incurring an expense to support their customers' state and local dental associations. The booth space alone at a dental meeting can cost thousands of dollars; add to that the cost of shipping their supplies and add the cost of people in the booth, travel, hotel rooms and food. Imagine the business that they need to generate every time they attend a dental meeting in order to justify the expense. What would it cost you to take your office staff to a dental meeting that required airfare and hotel for three days? If you don't fly with your team, do you take them to the biggest dental meeting in your area each year? Is this meeting "exhibitor friendly"? Meeting organizers work very hard to encourage attendees to visit the exhibit space. They will make announcements after CE lectures, serve food, hold contests and even schedule special blocks of time with the express goal of getting attendees to visit the exhibits. Any and all efforts are appreciated by the exhibitors, and as attendees, we should remember that the exhibitors often carry the financial burden of the meeting. Do you make it a habit to spend a reasonable amount of time in the exhibit hall when you attend a dental meeting? If not, why? My name tag has a target on it. The color-coded name badges are certainly a clever innovation but they have also scared more than one person away from the exhibit floor. Some vendors cannot control their enthusiasm and the dentists often complain that they are "attacked" when they try to stroll through the exhibits. Every two years, I attend the largest dental meeting in the world - IDS in Cologne, "With the vast number of shows, the pressure to please their customers and a number of other possible explanations, the show special has lost its sparkle." 22 DECEMBER 2013 » dentaltown.com http://www.dentaltown.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Dentaltown December 2013

Howard Speaks: Best Practices, 2013
Dentaltown.com Highlights
Professional Courtesy: It’s (Always) Showtime
Continuing Education Update
Second Opinion: Providing Personalized Care in Dentistry
Selling Your Soul to PPOs?
Townie Choice Awards
Hey, Carlsen! I’m Going to Trade Stocks, Time the Market and Beat It!
Long-distance Communication Led to Beautiful Full-mouth Implant Case Results
Ad Index
Product Profile: Dental EHR and Meaningful Use
What’s on Your Tray?
Perio Reports
Profile in Oral Health: Are Your Team Members Indispensable?
Dentally Incorrect
Simplifying the Challenging: The One-tooth Restoration with CEREC
White Smiles in the African Bush
Cycling for Charity

Dentaltown December 2013