Dentaltown April 2022 - 10

professional courtesy
column
Too Many Trade Shows?
Is organized dentistry prepared to respond to this
change? Will all dental meetings assume they're essential
yet sit idle while their attendance numbers wither away?
I believe dental meetings will continue to be a
necessity because none of the current virtual modalities
can replicate the experience of in-person CE, the ability
to be hands-on with new materials and the inimitable
personal interactions that provide dental professionals
with a break from the isolation of our practices.
The fi nancial support from sponsors and exhibitors
makes these dental gatherings possible and the past two
years have provided them with a glimpse into a world of
fewer meetings. The initial impressions suggest that this
is the time for our profession to make some changes.
The U.S. dental market would be better served by
A frequent topic of discussion among dentists and
manufacturers alike is the future of dental meetings.
Less than a year from now, IDS will celebrate its 100th
anniversary. If you're not familiar, this is considered by
many to be the best dental meeting in the world, and
it's held only every two years. The meeting has hosted
more than 2,300 exhibitors and more than 160,000
attendees in normal times, and I hope the 2023 show
will approach those levels. Having a meeting every two
years has been a powerful driver for attendance and
enthusiasm from dental professionals all over the world.
I recently returned from the longest continuously
running meeting in the U.S.: the Chicago Dental Society
Midwinter Meeting ( " Chicago Midwinter " ), which was
celebrating its 157th year. Many meetings have been
canceled, rescheduled or scaled back over the past two
years, and both exhibitors and attendees are taking stock of
whether they even need dental meetings.
The obvious drop in attendance has
some exhibitors wondering if they should
continue to attend so many meetings
each year to maintain relationships with
the dental professionals who support
them. Several large companies are
using this transition back to normal
to test that theory by either presenting
a smaller footprint or skipping the
meeting completely.
by Thomas Giacobbi, DDS, FAGD, editorial director
10 APRIL 2022 // dentaltown.com
eight regional events (or fewer) throughout the year.
This would allow dentists to attend a meeting within
a short drive or fl ight from home and still provide a
robust exhibition, because manufacturers would be
able to focus their support on fewer events.
I'd suggest the following meetings: Yankee Dental
Congress; Chicago Midwinter; Hinman Dental Meeting;
California Dental Association Presents; the American
Dental Association's SmileCon; the Pacifi c Northwest
Dental Conference; the Texas Dental Association
Meeting; and the Greater New York Dental Meeting.
(This list could be further streamlined if some organizers
agreed to hold events in alternating years.)
Smaller, topic-focused, niche events will continue
to exist and serve the necessary function of community
building for dental professionals with a particular passion.
Dentaltown is proud of its position as the original online
gathering place for dentists and an early pioneer in
online CE. These virtual tools will continue to bridge
connections among dental professionals in the spaces
between in-person dental meetings.
What are your thoughts on the current state of
dental meetings? Do you think the profession will act
proactively, or simply watch and wait while this incipient
decay of dental meetings continues to grow?
I would love to see your comments in the online
version of this column at dentaltown.com/magazine.
You are also welcome to reach out to me via email at
tom@dentaltown.com. ■
http://www.dentaltown.com/magazine http://www.dentaltown.com
Dentaltown April 2022

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