GNYDM will be virtual event in 2020

Dental Tribune USA

Thu. 10. September 2020

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NEW YORK, U.S: The 2020 Greater New York Dental Meeting — scheduled for Nov. 27 to Dec. 2 — will be a virtual event, meeting organizers announced in an email sent recently to exhibitors.

The announcement, from Greater New York Dental Meeting General Chairman Dr. James E. Doundoulakis, Executive Director Dr. Robert Edwab and Exhibits Manager Carla Borg, stated in part, “For 96 years, the Greater New York Dental Meeting has been honored to be in a partnership with the dental trade. Even with the challenges of 9/11 and Hurricane Sandy, we have worked together to produce the largest dental and healthcare event in the United States. We are now faced with an enemy that has challenged us all in ways we never imagined.”

The letter continued, “The Greater New York Dental Meeting and its two component sponsors, the New York County Dental Society representing the Dentists of Manhattan and the Second District Dental Society, representing the Dentists of Brooklyn and Staten Island, fully understand how the dental trade is suffering during these trying times. We feel your pain, as our dental offices too, cannot work at full capacity and our team members have been reduced in hours and in some cases furloughed.”

“The Javits Convention Center in New York has now decided that the Greater New York Dental Meeting cannot hold an event that has grown to 55,000+ attendees. With that in mind, we decided to change the conversation from gloom to a celebration of our profession, and the future. As other meetings are developing profit-making virtual meetings to replace their traditional events, we feel it is time to give back to the dental trade.”

“The Greater New York Dental Meeting will hold its own version of a virtual event, beginning as usual, the day after Thanksgiving, but without the intention to be profitable. [...] We will continue our policy of FREE admission to any dental professional for the entire event [...]. In addition, we will also provide all CE for free.”

The announcement, which stated that further details would be forthcoming, continued, “We are currently also working on all of our 2021 programs, including seminars, workshops, live dentistry on the exhibit floor, specialty programs, hygiene and assistant programs, nursing education, a digital dentistry program, the children’s smiles program and our recognized healthcare screening event with immunization services.”

“We are planning for a bright future that lies ahead for dentistry,” the statement concluded. “Please join us for a virtual celebration in 2020, and let’s work together to bring back the face-to-face tradition with our 2021 meeting.”

(Source: Greater New York Dental Meeting)