Interview: “We are looking forward to the next 20 years”

What were your expectations for the show, and how did they translate into reality?
As an organiser, we all set very high expectations. Of course, we want to provide the best experience for our clients and our goal is to always do better than the last edition. IDEM experienced tremendous growth in 2014 and 2016 and we are happy that we are still growing. We have now put our focus on the development of the attendance along with the exhibition. Looking back at Friday and Saturday, I am happy with what we have achieved and I am quite comfortable with the numbers and the appearance of IDEM this year.

In 2017, you assumed sole responsibility as Managing Director of Koelnmesse in Singapore. How did that affect the organisation of IDEM 2018?
I would not say there was a big change. I was first part of IDEM in 2004, so in the early years of the event. Then I was away for close to ten years when I worked for Koelnmesse China and when I came back it was nice knowing the project and the industry already. I was also very positively surprised because in the meantime IDEM had developed enormously in all aspects concerned.

The first IDEM I led was the one in 2016, and I have said throughout that there is nothing we would have to change entirely about the event because IDEM is a strong brand. So what we are doing is actually more like tweaking it and improving it where we can. But we are not planning on changing IDEM in a drastic way.

As an event, IDEM keeps on growing. What are your expectations for the years to come?
We are going to stay at Suntec because there is still a little bit more room to expand here. We have done the maths and the convention centre’s capacity is not fully exhausted yet. Therefore, I am confident that we will grow further with the next edition. One thing we will change though is the set-up of the exhibition. We want to adjust the floor plans and mix up the event to create more possibilities for networking and integrate education. I think that would set the appearance of IDEM apart from other shows quite a bit.

The tenth edition of IDEM this year marks 20 years of collaboration between Koelnmesse and the Singapore Dental Association. Are all parties involved happy with the success that has been accomplished within the two decades of working together?
If we were not happy, we would not be together anymore; I think we are like a married couple now. [laughs] Of course, we are two very different entities. One is an association with a cycle of leadership and people and volunteers involved that all have day jobs, since they are dentists. And the other is a professional organiser and is more of a constant factor in this collaboration. But we have had a very good working relationship in the last 20 years and we are looking forward to the next 20 years.

What are your plans for IDEM 2020?
Firstly, on the conference side, we are looking at what I call “new conference styles” because the way dentists are learning and consuming information is changing, and I think we need to cater to that and create innovations for the new generation of dentists, since they may have a very different idea on what they want to experience at a conference and what it means to them.

We need to bring technologies into the game and maybe make the educational part of IDEM more bite-sized, so sessions are shorter and therefore easier to digest. And as I said previously also mix it up with the exhibition a bit more.

Another area would be hands-on courses. We have a quite a number of workshops going on and we have also experienced strong growth there and I think that will continue. People do not just want to listen, they want to try it out themselves because what is important is that they can actually apply back at their practice what they have learnt.

For the exhibition side, we want to add more interactive elements. There is a big push in the exhibition industry to turn events into experiences and add the whole networking character to bring everybody closer together. This is getting more and more important, and we have interesting plans for the future in that regard.

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