Chicago Midwinter Meeting attendance dips

Mar 9, 2009

Attendance at the Chicago Dental Society (CDS) Midwinter Meeting dipped this year, and the society announced it will shorten the meeting to three days in 2010.

While the 31,333 total attendance was a 9% overall decline from last year's record, the number of dentists attending decreased only by 7% and dental hygienists by 8%.

"I think we all went into this meeting holding our breath a little," said CDS President David Kumamoto, D.D.S. "But the feedback from exhibitors and the number of sold-out courses reveal just how strong our meeting is."

Below are the attendance numbers for select categories. 2008 figures are listed in parentheses for comparison.

Dentists 6,983 (7,515)
Dental hygienists 3,883 (4,216)
Dental assistants 3,161 (3,699)
Dental office personnel 2,248 (2,642)
Dental technicians 369 (464)
Dental students 675 (820)
Dental hygiene or dental assistant students 1,603 (1,398)
Dental trade 871 (1,262)
Exhibitor attendees 9,061 (9,991)

The category showing the steepest decline was dental trade, which includes dental product manufacturers and distributors. This 30% drop was not unexpected, however, as attendance among this group usually falls during years in which the biennial International Dental Show in Cologne, Germany, is held, CDS said.

International attendance was 1,457. Although this represented a 26% drop from 2008, it was keeping with a decade-long trend in which international attendances waxes and wanes based on when the IDS is held.

The top five countries represented at the meeting were:

Canada 411
U.K. 241
Mexico 143
Germany 66
Japan 60

In comparison, the top five states represented at the meeting were:

Illinois 12,047
Wisconsin 1,987
Indiana 1,749
Michigan 1,691
Ohio 561

Nearly one-quarter of the conference's 240-plus courses were sold out, and the vast majority of courses were near capacity, according to the CDS.

The exhibit floor, which showcased 570 companies, was completely sold out months in advance. And 66% of the exhibitors who responded to a postshow survey said it was the best value of any dental show, the society said.