The 2020 Greater New York Dental Meeting (GNYDM) will be a virtual event, according to an email sent to exhibitors, due to the ongoing challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“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 GNYDM leadership said in the email.
Signed by general chairman James E. Doundoulakis, DMD, executive director Robert Edwab, DDS, MBA, and exhibits manager Carla Born, the email noted how the organization fully understands how dentistry is suffering during the pandemic and that it feels their pain, as their dental offices can’t work at full capacity either and their team members have seen their hours reduced or have even been furloughed.
Also, the email said, the Javits Convention Center in New York City has decided that the GNYDM cannot hold an event that has grown to more than 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 email said.
The virtual event will begin on Friday, November 27, but with no intention to be profitable, the organizers said. Admission to all online activities including continuing education will be free for all professionals for the entire event. Activities will include seminars, workshops, “live” dentistry, specialty programs, hygiene and assistant programs, nursing education, a digital dentistry program, the children’s Smiles program, and healthcare screenings.
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