Enticing conventions a lot like pulling teeth
Dental conference turnout lower than pre-COVID times
Thousands of dentists arrived at Moscone Center on Thursday for San Francisco’s first major convention since March 2020’s pandemic closures.
The California Dental Association’s annual fall gathering kicked off the city’s return to large-scale indoor events, a crucial economic engine for the city’s biggest industry, tourism. Moscone Center welcomed the attendees after serving as a centerpiece of the city’s pandemic response, previously housing the Department of Emergency Management headquarters, a homeless shelter and a mass vaccination site.
“I’m really excited about welcoming people to San Francisco, welcoming visitors. Conventions are such an important part of ensuring that San Francisco and our economy continues,” Mayor London Breed said at the conference opening, touting the city’s high vaccination rate and its award-winning “world-class restaurants.”
“You will eat really good, but make sure you brush your teeth afterwards,” she joked to the crowd of dental professionals.
The Dental Association conference was also the first to be held in San Francisco after the Sept. 11 attacks 20 years ago.
Despite the recent surge in delta variant coronavirus cases, California Dental Association president Judee Tippett-Whyte said the high vaccination rate among dentists
and other safety measures made the three-day conference feasible. The city requires all Moscone Center visitors to be vaccinated and wear masks.
“Everyone’s still treading lightly, being cautious, which is important. That’s what we need to do,” said TippettWhyte, a dentist in Stockton. Some dental staff aren’t vaccinated and have the option to attend virtually, she said.
Registration was lower than anticipated, she said, with 5,663 registered in-person attendees and 1,242 people registered virtually. In 2018, the event had around 12,000 attendees. There were another 842 vendor staff present at Moscone, showing off the latest dental products in the convention’s showroom, down from 2,639 in 2018.
“It’s hard to predict how many people were going to come and how many visitors or vendors would come,” she said. “Some of those unknowns make it a little concerning. Are we going to make all the expenses that we have for the meeting?”
Although smaller, the event is a bright spot for a tourism industry that has struggled through more than a year and a half of lockdowns and travel restrictions. A full recovery isn’t expected until 2025, with businesses and international travel lagging leisure visitors. Additional events, including Dreamforce later this month and the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in January, have been confirmed, though they’ll be scaled back compared to pre-pandemic years.
Benjamin Bae, a branch manager for dental manufacturer Hiossen Implant, was showing off the company’s $12,000 dental station and chair to attendees at the conference.
He said the crowds were noticeably smaller than previous years, when people were jammed together. Thursday was also expected to be the slowest day, with many busy dentists unable to take time off.
“It feels completely different from a couple years ago,” he said. “It’s kind of discouraging. We’re expecting a little more for Friday and Saturday.”
There were 165 vendors listed at the conference. Two years ago, there were around 250, Bae said.
The company had been relying on online sales and Zoom pitches during the pandemic, and it felt good to be back in person, said Bae, who lives in the Seattle area. But walking around San Francisco was a reminder of how much has changed.
“It feels like a ghost town now,” he said. “You don’t see that energy, that vibe anymore.”
Caryl Woodford-Petersen, a dental assistant from Danville, said she was excited to attend and see new dental products.
“It’s so great to be back and see colleagues,” she said, adding that the event felt safe with its vaccination and masking requirements.
Nes Martin Morales, a Daly City dentist, was impressed by a display of dental magnifying glasses with a battery pack attached on the shoulder. He plans to attend a class on root canals later this week.
“I was very excited. I haven’t been to big events in a year and half,” Morales said.
The show was noticeably less crowded, he added, but that was also reassuring and made it easier to socially distance.
“It was relatively quiet,” he said. “It does feel safe.”