BDIA Dental Showcase, the UK’s leading B2B dental trade show, opened its doors to three days of brisk business and networking at Birmingham’s NEC from Thursday 22 to Saturday 24 October.
The exhibition, organised annually by the British Dental Industry Association (BDIA), brought together over 330 exhibitors and the widest selection of dental equipment, products, services and demonstrations of the latest techniques for the profession to discover what’s new, meet with product experts and conduct business deals.
With sponsorships deals in place with the major oral healthcare companies for the next two years, as well as exhibition bookings now being taken up to 2017 in response to exhibitor demand, BDIA Dental Showcase is firmly established as the premier business event for the dental industry.
Visitors to the exhibition had an exceptional opportunity to experience a significant number of innovations first-hand with more dental companies than ever choosing this event to unveil or showcase their latest products to the UK market including Oral-B, Cattani Esam, Ceramic Systems, Cerezen, DMG, KaVo, NSK, Philips, Software of Excellence, TePe, Voco and W&H to name but a few.
Although overall footfall at the exhibition was a little lower than in previous years it was clear that the event continues to be the place to see what’s new, do business and network with colleagues, with plenty of key purchasers and influencers in attendance.
The feedback from delegates and exhibitors alike has been fantastic.
Nigel Williams a dentist from Hay-on-Wye said, “It’s all here and you can actually see the stuff and have a look and see what it feels like, see what it looks like, see what the quality’s like. You can’t really do that from a catalogue. You see new stuff as well. You get new ideas, new practises.”
Roham Barez, a visiting dentist from The Dental Gallery, commented, “All the companies are gathered in one location so you have an opportunity to see everyone under one roof and it’s good for making new contacts.”
GC UK Ltd’s surgery products manager, Patrick Kelleher, added, “We see this as a premium show, it’s our big show of the year, it’s a chance to showcase the new materials on the marketplace and meet old friends as well, so it’s a really important place for us to be.”
Dean Hallows, the general manager at A-dec, revealed how well the company did at the BDIA Dental Showcase, “A-dec had an outstanding 2015 Showcase, customers were able to chat with the knowledgeable A-dec team and experience the A-dec dental chairs and stools in a relaxed atmosphere, all of this led to our best show in many years, with more leads than recent years and a much higher volume of sales too.”
There were lots of new features at this year’s show, including the inaugural Implant Zone, at which selected leading members of the team from the Association of Dental Implantology gave lectures and demonstrations on this increasingly important aspect of dentistry. Current ADI President, Philip Friel, said, “Our programme at Dental Showcase has been a fabulous opportunity to share the advances we have made in implantology. And it was pleasing to see the huge level of interest from dental professionals and be able to answer their questions and provide advice.”
BDIA’s Executive Director Tony Reed added, “Showcase plays a vital role in facilitating business for the sector enabling exhibitors and buyers to meet on a one-to-one basis to conduct business.”
“Like many others within dentistry I am concerned about the proliferation of events diluting audiences both for exhibitors and the profession. This has refined our audience significantly. A substantial amount of business of mutual benefit has been conducted during Showcase and we are looking forward to another productive event in London next year.”
Visitor and exhibitor feedback clearly shows that BDIA Dental Showcase was a great success. Ken Finlayson, the CEO of FMC summarised; “This year’s Dental Showcase was exceptional in terms of the consistent calibre of attendees. We had our best ever Showcase and will definitely be taking a major stand in London. It feels like the dental world is getting stronger and stronger.”
BDIA Dental Showcase 2016 will be held at ExCeL London from 6-8th October 2016, so make a note in your diary and start planning your visit now!
Delegates can download their CPD certificates from this year’s exhibition by visiting www.dentalshowcase.com from 9 November 2015.