What's So Great About Greater New York?

The Greater New York Dental Meeting. Time to snap out of our tryptophan-induced comas and make the annual pilgrimage to the word's largest terrarium - The Jacob Javits Convention Center.

The Greater New York Dental Meeting in my opinion is an underachiever among dental meetings when you consider that it is held in the the cultural and financial epicenter of the universe.

Think about it. How can a dental meeting held in the dead of winter in Chicago can blow the doors off one held in the city that never sleeps?

Personally, there are things I like about GNYDM. Easy to get to from Jersey - no airports required. Plus, a lot of people from my company who are not the usual road warriors get to be "day trippers" and attend their only dental meeting of the year.

However, every GNYDM I've attended has been a bit of a snoozer. Especially on the PR front because very few clients launch any new products. Yep, they save it for Chicago. In fact, many exhibitors use GNYDM to close Q4 sales on the products they launched in Chicago.

GNYDM aisle traffic is generally sparse - This may be one of the few places in Manhattan where you can hear crickets chirping.

Here are two few reasons why I think GNYDM is such a slacker:

The Venue: The location of the Javits Convention Center sucks. It's in a crappy area and you have to take a cab to escape the horrible convention center food or get to the nearest hotel. This is a shame in such a great "walking city" like New York.

This why I always preferred trade shows and conferences held at hotels like The New York Hilton. Hotel venues may spread the exhibitors over several floors, but that a small trade-off for the ability to step out of the hotel and have infinite lunch options ranging from a dirty water dog to a gourmet meal.

The Timing: Do you think exhibitors and attendees alike are tired of cutting their Thanksgiving weekend short? Tired of friends and family asking, "What do you mean you have a trade show? Who's idea was that?"

And isn't Thanksgiving weekend travel the freakin' worst? Industry outsiders must surely think we're gluttons for punishment.

So what if we moved GNYDM from the Javits Center to a more central venue? And what if we rescheduled it to the weekend following the Rockefeller Center tree lighting? That's when New York is in its legendary full bore holiday mode.

I don't know about you, but I rather step into a winter wonderland than have to watch where I step on the side streets near Javits where the horse stables are.