In the wake of the cancelation of the Hinman Dental meeting, the company will offer a virtual trade show on Facebook Live to showcase the products it planned to feature at the meeting and offer show pricing on its e-commerce site.
Carestream Dental is going virtual—taking its typical physical trade show booth online. As COVID-19 forces the cancelation of industry meetings like the Hinman Dental Society and, most recently, the American Association of Orthodontists (AAO) Annual Session, the company will use its social media platforms and the company’s new e-commerce website to offer product demos and trade show deals.
On Friday, March 20, what would have been the second day of the Hinman trade show, Carestream Dental will host a virtual trade show using Facebook Live, broadcasting from its state-of-the-art operatory at its new headquarters. Product experts will give live demos, doctors will answer questions, and promotions that would have only been available to trade show attendees will be offered across the country.
Visitors to the “Shop Online” section of Carestream Dental’s website will find special show pricing on scanners, bundles for implant workflows, and buy-on-get-one-at-no-cost offers. Oral healthcare professionals will also have access to CBCT deals and 0% financing when working directly with their sales rep. These deals will be available until March 23, 2020 according to the company.
“The theme of the meeting was ‘Come Home to Hinman,’ so in a way streaming the virtual trade show from our HQ operatory is a way to invite people to visit Carestream Dental’s ‘home’,” said Jeremy Thomas, general manager for the Americas at Carestream Dental.
While current events prompted the company to look for a digital platform, Carestream Dental had been exploring novel ways to allow healthcare professionals to experience its technology virtually. For example, the company recently experimented with holograms of its technology at trade shows to reduce its footprint and cut back on waste.
With the recent cancelation of the AAO Annual Session in Atlanta, the company said in a statement to Orthodontic Products about whether it would do a similar virtual trade show aimed at the orthodontic specialty:
“These are unprecedented times which have led to some quick-thinking and a test-and-learn mentality. Carestream is enthusiastic about this week’s virtual trade show and if all goes well, hopes to use this format for the specialty shows, too.”
