Exhibiting at the ADAVB in Melbourne 2022 – with Dr Roslyn Franklin

Call me a dental ‘nerd’ if you like, but I really enjoy going to dental conferences and events.  I guess it just proves how much I love my work in the dental industry! Conferences and exhibitions are a great way to keep updated with everything new in the dentistry world and I’ve always loved the atmosphere of a big event.

In August 2022, I had the ‘first-time’ pleasure of actually being an exhibitor at a conference in Melbourne, to let the dental industry in Victoria know all about Dental Stock Photos and why choosing the right images is so important for websites and general marketing.

This exciting event was the ADAVB Conference and I had been looking forward to it for months. (That’s the Australian Dental Association – Victoria Branch, for those of you who don’t know!)

It’s a very different perspective when being an exhibitor rather than just an attendee and I was excited to be learning what an event would be like from a different perspective.

I arrived in Melbourne on Wednesday afternoon, plenty of time to set up my booth on Thursday.  The conference was well organised with activities and speakers, to be held on Friday & Saturday (19^th & 20^th August 2022).  It was the first time in 4 years they had held the conference in Melbourne, as 2020 was cancelled for some unknown reason. (ha!)

I had booked my accommodation in the hotel next to the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition centre, which made life easy.  I had also been able to fit nearly everything I needed for the booth into my extra-large suitcase!  Yep, my suitcase contained 2 fabric banners, a black shelving unit from Kmart (broken down of course!), my A3 posters, photographic lights, and a Photo book I’d had printed showcasing some of DSP’s best images. (Yes I did get a little inventive packing the shelving unit into my suitcase – but it worked!)

The set up was to be completed on Thursday in the exhibition hall, and OHS required that we wear high-vis vests and closed in shoes.  I wheeled in my suitcase and found my booth, ready to set up a simple yet elegant space.  I had also ordered a couple of stools from Ikea, as the cost to hire stools and a high table from the event organisers was just a bit more than I wanted to pay!

As much as I had planned the set up, I wasn’t too surprised when I had to make an impromptu trip to Bunnings on Thursday afternoon.   The fabric banners I’d planned to hang at the back of the booth were just too heavy for the blue-tac I’d taken along with me!  (Yes I can see you rolling your eyes – but in my defence - blue-tac is strong stuff.)

So, I Googled the nearest Bunnings and a few ideas for what I could use to hold up the banners.  I opted for spring-loaded wood clamps and hopped in a taxi to go pick them up.  I was in and out of Bunnings in under 10 minutes, much to the surprise of the taxi driver, but I was on a mission.

Both Friday and Saturday were full on days at the convention, with ADAVB reporting over 1000 delegates attending.  I was manning the booth by myself, so although I did have a little time to check out the other exhibitors, I had to be mindful of the people visiting my booth.

I had a steady stream of people over the 2 days, and although I wasn’t frantically busy, I was able to network and talk to lots of people.  I had visits from WA dentists, as well as Victorian dentists and practise managers.  No one had heard of Dental Stock Photos and had no idea of what we do.

Thankfully I had my A3 photo book with 20 of my best images and I found this to be very popular.  Some people just came up to the booth and flipped through the pages, and it was a good talking point to discuss how the dental pictures had been used and how important it was for practises to use professional photos and images for their social media, websites, publications and all forms of marketing.  It was obvious, that even when I stepped away from the booth for a moment, the dental pictures photo book had been looked at.  I can honestly say it’s the best $35 I spent for my Melbourne conference adventure.

I had a ‘wine giveaway’ competition to entice people to leave me with their contact details, and had 59 entries overall, which was great.  A couple of people scanned the QR code on the poster I had put up calling for photographers.  Mostly though, it was for people they knew rather than themselves.  We are still looking for more photographers to submit their dental images, by the way ;)

 All in all, the conference from the perspective of an exhibitor was a great experience.  The company in the booth next to me were a marketing company, 360 Dental Marketing, so there was a good synergy between us and we have a zoom chat planned to discuss how we might work together or possibly develop a partnership.  I had several dental companies take my details for possible product shoots, and I added about 50 people to my database, which all helps with my marketing!

I was very happy with the feedback received about what we do, and am looking forward to exhibiting at more conferences in the future.  Happy to chat if anyone is considering exhibiting themselves, as sharing knowledge is a passion of mine.

Don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions or just want to know more about Dental Stock Photos.