Cancellation of the NZDA Conference & Expo 2021
NZDA Conference 2021
Within ‘Conference’ is, not only the dentist’s programme, masterclasses and post conference courses but also the Exhibition, Young Dentist Day, Oral Health Therapist Day, Team, Day, the Dinner and Awards evening, Employment Fair, and this year, the associated event of the International College of Dentists, Centenary Celebration.
To date we have attracted 1100 registrants across these events. Thank you to every registrant, to the organising team, sponsors, dozens of speakers, exhibitors, and many many suppliers. So many people and so much effort over the last two years!
With the above in mind, it is disappointing to have to notify you all that the NZDA Executive have decided we need to cancel the Conference; the unfortunate proximity to the sudden change in COVID restrictions creating the need for this decision.
I particularly want to thank those at Conference Innovators who have been such a brilliant team to work with and also Mo Amso as he now progresses the organisation of retaining conference, masterclass and post conference speakers, repackaging their presentations into webinars, to be held over the coming months. Details regarding these webinars will be supplied to all members within the next few weeks.
Questions / Answers – (I hope the following answers your immediate questions)
What happens to the registration fee I paid?
Those who registered for Conference agreed, when registering that, should NZDA need to cancel due to COVID related issues, and substitute a ‘virtual’ conference the NZDA could retain their registration fees.
NZDA will not be doing that and instead we will refund all registrations in full (as well as all fees the exhibitors paid to us). It is our belief that a 2 day ‘virtual’ event is not the appropriate substitute for a face- to face conference at this time.
We very much hope that our Conference audience will ‘reinvest’ by registering for next year’s Conference, to be held in Christchurch at the new Convention Centre (August 18- 20th 2022). Please support that event.
NZDA staff will repackage this year’s Conference speakers and masterclasses into webinars and, again I urge you to reinvest into signing up to what will be several series of very good webinars. The first of these series will be announced in the next few weeks and will be charged at very reasonable fees. The underwriting costs of a large Conference (there are many forward costs involved during the 2 years of planning) will be offset by surpluses we have generated from other CPD activities this year and also, hopefully, from sales of the above webinars.
Please give us time to process all the refunds. We will complete that task as quickly as possible and Conference Innovators staff will be in contact with each of you regarding the details of that.
What happens to the accommodation I booked?
We have contacted the Rotorua Conference hotels (Millennium, Pullman and Backpackers) and for delegates who booked via our Conference online booking portal, and gave your credit card details, these hotels have all agreed they will not process your payment and will not charge any cancellation penalties. For those who did not use our booking system and who booked directly with the hotels, please make contact with the hotel regarding the booking you made.
Is the NZDA Awards Dinner still happening?
We had well over 500 attendees booked for the dinner, and of course it was styled as an event to celebrate some very remarkable colleagues. This event will still occur (albeit not part of Conference and therefore scaled down somewhat) and we aim to do so prior to year-end. Again, we will undertake definitive planning as soon as COVID restrictions allow.
Is the Employment Fair being rescheduled?
With 98 final year students, a number of recent graduates, many DHB’s and over 50 private practices involved in this event we will now move this event to an online system to be held on the same date (Friday 17th September), but also running through into Saturday the 18th. The format will remain largely the same, and employers and jobseekers will all still be able to make a lot of great connections. All those involved (DHB’s, private practice employers, graduating students and young dentists) will receive separate communications from us within the next week. Thank you for your patience. With somewhere in the vicinity of just over 1000 interviews…there are a few logistics we are currently working through.
Is the Young Dentist Day still happening?
We plan to repackage this content as webinars and deliver them over the coming months, some via our Young Dentist Action Group. These will be charged at a very reasonable price.
What about Team Day?
We plan to repackage this as webinars and deliver them over the coming months. These will be charged at a very reasonable price, and we will extend invites to team members across the country if possible.
International College of Dentists 100-year Celebration
Again, I very much regret this significant milestone celebration for College Fellow’s cannot proceed at this time. We are working closely with the College, and they will be in touch within the next few weeks regarding their plans and refunds etc.
When will the NZDA Board Meeting occur?
This shortened meeting will now be held via zoom the morning of Friday 17thSeptember and Board members will receive details within the next week. This new date will allow those Board members wishing to be involved in the employment Fair to still be able to do so.
Ngā mihi / Kind regards,
David Crum
Chief Executive | New Zealand Dental Association