Expect more bright smiles at the Hawai'i Convention Center next year with four separate meetings of dentists scheduled.

Hawai'i Convention Center General Manager Joe Davis is pleased to be getting a return visit from the largest group, the American Dental Association, expected to attract between 35,000 and 40,000 delegates to its annual meeting. Also convening in 2009 are the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry, the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry and Hawai'i Dental Association.

The conferences are a bright spot for the center, which is expected to experience a 20 percent drop in the number of "room nights" generated by conventions this year compared with last year. The number of room nights generated by convention-goers is forecast to rebound by 70 percent next year.

Dr. Calbert Lum is chairman of the committee on local arrangements for the ADA convention. The Hono-lulu dentist has run the local state convention for the past 10 years, since the last time the ADA was here in 1999.

"We had 31,000," Lum said. "It was a huge success at the time. We were at that time the largest convention that the convention center had ever held."

This time, they are hoping for more than 35,000 or maybe even 40,000. "We didn't anticipate the economy to turn like this," he said.

ONCE A DECADE

For the convention center's Davis, getting the ADA to return each decade is a pattern that spells success for the center, which has struggled with dips in attendance.

"Every 10 years is just fine for us," Davis said. "We're already talking 2019."

The center has been successful with meetings and incentive groups, which don't have to fight the sun, sand and surf vacation reputation as some groups do, in what the industry calls the boondoggle effect to describe the perception that people who meet in Hawai'i are vacationing instead of doing work.

"When they get here and see that they're able to hold a very professional and productive business meeting," Davis said, that gets them and other professional groups to keep planning to return.

Davis said the confluence of dental conferences is a combination of previous good experiences here and good luck.

"It's a good coincidence to have given the tough economic conditions we find ourselves in," he said. "Maybe these groups are a little more resilient."

But the center's not taking attendance for granted. Instead, officials have been at dental conventions in other states and countries, drumming up interest in next year's meetings.

A team just returned from a promotion in Japan where they are hoping the strong yen will encourage more travel to Hawai'i.

He said all of the dental associations coming next year, as well as others such as American Association of Orthodontists, American Association of Endodontists and American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons accompanied by their sister organizations in Korea and Japan, have met previously in Hawai'i.

ENCOURAGING NUMBERS

Lum said he was encouraged by the recent ADA convention in San Antonio, Texas, which attracted 29,000 attendees. His group pre-registered 1,600 people while the previous record was 900, he said.

What was more impressive to Lum was the enthusiasm and the size of group that was signing up for next year's Honolulu convention. "They were booking 10 hotel rooms," Lum said. "They bring their entire family. They tend to bring the entire office. Other places — they don't do that."

But he said the delegates actually attend the meetings, educational sessions and buy from the exhibitors. And that encourages sponsors who earlier worried about competing with the destination: "They thought everybody's going to go to the beach."

Lum acknowledged that he and other dentists are affected by the economic downturn. But he's hopeful that the lure of the convention combined with an opportunity to reward staff and spend time with family after the meeting will prove powerful.