With 54,147 attendees, the Federation of International Medical Equipment Suppliers Show is the largest medical meeting in the country, according to the Healthcare and Convention Exhibitors Association’s annual ranking of the 50 largest medical meetings.
The FIME Show unseated the Radiological Society of North America, which had held the largest meeting the previous year. RSNA finished second in the current rankings with 53,778 attendees. The Greater New York Dental Meeting (53,481 attendees) placed third. All rankings are based on medical meetings that took place in 2012.
HIMSS: Healthcare Information & Management Systems Society was fourth with 36,535 attendees at its annual meeting, followed by the American Dental Association, which had 35,074 people at its annual meeting. The dental sector had seven shows in the top 50 and six in the top 15.
Total attendance among the top 50 meetings was essentially flat in 2012, while professional attendance was up about 1 percent. The lack of growth in total attendance figures may reflect a decline in the number of staff that exhibitors bring to these shows due to budget cuts and other factors, according to HCEA officials.
Here’s a look at the top 10. For a complete list of the 50 largest medical meetings, including breakout information on professional attendance, go to HCEA.org.
1. FIME Show — 54,147
2. RSNA — 53,778
3. Greater New York Dental Meeting — 53,481
4. HIMSS — 36,535
5. American Dental Association — 35,074
6. American Academy Of Orthopaedic Surgeons — 32,118
7. American Society of Clinical Oncology — 31,250
8. Chicago Dental Society — 31,089
9. California Dental Association, Anaheim — 28,934
10. Society for Neuroscience — 28,574
