The Eighth International Orthodontic Congress

At the American Orthodontic Conference in Seattle, at 7.00 am one Sunday morning in May 2007, it was announced that the British Orthodontic Society (BOS) bid to host the 8th International Orthodontic Conference had been successful. Twelve months earlier, the preliminary 2015 committee had composed a bid document, which had to be submitted by December 2006. I was delighted to head up this bid, which eventually saw off fierce competition from Barcelona, Mexico City and Toronto. It was then that I suddenly realized, on that sundrenched Sunday morning in Seattle, that the hard work had just begun. Official notification was sent to the then President of the BOS, Jeremy Hodgkins, that the 8th International Orthodontic Congress (IOC) would be returning once again to London. The IOC congress is effectively the ‘Olympics’ of orthodontics, which in recent times, has been held once every five years. The only other country to have hosted this event on two previous occasions is the USA; however, London now had the great honour of being awarded the IOC for a third time. The 2nd IOC was held in London (1931), then after a gap of 42 years, again in London (1973) under the Royal patronage of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. My first task as Chairman of 2015 was to approach many of the former British Orthodontic Conference (BOC) committee members and ask them if they would be willing to spend the many hundreds of hours of their ‘free time’ to ensure that the 2015 IOC would be the best orthodontic conference Europe has ever seen. Mrs Ann Wright agreed to be the Executive Secretary for the 2015 Committee, having looked after the BOC since its inception under the Chairmanship of my old Consultant, mentor and very dear friend David DiBiase. I was greatly relieved that Ann was willing to ‘step up to the plate’ and confirm that she would take on the monumental task of helping organize this Congress. Professor Kevin O’Brien was thrilled to be appointed as Scientific Committee Chair, with the proviso that he had complete autonomy. He has put together a scientific committee of international repute and invited 35 of the top international orthodontic speakers to contribute to the 8th IOC. We have signed up those who have an international reputation and proven track record for presenting the latest and best in contemporary clinical orthodontics and research. In addition, one third of the programme will be devoted to younger clinicians and researchers who will have the opportunity to demonstrate their work in the form of a Poster or short oral presentation. We recently closed to entries and have had an unprecedented interest, resulting in over 1,100 submissions from 75 countries around the world. Simon Littlewood was appointed to run the 2015 exhibition. To date Simon has used all his many undeniable talents to collect in excess of £800,000 in sponsorship, which should go a long way to ensuring the financial success of this event. Simon Littlewood together with Trevor Hodge, started the first, and one of the most successful Orthodontic Therapist Courses in the UK, therefore nobody is more appropriate than Trevor to be appointed to chair the Allied Dental Personnel Programme. It has been a pleasure to work with Trevor, who has quietly and calmly put together a superb programme that is going to attract Orthodontic Therapists, Dental Nurses and Orthodontic Technicians from all over the world. Many of the Keynote speakers will also be presenting on Trevor’s programme; thus, providing a truly enticing two days. In addition, Trevor has set up bursaries that are going to provide access to the 8th IOC to Orthodontists who otherwise would not be able to find the necessary financial support to attend this landmark event. One of the most important parts of any International Congress are the social events. Tania Murphy has managed to sign up Tower Bridge, the Painted Hall in the Naval College at Greenwich, Madame Tussaud’s and the Natural History Museum, as well as Billingsgate Market for the final gala dinner. As we are unsure as to the final turnout for the Conference, a number of these venues have been provisionally booked on two successive evenings. Tania, together with the inimitable Rye Mattick, who will be adding her theatrical flair to the entire event, has made numerous exploratory visits to London. They are both very busy choreographing what will be a spectacular opening event, as well as EDITORIAL Journal of Orthodontics, Vol. 42, 2015, 1–2

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