Clero exhibited at the British Dental Conference & Dentistry Show (BDCDS) 2026 on 15–16 May 2026 at Hall 5, NEC Birmingham, alongside The VoIP Shop. I was there with the team. The clearest takeaway from the floor was not a slogan: dental practices wanted to hear the voice live, then ask whether automation could sit on top of their real phones and diaries without inventing clinical advice.
| Event field | Details |
|---|---|
| Event | British Dental Conference & Dentistry Show (BDCDS) |
| Dates | Friday 15 May – Saturday 16 May 2026 |
| Venue | NEC Birmingham, Hall 5 |
| Clero participation | Exhibitor stand; co-presence with The VoIP Shop |
| Key themes on our stand | Missed/overflow calls, live voice demos, telephony + AI layering, PMS write-back vs message-taking, admin vs clinical boundaries |
Official show context (organiser pages, not Clero): BDCDS is a large UK dental education and exhibition event at the NEC. We were exhibitors, not organisers.
What we actually did on the floor
We ran a working demo environment so visitors could call from their own phones and talk to the assistant in a normal conversational loop—not an IVR tree. Standing next to The VoIP Shop made the telephony question unavoidable: many teams wanted to know whether AI replaces their phone provider or sits on routing they already have. That pairing matched how we think about the stack—phones deliver the call; the AI layer acts on it—which we also cover in the AI vs traditional clinic phone systems guide.
Lessons and questions from practice conversations
The notes below summarise themes that came up repeatedly on our stand. They are not invented attendee quotes, lead counts or signed deals.
1. Overflow is still the daily pain
Practice managers described the same collision: patients at the desk, phones ringing, lunch cover thin. The question was rarely “do we need AI branding?” It was “can anything answer when reception cannot?” That confirmed our focus on overflow and after-hours rules before ambitious automation.
2. Live voice demos beat slideware
Visitors wanted to dial and judge latency, accent and whether the conversation felt usable for patients. Watching people put the assistant through awkward real questions was more useful than any ROI slide. It confirmed that demos must stay callable at events—and that “sounds fine in a video” is not enough.
3. Message-taking is not the bar people care about
Technical conversations quickly moved to diary write-back. Teams asked how bookings land in systems they already run, and how failures are handled. We stayed honest: Clero’s booking layer is strongest where connectors are live and tested for that practice. Verified handlers today include Dentally, CareStack, Semble, Aerona and Exact (via Exact Online Booking when enabled), plus calendar-style connectors where configured. Practices also asked about Exact: Clero can book through Exact Online Booking when that feature is enabled—not every Exact diary or object without that configuration. Deeper product context: dental AI receptionist guide and PMS integration.
4. Telephony and AI are one buying conversation
Because we stood with The VoIP Shop, many chats covered number porting, routing and “do we have to rip out the phones?” The event reinforced that a clean answer is: keep the published number where possible; decide VoIP migration separately from the AI layer. Partner detail: Clero × The VoIP Shop.
5. Clinical boundaries are non-negotiable
Even in sales-floor energy, practices asked what the assistant must never do. We repeated the same line we use in product content: administrative help only—no diagnosis, prescribing or emergency medical advice; urgent language needs a safety script and human path. That stance did not soften under show pressure; if anything, hearing clinical owners ask it live made the boundary feel more central.
How the show changed (or confirmed) our thinking
- Confirmed: callable demos and telephony partners matter as much as PMS slides.
- Confirmed: practices evaluate overflow and write-back before “24/7” marketing language.
- Sharpened: we should lead with configuration honesty (what is connected for *this* clinic) rather than universal integration lists.
- Not claimed here: visitor headcounts, conversion rates, same-week multi-city onboarding waves, or guaranteed abandonment metrics from the show.
Questions practices often ask
These are common stand themes, not a transcript archive:
- Can patients keep our existing surgery number?
- Can we try a live call before we commit?
- Does it write into our diary, or only email reception?
- What happens on urgent dental language out of hours?
- How does this sit with our VoIP or current provider?
For structured product answers after the event, use the clinic call automation FAQ and the dental pillar.
Next step
If we spoke at BDCDS—or you want the same live call demo we ran on the stand—continue the conversation and we will map your telephony and diary setup without a generic pitch deck.