Health care conferences can often come off as sterile. Due to the serious nature of the conversations, solutions and sessions presented, that can translate to a buttoned-up, clinical approach to the design and attendee experience—but not at VMX 2025. The 42nd annual Veterinary Meeting & Expo, put on by the North American Veterinary Community (NAVC) in Orlando, FL, showed that it’s unlike other medical conferences by encouraging exhibitors to express themselves through art.
VMX’s “Festival of the HeARTS” theme aimed to “celebrate the emotion and art behind veterinary science,” and the conference delivered. Right from the entrance of the Orange County Convention Center, veterinary professionals were greeted by several art activities and photo ops spread out along the South Concourse. They could use markers to color in a pet outline featured on a “Color Therapy” wall, write a message on a butterfly and stick it on a colorful tree collage, pose in a “Find Your Roar” safari-themed photo booth alongside plush lions, and snap a selfie in front of a “Kitty Warhol” backdrop for social media.
Down the escalator to the show floor, attendees were welcomed by a giant, framed Mona Lisa cat portrait, and that was just the tip of the iceberg. Inside, NAVC and exhibitors latched onto “Festival of the HeARTS,” centering their booth designs and experiences around the theme. Here are seven exhibits that leaned into creativity.
NAVC
NAVC led the way with not only its art and photo booths on the concourse, but with the expansive VMX Art District on the show floor. Artists within the veterinary community and from the VetARTnow Facebook group showcased their animal-themed paintings in the district, and attendees could vote for their favorite pieces in the NAVC Events app, with prizes awarded to the winners.
In between the painting displays were tables with various art activities, such as Paul’s Poems, live custom poetry crafted by the local poet within minutes; AI pet photos; a Crafted Scent Bar offering hand sanitizer mixology and scented candle making; and hand-crafted name painting art. While waiting for the artists to work their magic, attendees could enjoy cotton candy or photo ops in the district.
A Build-a-Bag station, sponsored by Boehringer Ingelheim, was also very popular, allowing attendees to personalize their free VMX totes with patches included inside the bags or additional patches at the booth, ranging from NAVC-branded paw prints to NexGard PLUS-sponsored tennis balls to fuzzy letters to “Eat. Sleep. Save animals. Repeat.” messages. We were grateful for the provided patches because by the time we arrived, the bins of extra patches were pretty picked over.
Lastly, the Art Heist Escape Room gave attendees a break from VMX business by challenging them to find their way out of one of four escape rooms popped up on the show floor, including an homage to Andy Warhol’s “Campbell’s Soup Cans.” The organizers told us the daily waitlist to get in was quite long throughout the week.
MERCK
VMX attendees were willing to stand in a very long line and go through a 10-minute small-group spiel just to get their hands on a pop art portrait of their pet at Merck’s booth, which was adorned with huge, metallic bubbles suspended above. The process began by waiting in line to get access to a QR code to submit a picture of their pet (the convention center Wi-Fi really came through).
Then, attendees waited in a second line to get into the booth and join an interactive presentation about the biopharmaceutical company’s latest animal health innovations. Once completed, a Merck representative handed each participant a token to redeem for the photo printout of their AI-generated pet portrait. While the entire process took about 25 minutes, attendees were thrilled with the colorful, frameable results. (Check out our recent Trend of the Week on “swag-tivities.”)
HEART + PAW
Veterinary care brand Heart + Paw drew attendees into its booth with a collaborative painting opportunity. A large canvas hung on a wall with its logo in the center, surrounded by icons of hearts, flowers, leaves, tennis balls, combs and pets that participants could fill in with the provided 30 jars of paints and brushes. When we stopped by on day two of the expo, the painting was halfway to being completed.
PETCO
Presenting its Vetco veterinary services, Petco’s booth encouraged attendees to craft a magic cat wand using sticks, fabric strips, ribbons, yarn and glue.
ELANCO
During VMX week, the Elanco Zen Garden hosted several art therapy sessions to help attendees unwind, with a different craft available each day. In the greenery-covered space, they could make a flower headband, floral bracelets, lanyard flower clips and a moss dog print keepsake.
BIONOTE
Animal health diagnostics company Bionote leaned into VMX’s art motif with a comic strip-themed booth. The short walls that made up its uniquely shaped, round booth were covered in detailed comic strips that told the story of Vcheck product use cases. In the center of the exhibit was a circular desk wrapped in cartoon animal drawings. Bionote also shared product info in speech balloons on signage. Not to mention the branded mobile hanging above, it was our pick for one of the most creative booths on the show floor.
INDEVETS
And one of our favorite photo ops came from IndeVets, which centered its booth around a sculpture of two dogs in a trench coat. Steps behind the figure let attendees hover above them as the third dog in the trench coat tower.
