NYC welcomes Vision Expo East attendees

New York-International Vision Expo East (VEE), which will take place March 23 through 25 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York, promises to serve up an expanded program of courses and networking opportunities for both optometry professionals and students.

Attendees will have access to more than 325 hours of continuing education divided into five interest areas: allied health, business solutions, clinical, contact lenses, and optical technology.

The conference also boasts more than 60 hours of programs designed exclusively around business-building practices, such as helping professionals increase practice efficiency and engaging patients through the use of social media.

This year's management and business academy courses will focus on financial management, marketing, and merchandising. Attendees can learn key financial metrics to assess the health of their practices, as well as to accurately analyze and forecast. Effective marketing and creative merchandising ideas will offer optometrists techniques to increase patient loyalty and practice profitability.

The popular Visionomics courses-offered throughout the conference-will focus on effective strategic planning, marketing, and messaging to enhance the patient experience, as well as effective sales strategies and key skills, such as negotiating.

For those eye-care professionals (ECPs) nearing retirement or planning for retirement, courses on practice transitions can help proactively enhance the value of any practice and enable ECPs to learn how to develop a successful exit strategy.

Going social

A hands-on workshop on Thursday afternoon will take attendees through the different social media sites, explain the benefits of each, and offer ways to maximize the presence of a practice. Another workshop on Saturday will emphasize the importance of developing a strategy before jumping in, and attendees will walk away with the beginning of a comprehensive strategy that will help them put forth a competitive online presence.

For ECPs wondering whether they should take the next step toward online retail, a Sunday-morning session will offer insight and recommendations for online eyewear sales.

Here's a quick look at some of the offerings:

Thursday, March 22, 1:00-4:00 p.m. "Internet and Social Media Hands-On Workshop"

Attendees will learn best-practice use of social media and e-mail marketing.

Saturday, March 24, 5:00-6:00 p.m. "Getting in the Game: Developing Your Internet and Social Media Strategy"

Learn why it's important to go forth with a strategy.

Sunday March 25, 8:30-10:30 a.m. "Eyeglasses Online: A How-To Cookbook of Ideas and Options"

Attendees will learn the pros and cons of selling eyeglasses online, plus retail options and how to best use them.

Sunday March 25, 10:45-11:45 a.m. "From Print to Practice: Fee Structures for Non-Patient Services"

Attendees will gain insight on Internet eyewear purchasing trends as well as how to create and price saleable service packages.