Monday, January 18, 2027
8:00–8:50 a.m. | Taming the Zoo: Conflict Management & Difficult Conversations for Optometric Staff | ABO Pending | Brooke Parker
This course equips optometric staff with practical strategies for managing workplace conflict and navigating difficult conversations with coworkers and patients. Using the “Taming the Zoo” theme, learners will explore common conflict styles, recognize behaviors that contribute to tension, and apply de-escalation techniques to support clearer communication, stronger teamwork, and a more positive patient experience.
9:00–9:50 a.m. | First Impressions to Lasting Loyalty: Customer Service by Role in the Optometric Office | ABO Pending | Dr. Ryan Parker
In today’s competitive eye care environment, outstanding customer service is as important as clinical excellence. Patients often choose and remain loyal to providers based on how they feel during every interaction with the practice. This course explores the role of customer service across the entire optometric office, from the front desk to technicians, scribes, opticians, billing staff, and managers. Participants will learn how first impressions are formed, why using patient names and welcoming language matters, and how to apply service strategies drawn from organizations like Ritz-Carlton, Chick-fil-A, and Chewy. Through examples, role-based guidance, and interactive role-plays, staff will develop skills in phone etiquette, delivering difficult news, and customizing patient experiences. The course also highlights the impact of excellent service on patient satisfaction, reviews, repeat business, and referrals.
10:00–10:50 a.m. | From Awareness to Action: Making Myopia Management Part of Everyday Care | ABO Pending | Dr. Lauren Fereday
Myopia management has evolved from an emerging specialty to an essential component of pediatric eye care. While many eye care professionals understand the science behind myopia progression, implementing a successful myopia management program requires more than clinical knowledge alone. This course provides a practical roadmap for integrating myopia management into everyday practice. Participants will review the fundamentals of myopia, explore the science and technology behind Essilor® Stellest® lenses and new Stellest frame offerings, and learn strategies for patient identification, parent communication, team engagement, and practice implementation. Attendees will leave with actionable tools to incorporate myopia management into patient care and improve long-term visual outcomes for children.
Tuesday, January 19, 2027
8:00–8:50 a.m. | A Little Bit of S.O.A.P. | ABO Pending | Dr. Lauren Fereday
This course focuses on enhancing patient care in optometric practices by utilizing the SOAP (Subjective, Objective, Assessment, Plan) and RISK (Recognize Concerns, Investigate Needs, Share Recommendation, Keep Focused) frameworks. Participants will learn strategies to improve communication, uncover patient needs, and provide exceptional customer experiences while ensuring thorough diagnoses and solutions.
9:00–9:50 a.m. | Controlling the Curve: The Science Behind Slowing Myopia Progression | ABO Pending | Dr. Ryan Parker
This one-hour continuing-education course examines the optical principles behind modern myopia-management technologies. It begins with myopia as axial elongation, a structural change that carries lifelong ocular risk, and how the developing eye uses retinal image quality as a signal for growth. Participants compare two optical strategies: imposing simultaneous myopic defocus (lenslet-array, segmented, and annular-ring spectacle lenses; center-distance, dual-focus, and ring-focus soft contact lenses; and overnight corneal reshaping) and reducing retinal contrast (diffusion optics), with low-dose atropine addressed as a pharmacologic outlier. The course emphasizes variables that determine treatment performance, published evidence and current U.S. regulatory status, and the optician’s role in fit, centration, consistent wear, and brand-agnostic patient counseling.
10:00–10:50 a.m. | Patient Buying Behaviors | ABO Pending | Brooke Parker
Understanding what drives patient purchasing decisions goes beyond price. This course explores the emotional and rational factors that influence buying behaviors across generations, including the importance of trust, perceived value, and the overall patient experience. Attendees will learn practical communication strategies to overcome purchasing barriers, recognize and avoid sales bias, and build stronger patient relationships that encourage long-term loyalty.
Wednesday, January 20, 2027
8:00–8:50 a.m. | Making it Rain (Capture Rate) | ABO Pending | Brooke Parker
This course explores how optical teams can maximize the value of each patient visit through clear communication, coordinated recommendations, and effective patient flow. Participants will examine how front desk staff, technicians, doctors, and opticians help identify patient needs and connect those needs to appropriate eyewear solutions. Topics include pricing and perceived value, eyewear capture rate, the doctor-to-optician handoff, and ways to use patient time for education. The course also examines how product choices and purchasing behavior influence the optical experience.
9:00–9:50 a.m. | Marketing 101: Building a Practice Patients Find, Choose & Remember | ABO Pending | Dr. Lauren Fereday
This course provides optical professionals with a practical introduction to marketing within an optometric practice. Participants will explore foundational marketing concepts, patient segmentation, branding, digital presence, online reviews, social media, community outreach, patient experience, and marketing measurement. The course emphasizes practical strategies that can be incorporated into an optometric practice to improve visibility, patient engagement, retention, and referral opportunities.
10:00–10:50 a.m. | Landscape of the Optical Business: Today & Tomorrow | ABO Pending | Dr. Ryan Parker
This course explores how eye care and the optical business are evolving through medicalization, technology, AI, smart eyewear, managed vision care, shifting patient expectations, and new practice models. The presentation reframes disruption as an opportunity for eye care professionals to lead, adapt, and build more future-ready practices.
*Courses, speakers, and schedule subject to change