SAN DIEGO—CovalentCareers wrapped up its Eyes On 2021 on Sunday, Nov. 22. The three-day virtual event was one of the largest virtual optometry events of 2020 with over 6,000 eyecare registrants, 4,500+ attendees and more than one million minutes of content watched across three days, the organization said, adding that the event also featured more than 60 live speakers and 19 sponsors and vendors. Highlights of Eyes On 2021 included 11 hours of free COPE-approved CE for attendees on cutting-edge topics like glaucoma diagnostics, ocular pharmaceuticals, and new dry eye treatments; group chats with lively discussion between attendees; more than $5,000 in raffle prizes including an iPad Air and two Apple Watch SEs; and the chance to speak with representatives of top pharmaceutical, medical device, service, and other organizations in eyecare.

Educational sessions took place in three tracks: Continuing Education, moderated by Antonio Chirumbolo, OD; Clinical & Practice Management, moderated by Damon Dierker, OD, FAAO; and a Career Center, moderated by Nishan Pressley, OD and Emilie Seitz, OD, where attendees could gain career advice and explore nearly 1,000 jobs offered by leading eyecare employers.

The event began on Friday with a panel featuring eyecare legend Donald Korb, OD, FAAO, and Amy Nau, OD, who discussed their proposal for a new dry eye paradigm. On Saturday, Eric Donnenfeld, MD, presented on corneal crosslinking and how ODs could be involved in this cutting-edge treatment for keratoconus (this session was sponsored by Glaukos).

The event wrapped on Sunday with a Keynote Conversation panel featuring Millicent Knight, OD, FAAO, FAARM; Selina McGee, OD, FAAO, Dipl ABO; Aaron Lech, OD, FAAO; and Kambiz Silani, OD; led by Vision Monday and VMAIL's Marge Axelrad. The panel shared their insights and advice for starting fresh and how to make 2021 a great year for optometry.

Exhibit Hall moderators Matt Geller, OD and Brett Kestenbaum, PT, DPT, co-founders of CovalentCareers, also hosted eyecare industry leaders like Michael (Mick) Kling, OD, and Steve Klein, OD, in live sessions. Recordings of select presentations will be made available to watch on demand soon, they said.

Outside of the panels and presentations, attendees chatted with booth agents from companies like ZEISS, Johnson & Johnson Vision, Essilor of America, Alcon, Allergan, and more. Attendees also explored a virtual bar—which was a hit on social media, spawning memes and enthusiastic videos on social media platforms including Instagram and TikTok.

As an inaugural event, Eyes On 2021 received much positive feedback from attendees, organizers reported, noting that many cited the user-friendly design of the platform.

“We couldn’t be more excited for 2021,” said Dr. Geller. “We built Eyes On 2021 based on our belief in the power and possibility of virtual events, and we are so excited by how positive the industry reaction was to Eyes On 2021. I’m particularly proud of our NPS score of 86 among event attendees, per our survey results. We’re going to take everything we learned from the success of this event to make Eyes On 2022 even more powerful and engaging for the eyecare community.”

CovalentEvents is a subsidiary of CovalentCreative, a technology and digital marketing organization that uses content, creative, and digital solutions to forge strong bonds between health care organizations and ECPs. CovalentCreative has launched such brands as CovalentCreators and CovalentCareers.com.