The 81st SECO International, held February 18-22, 2004, in Atlanta, Georgia, attracted close to 7,000 attendees and provided SECO with a small increase in CE program attendance. A presentation by former US President Jimmy Carter, a sellout Exhibit Hall with 226 companies, over 375 hours of education, new features such as SECO Live! and the X-Labs, and the concluding segment of the 4th Southern Diplomate Program, helped boost SECO 2004 to the highest attendee satisfaction ratings ever measured.

Clearly the highlight of the Congress, former US President Jimmy Carter delivered a heartfelt call to arms for all Optometry to embrace the cause of infant vision exams. Sponsored in part by VSP, President Carter spoke for over 20 minutes to a rapt audience on how practitioners can make a difference in the lives of their patients. President Carter received a standing ovation on both taking and leaving the stage.

SECO 2004's Thursday General Session, SECO Live!, provided over 1,000 practitioners with a unique and penetrating examination of neuro, anterior, and posterior segment disease, and glaucoma. Attendees got involved in the dialogue through handheld audience participation systems, technology not seen deployed at this level at an optometry meeting anywhere.

SECO 2004 also saw: the debut of the X-Labs, a series of sessions keyed to new products entering the ophthalmic market; the debut of New Products Network (NPN), a live TV channel devoted to SECO's exhibitors; SECO's online registration rise to over 70% of all registrations received; the revamp of the complimentary Friday luncheon into a the multidisciplinary event now known as the ECP Luncheon; the presentation of over fifty multimedia posters and six new self-assessment tests at the Advanced Media Learning Center (AMLC); the expansion of the exhibits prize program to $20,000 in prizes; and many more developments that contributed to a hugely successful Congress.

Whether you'd like to admit it or not, online continuing education (CE) is here to stay. Licensing boards are beginning to adapt policy changes to account for education obtained through the Internet, and companies are capitalizing on the trend. In 2000, SECO International began a project to offer education online for optometrists and their staff; SECO became one of the first organizations to offer approved online CE for optometry. SECO's WebCE has changed a little in four years, but the goal is still the same: to offer quality online education to optometrists and staff. As a leader in providing continuing education, SECO chose to offer WebCE at no charge to users. SECO's dedication to education, and support from its corporate partners, allow optometrists and allied professionals the opportunity to find quality online CE. Visitors take thousands of educational courses each quarter, and SECO invites you to visit WebCE and join the growing number of practitioners that have already realized the value WebCE offers.

SECO's ePoster gallery is available for anyone to visit. View multimedia posters from SECO International 2002, 2003 and 2004 filled with educational and interesting cases-histories, grand rounds, studies and more! SECO's continuing effort to provide quality CE extends to these great presentations from many different authors on many different subjects. Our library consists of multimedia posters published in the famous Advanced Media Learning Center (AMLC), and some that were not produced in time to make the AMLC. Whether you are looking to additional information on a tough case, or just seeing what's new, multimedia posters offer a great opportunity to learn!