This year's program and events will challenge attendees to Raise the Bar - personally and professionally. With this theme, which precedes the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, China, it is SECO's hope to inspire participants to meet the challenges of the optometric profession and achieve even greater success. Much like an athlete who continually pushes the limits of their skills, SECO's educational program will allow optometry professionals to do the same and optimize their skills to deliver even better patient care and build successful practices.

ADVANCED COURSES FOR THE AOP

In keeping with the theme of "Raising the Bar," SECO 2008 will again offer a special "Race to Certification" track for allied professionals who are seeking to advance their education and prepare for certification.

Certification highlights include:
• JCAHPO-COA Review; 2/29/08, 7:30AM-11:45AM, Course # 916
• AOA-CPOA/T Review; 2/29/08, 7:30AM-11:45AM Course # 917
• Beginning Your Life as an Optician ABO Review; 2/29/08, 8:00AM-5:00PM Course # 918
• AOA-CPO Review; 2/29/08, 2:15AM-5:45PM Course # 926
• Saturday: Beginning Your Life as a Contact Lens Technician-NCLE Review; 3/1/08, 8:00AM-5:00PM Course # 934

The SECO 2008 AOP program is supported in part by CIBA Vision and Essilor.

SECO 2008 is currently accepting abstracts for multimedia posters to publish during SECO 2008. Multimedia posters are similar to traditional paper posters but provide creative tools such as digital images, audio, and video with which to present posters.

The SECO 2008 Multimedia Poster Selection process schedule is:
• August 10, 2007; Authors may begin submitting poster abstracts for review
• October 31, 2007; Submissions deadline
• November 15, 2007, Authors will be notified of poster status (approved or denied)
• December 31, 2007, Authors must submit finished posters for publication

A panel of optometrists will review all abstracts submitted for review. An abstract approval requires a simple majority panel vote; abstracts that do not receive a simple majority panel vote are denied.

Approved posters will be published at SECO 2008 in the Advanced Media Learning Center (AMLC), located on Level 3 of Building A of the Georgia World Congress Center. Additionally, SECO International will recognize authors in an edition of the SECO Daily, an on-site trade publication distributed during SECO 2008. Finally, SECO 2008 posters will be published online at www.secointernational.com for three years.

Click here to learn more about submitting a multimedia Poster for publication during SECO 2008 or visit the Proposal system on www.secointernational.com.

While at SECO, you may want to give some thought to your next vacation. Would you like to climb the Eiffel Tower in Paris? Eat gelato in Italy? Or, snowboard in Colorado? It's completely up to you. See the World on SECO! is this year's grand prize drawing and two lucky registered attendees will win a $10,000 travel voucher good for airfare, hotel accommodations and travel expenses on the vacation of their choice. For a chance to be one of the big winners, attendees must swipe their official SECO Passport at all of the five Destination Stations located throughout Optometry's Marketplace™. Two winners will be randomly selected during the Saturday Exhibit Hall Lunch.

There are more chances to win. Every hour, someone will win an Apple iPod Shuffle in Optometry's Marketplace™. Scratch-off cards will be available at each of the Destination Stations and someone will win the popular iPod hourly. You'll want to journey through the hall to find the designated Destination Stations not only for the chance to win an iPod, but for the unique travel giveaways too. Free travel gifts will be awarded to attendees throughout SECO 2008.