Submit a Session Proposal

The World Council of Optometry (WCO) invites you to participate in the 3rd World Congress of Optometry educational program by submitting course proposals for consideration. The submission window for lectures and workshops will be open from January 2 through January 31 at 4 PM CST. Up to three (3) Lecture or Workshop proposals (to include any Rapid Fire proposal) can be submitted. Please note that the limit of 3 proposals includes those in which you are co-author; additional submissions after the first three will NOT be considered. However, in addition to the 3 courses, you may also submit up to 3 cases for the Grand Rounds sessions. Academy 2019 Orlando and the 3rd World Congress of Optometry will take place October 23-27, 2019 in Orlando, Florida at the Orange County Convention Center. 

Courses should present information to enhance optometric patient care management. Presentations should not actively promote or advertise products or corporate interests. Competitive topics, course submissions will receive selection preference. 

Presenters at the 3rd World Congress are expected to register and fully participate in the many events and activities of the annual meeting. We hope you will attend both the Academy Session and WCO Session October 23-27, 2019. This allows the education and camaraderie to extend beyond the lecture hall and permeate the joint meeting.  We thank you for your commitment to honor the “Spirit of the Academy” with your participation this year.

The submission window for papers and posters for the Scientific Program is now open through May 31 at 4 PM CST and can be accessed through the American Academy of Optometry website. Click here and go to “submit now” to access the submission portal.

The submission portal will close for lectures and workshops on January 31st at 4 PM CST.

The submission portal for abstracts for posters and the scientific program will open on May 1st and close May 31st at 4 PM CST.

Important Notices and Guidelines

Rapid Fire (RF)            Workshops (WK)             Grand Rounds (GR)           Lectures

Rapid Fire (RF)

The WCO would like to include a limited number of “Rapid Fire” format offerings.  These would likely involve four presenters for a 1-hour submission, with each given a 12-minute slot, all covering the same general topic area. For a 2-hour submission, it is suggested that a second round of 12-minute segments be done by the same four presenters. In general, one-hour submissions are preferred. The entire one or two-hour proposal should be submitted by the primary author, and include the presentations and CVs of all four presenters.

The goal is to provide fast paced, attention holding talks while still providing excellent educational content.  To succeed, these must be well coordinated,smooth continuous talks, all concluding within the allotted time.  The lead author would create a single complete presentation (time will not allow switching to new, separate presentations every 12 minutes). In the past, we have had great success with some RFs, and some less ideal examples where time was not controlled and segments seemed disjointed.  We feel any RF must be a controlled, coordinated effort to create one excellent presentation.

These RF offerings can be submitted in any of the topic sections.  There is a box to check if you want the submission to be considered as one of the special RF presentations.

The same abstract submitted to WCO cannot be submitted to the Academy (AAO).

The submission window for papers and posters for the Scientific Program is now open through May 31 at 4 PM CST and can be accessed through the American Academy of Optometry website. Click here and go to “submit now” to access the submission portal.

The submission portal will close for lectures and workshops on January 31st at 4 PM CST.

Moderated Q&A Session

For some sessions, attendees will be able to submit questions through the app that the presenter can review and answer either during or after the presentation. Questions and answers approved by the instructor are available for all attendees to view on the Academy.19 app. 

3rd World Congress Handouts for Academy.19 App

If your submission is accepted you are required to submit your final electronic handout by October 1, 2019. Please provide your handouts in PDF format, 1 slide per page, maximum 100 slides (you may submit the PowerPoint and we can convert it to PDF format for you). If the October 1 deadline is missed and you would like us to share your handouts, we will be able to upload your material to our website after the annual meeting.

Other Information:

WCO Topics

WCO Compensation

COPE and CET (UK)

Conditions of Participation