Vision Expo West
September 17-20, 2025
The Venetian Expo | Las Vegas, NV

Vision Expo East 2021 to Host the Career Zone on Saturday, June 5

Show Floor Destination to Offer Student and Young Professionals Exclusive Access to Hiring Companies

Alexandria, VA – April 27, 2021 – The organizers of Vision Expo, The Vision Council and Reed Exhibitions, today announce that the Career Zone will return to Vision Expo East 2021 on Saturday, June 5 from 10 am to 5 pm EDT. The hub for students and young professionals will be hosted in The Seen (#TP1251), a dynamic new main stage destination offering collaborative learning. Vision Expo East 2021 will also offer students exclusive registration benefits including free Exhibit Hall admission and unlimited access to education.

Vision Expo East 2021 will take place at the Orange County Convention Center from June 2-5, 2021.  The Show’s educational program, together with OptiCon®@Vision Expo, will open Wednesday, June 2 and exhibits will open Thursday, June 3.  To register for Vision Expo East’s Exhibit Hall and Education, click here

“To move our industry forward, Vision Expo understands the importance of focusing on the next generation of leaders – especially following the challenges of the past year. It is vital that young vision community members feel supported and prepared as they head into a workforce that is dealing with the aftermath of the pandemic,” said Suzanne Krauss, Vision Expo’s Career Zone Manager. “Through the Career Zone, students and young professionals will have the chance to present themselves professionally to hiring companies and explore the vibrant options available to them in the vision community.”   

The Career Zone will serve as a central hub where students and young professionals can connect with optical companies and explore career resources.
Participating companies include:

  • Bixby Eye Center
  • Luxottica
  • Shopko Optical
  • National Optometric Association (NOA)
  • Young ODs of America
  • Family HealthCare Network
  • Keplr Vision
  • National Vision, Inc.

The Career Zone is located in The Seen, which will offer programming all day, including two panel discussions targeted to young ODs and students, one hosted by the National Optometric Association of America (NOA) and one hosted by the Young ODs of America.  The panels include:

  • Saturday, June 5 at 11:00 am EST: The Young ODs of America will host “The View with Young ODs of America,” a panel moderated by Dr. Justin Bazan with a focus on modes of practice and practice management.
  • Saturday, June 5 at 1:00 pm EST: The NOA will host “Excellence: Overcoming Obstacles to Optometric Success,” a panel featuring NOA doctors sharing their experience and tools for successfully navigating within the optometric profession.

The Passport Program will also return to encourage participants to meet and receive a stamp from vendors for a chance to win prizes.

This year’s education offerings provide students a diverse selection of courses with topics ranging from glaucoma to leadership. All students are invited to audit any education session at Vision Expo East, if seats are available. Students are asked to arrive 10 minutes prior to the session start time and if there are seats available at the beginning of the session, students are welcome to sit in. Sessions suggested for students include:

Thursday, June 3, 2021
A Roadmap for Making the Diagnosis in Glaucoma

  • 7am – 9am
  • Speaker: Eric Schmidt, OD; Michael Chaglasian, OD

How I Built This: Building a New Practice from the Ground Up

  • 10am-11am
  • Speaker: Kurt Steele, OD

Friday, June 4, 2021
Practical Myopia Management for the Primary Care OD

  • 9am – 11am
  • Speaker: Christopher Wolfe, OD

Cold Start, Warm Start, Hot Start: Opening your first successful private practice in the world of private equity and consolidation

  • 2:30pm – 4:30pm
  • Speaker: Eric Baas, OD; Robert Steinmetz, OD

Saturday, June 5, 2021
The Lean Machine: A Systematic Approach to an Efficient and Cost Effective Practice

  • 7am-8am
  • Speaker: Aaron Neufeld, OD

MGD: New Technologies for Diagnosis and Management

  • 10am-12pm
  • Speaker: Mark Schaeffer, OD; Milton Hom, OD; Douglas Devries, OD

Companies interested in participating in or sponsoring a future Career Zone event should contact Suzanne Krauss at [email protected].

For more information on Vision Expo, visit visionexpo.com and follow Vision Expo’s social media channels, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.  

About Vision Expo   
Vision Expo East and West are trade-only conferences and exhibitions for eyecare and eyewear presented by co-owners Reed Exhibitions and The Vision Council. Vision Expo is the complete event for ophthalmic professionals, where eyecare meets eyewear, and education, fashion and innovation mingle. In the Vision Expo Exhibit Hall, eyecare providers can discover trends, interact with new technologies and access innovative products and services. The Vision Expo education program is driven by the profession, offering content of the highest quality and relevance to enhance overall patient care. For more information, visit VisionExpo.com and follow Vision Expo on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn.     

About The Vision Council  

As the vision care leader in enabling better vision for better lives, The Vision Council positions its members for success by promoting growth in the vision care industry through education, advocacy, research, consumer outreach, strategic relationship building and industry forums. Furthermore, through a partnership with Think About Your Eyes, The Vision Council supports consumer education around eyewear and eyecare.  

About Reed Exhibitions  

Reed Exhibitions is a leading global events business. It combines face-to-face with data and digital tools to help customers learn about markets, source products and complete transactions at over 500 events in almost 30 countries across 43 industry sectors, attracting more than 7 million participants.  

Our events, organised by 35 global offices, leverage industry expertise, large data sets and technology to enable our customers to generate billions of dollars of revenues for the economic development of local markets and national economies around the world. Reed Exhibitions is part of RELX, a global provider of information and analytics for professional and business customers across industries. www.reedexhibitions.com