Southern Regional Conference remains a strong fixture

Optometrists could earn up to 55 CPD points through the education program, with sessions running over three day and dual streams held concurrently on the Sunday and Monday. Keynote speakers were Professor Blair Lonsberry and Doctor Jim Thimons, both of whom presented at several sessions throughout the three days.Attendance reached 972 attendees, slightly down on the 1,115 attendees in 2012. However, organisers were not concerned about the slight drop, with Victoria SRC coordinator Helen Papadimitriou saying: “2012 attendance was considered to be an anomaly due to a change in the CPD point syst that year. So we’re extrely comfortable with 972 attendees this year, particularly considering it is an ODMA year, when historically attendance will slightly dip anyway.”There were 51 exhibitors with the exhibition hall buzzing during the breaks in the education program.Returning on the Saturday evening was the SRC Dinner with 480 delegates in attendance. Additionally, with the acknowledgent that rural optometrists’ challenges can be unique, such as often having to call upon a broader range of skills, SRC this year also offered the Rural Optometrists Dinner on the Sunday evening, which provided an opportunity for rural practitioners to share challenges, experiences and ideas.Next year, SRC will be earlier in the year during the summer months and daylight savings – on 1-3 March 2014.