Set near the dazzling Las Vegas Strip, the 2024 Annual Meeting welcomed nearly 900 attendees – including a record-breaking number of first timers – for an action-packed celebration of the PECAA community. The event marked PECAA’s 15th Annual Meeting and included opportunities for networking, education and peer collaboration, empowering members with insights and ideas they can immediately apply in their practices.
PECAA Regional Leader and Cold Start Program alumni Kennard Herring, OD, of Nostalgic Eye Care in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, shared that the event’s community-centric environment is his favorite aspect.
“PECAA’s Annual Meetings exude a family reunion vibe. At last year’s event, I gained real insights from other practice owners on how to best implement a dry eye specialty. It was special to reconnect this year with those same people who were willing to invest time in my growth.”
Donation To PECAA Gives Beneficiary Breaks Record
In keeping with the tradition to enable positive change in the communities that host the Annual Meeting, attendees had the opportunity to support local nonprofit Goodie Two Shoes through the PECAA Gives program. The organization was founded by retired NFL San Diego Charger Tony Berti and his wife Nikki to provide shoes to children in need in the greater Las Vegas community. Thanks to the generosity of the PECAA community, Goodie Two Shoes received $38,128 to support its mission – the most amount raised in PECAA Gives history. A huge thank you to all who donated!
Since the inception of PECAA Gives in 2016, more than $147,000 has been raised on behalf of the various charities for which PECAA Gives has raised funds.
Annual Meeting Keynote Speakers
Kristen Hadeed
Opening keynote speaker Kristen Hadeed found success as an entrepreneur, two-time TEDx speaker and author, but her journey wasn’t without challenges.
In her presentation, Hadeed confessed that her story began with a simple dream to buy a $99 pair of jeans. To earn the money, she placed an online ad offering to clean homes for exactly $99. Unfortunately, her ad was answered by the homeowner of a 5,000 sq ft home and Hadeed had no idea how to actually… clean. Luckily the homeowner offered to teach her, and Hadeed’s side hustle, Student Maid, was born. But, after bringing on 60 employees to meet the needs of a large contract, she learned that being a boss was harder than she thought when 75% of her staff walked off a job. She vowed from then on to learn how to be a great leader.
Hadeed shared that leaders can build happy, loyal and high-performing teams by supporting them with realistic growth opportunities, care for their wellbeing and real connection to the company’s purpose. Leveraging this philosophy, Hadeed propelled Student Maid from a small cleaning company to a business known on a global scale for its culture of belonging, its focus on people and its purpose of building leaders.
Hadeed closed with this message to practice owners: “We have survived 100% of everything that we’ve been through. Why do we think we can’t figure this out?”
Lynn E. Lawrence CMSgt, USAF, MSOL, CPOT, ABOC, COA, OSC
Decorated 30-year Air Force veteran and nationally recognized ophthalmic technician Lynn E. Lawrence credits much of his practice success to his military training. During his career he was appointed by the Air Force Surgeon General as the Ophthalmic Career Field Manager for 540 Optometry/ Ophthalmology technicians at 90 locations and oversaw quality control for 133 optical stores world-wide.
Now he develops training, compliance and staff development materials because of his passion to see others grow in the optometric profession. During his session, Lawrence shared the essential elements for a thriving practice.
He challenged doctors to realize the importance of their profession, emphasizing that while fashion has a place in the industry, eye care professionals practice medicine, first and foremost.
Lawerence noted that from his experience, leaders often make the critical mistake of assuming their practice is running smoothly but explained that every part of the practice must be evaluated for opportunities and challenges to achieve true success. He reminded that, “If it’s important, it’s worth measuring.”
Jim Abbott
Former Major League Baseball pitcher and Olympic gold medalist Jim Abbott shared in the closing keynote that he never wanted to make a big deal about not having his right hand. He grew up in Flint, Michigan, which he called a ‘tough’ town. The school coaches attempted to keep kids on the right path by opening gyms at night so they had somewhere safe to play. For this reason, his town produced many athletes and Abbot wanted to be just like them. Grounded in creativity, accountability and trust, Abbot would go on to play 10 seasons on four different MLB teams.
He recounted specific moments that shaped these values, starting from when he was a kid and expressed interest in playing baseball. He had to get creative in how he would play a game that conventionally requires two hands. He met the challenge by quickly learning how to throw and catch a baseball one-handed.
During his time in the big leagues, young fans served as his reminder to not let your circumstances keep you from succeeding in life, and he always left the mound inspired to do his best.
As a New York Yankee in a matchup against the Cleveland Indians, Abbott had butterflies but trusted in his pitching – the game ended up a no-hitter with Yankees as the victors. “Being able to call upon what you know best will take you where you want to go,” he said.
Small Group Connection Opportunities
This year’s education lineup included several ways for both doctors and practice staff to get the most out of their learning experience, including two forums that fostered small group connection: Dine and Discover Dinners and Peer-to-Peer Breakouts.
The seven Dine & Discover Dinners offered insights on the newest industry trends, as well as an opportunity to share practice knowledge and connect and collaborate with other members of the PECAA community over a meal.
The 15 Peer-to-Peer Breakouts for doctors and practice owners covered a wide range of topics including boosting profitability for single-location practices, strategies to revolutionize your frame board management, crafting success with aesthetics, dry eye and IPL therapy, unlocking hidden gems in your PECAA Max membership and more!
Member Appreciation Event
The now legendary Member Appreciation Event returned bigger and better than ever with a Boogie Wonderland theme that transported attendees back to the 1960s and 70s. Guests dressed the part and danced the night away to the music of the Boogie Knights who are heralded as ‘the greatest disco revival show in the world.’
