Floor demonstration at AAO Atlanta 2008

I was fortunate enough to find time to attend the Academy meeting in Atlanta.  It was equally as overwhelming as other residents had told me, given the immense publicity that the companies bring to the conference.  Several days of the conference were dedicated toward subspecialties, while the last few included general ophthalmology talks.  Each lecture required additional registration fees on top of the floor passes. Given that I had little to benefit from learning about the latest surgical techniques, I attended the free conferences, which were surprisingly informative (One lecture for those new to practice discussed coding and billing issues, a topic that I doubt I would learn much in residency).  I also attended two evening events, one at the Georgia Aquarium, the other at the CNN Tower. Very impressive to the greenhorn.

The trade floor itself was decked out in style. Hundreds of vendors hawked their wares in an expansive grid of tables. Surgical instruments, books, imaging machines, and anything one could imagine lined the floor. Some venders provided cookies, drinks, even ice cream to lure attendees to their booths. 

Overall, it was a good experience. Although I probably won’t be returning in another 3 years, I’ll know what to expect next time I return. Of course, no trip to Atlanta was complete without touring the Coca-Cola factory museum. It was conveniently located within a 5 min walk through centennial park. I sampled all 40+ flavors of Coke products over the course of 3hrs…definitely worth the $20 admission fee!

outside of the Coca-cola museum

lobby of the Coca-cola museum

Yum!

computing coca-cola, pharma