CEwire2021 is now open for early registration! 64 COPE Approved Credits 4 Live Events 1 Low Price Featuring ALL NEW LECTURES for 2021! LIVE Online: March 13 & 14 [view live schedule] April 24 & 25 May 15 & 16 June 12 & 13 Large exhibit hall with vendor discounts! Check back on this thread for the latest information about the conference.
Exhibit Hall Information As the conference approaches, we'll be updating this post with information about the sponsors and latest offers for conference attendees. You can always check out the latest list of sponsors here.
BTW I'm aware some of the speaker bios and exhibitors aren't up yet on the CEwire2021 site. I just got power back 5 days after an ice storm hit here in Portland, so wanted to get the registration site up and running ASAP. We will be adding more information to it in the days and weeks to come. Looking forward to a fun show! If you have any questions, feel free to add them to this thread -- Adam
CEwire2021 has been designed to meet the requirements of the Association of Regulatory Boards of Optometry (ARBO) through June 30,2021. No applications have been made to individual state boards. You should check with the Illinois Optometry State Board if ARBO regulations meet their requirements.
Yes Paul: Illinois requires a specific certification. CEwire checks all the boxes I and Adam believe. It's a matter of filling out their form which should mean certification is forthcoming once Adam gets the particulars in shortly.
Yes it is. They have never been very helpful. Made us wait until December to ok online CE more than just 2 hours per cycle despite the pandemic.
Just an update -- I finished the Illinois application and FedEx will be delivering it to them (along with $500) tomorrow. I'm not sure how long it will take to process, or if they will reject us (I cannot imagine why they would - we've provided more COPE-approved CE than just about anyone over the past 5 years.) I have to admit I'm totally befuddled as to why states like IL and FL are making CE providers take this extra step of registering with them individually. My understanding was that ARBO -- which is made up of boards from all 50 states -- was supposed to define a common denominator for optometric CE. And that member states could rely on it as a seal of quality, or at least as a minimum floor of acceptability. We are already a COPE administrator, and all education we provide is COPE-approved. Why is that not enough? It can't really be about the money, because the $500 registration fee isn't that great -- someone has to go through the hassle of reading the applications and processing them, so this doesn't seem like a real profit-center for the state. From our perspective as an administrator, the application process was only a little time-consuming (it took me about 3 hours to draft a narrative about us and CEwire, fill out the forms, and then -- because this is all paper-based -- find a notary public (!) willing to sign off on the application (not something I was thrilled about doing during a pandemic.) To do this for an individual state it is no big deal, but if each state or province forced us to do this.... it would be a challenge.
The costs really would escalate. As it stands, because of the size of CEwire, just getting the lectures COPE-approved is going to cost us well north of $10k. (that's just for the approval process -- not paying the speakers, producing the talks, etc...)
Thanks Richard! The 2021 show should be amusing -- I'm really looking forward to your talk. (As should anyone who is at a crossroads in their life!) We're making this year's event into a rather intense experience -- 4 live events spaced out one a month, Mid-March thru June. Because like Cinderalla's coach turning back into a pumpkin, it is highly probable that ARBO's pandemic rules are going to revert to the "before times" on July 1 (with required testing, etc, etc...) So... hope everyone hops on board what should be a fun 100-day long sprint to get your credits in. In the meantime, i'll circle back and let everyone know about Illinois when I get more info. ad
Thanks for all your efforts. It makes no sense to me except maybe trying to make money for the colleges. Wonder if it will be retroactive to CE last year?
Sources here in Illinois say that you must be an Illinois-approved CE provider - COPE-live is not enough and that CE taken online before the Nov 2020 doesn't count either. So I just coughed up $575 for the On Demand CE package from the Illinois Optometric Association. It isn't even live. But it is "approved". I really did enjoy the sessions I took last April when I was locked in at home but it looks like only 4 of the 13 hours I attended will count. Ooops - missed the part about you applying to IL for approval. Please keep me updated. I put the $575 charge on AmEx and can always dispute it.
$575, mama mia. Anyway, our application to become an "approved" provider is reaching Springfield today. They only do it by paper, which has made the process take longer...
We just got rated as the second most-corrupt state in the country and Chicago rated #1 in the country. But this is "higher" education!