The 16th ESCRS Winter Meeting in Prague hasd continued the improvements made in both the format and content of the recent meetings held in Budapest in 2010 and Istanbul in 2011.
“The first winter meetings held in the late 1990s were almost entirely dedicated to refractive surgery,” he said, “and the main autumn meeting was predominantly a cataract meeting. In recent years, the thrust of the winter meeting has evolved and I think it has evolved very much for the better,” said ESCRS President Dr Peter Barry.
Dr Barry (pictured above with Pavel Studeny, the ESCRS Board member from the Czech Republic pointed out that the society had made a commitment to hold the winter meetings in emerging European countries that in the past might not have had the opportunity to host major international meetings. “The winter meeting now has a similar format to the main summer meeting in terms of symposia, free papers, instructional courses and wet labs,” he said. “It might be somewhat more didactic than the main meeting but it also has innovative components similar to our main meeting.”
Dr Barry said the ESCRS was also very grateful that the international industry had continued to support the winter meeting to ensure that there was a lively trade exhibition at the meeting.
“The meeting is becoming more important in its own right,” he said, “and it is providing excellent opportunities for local ophthalmologists for practising and training. We also introduced lower registration fees for delegates from the countries close to Prague so that it is more economic and convenient for them to attend the meeting.”
An indication of the success of this initiative is the fact that more than 100 delegates from the Czech Republic attended this year's meeting in Prague, compared to seven attendees from that country in 2011.
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