PORTLAND, Ore.—The Professional Eye Care Associates of America alliance of independent eyecare professionals, better known as PECAA, will hold three Optical Merchandising Workshops on the East Coast this fall. Open to all interested optometrists and support staff (not just PECAA members), the one-day workshops are designed to improve participants’ merchandising, management and visual display abilities. They are scheduled for Sept. 25 in Boston, Oct. 2 in Baltimore, and Oct. 23 in Virginia Beach, Va.

The all-day workshops will be led by PECAA’s director of membership, Doug Martin, a merchandising and practice management expert with more than 33 years of management and retail experience, working for companies such as Macy’s and Neiman Marcus. They will run 7:30 a.m.-5:00 p.m., with breakfast and lunch provided. While morning general sessions are for all attendees, the afternoon is divided into two separate curriculums, one designed specifically for doctors and the other for staff.

General session topics include “Merchandising 101: The Seven Fundamentals of Effective Merchandising,” “Managing Your Frame Boards for Maximum Productivity & Profitability,” “The Power of Branding” and “The Changing Face of Eye Care.” Doctor courses offer two hours of free COPE credit and include “Exceptional Vision,” sponsored by Zeiss and “Building a Medical Billing Foundation,” presented by Jason Miller, OD, MBA, FAAO. Staff courses include “The Art of Retailing,” sponsored by Luxottica, “Two Is the New One: Selling Multiple Pairs,” sponsored by Europa, “How to Use Digital Marketing Effectively,” and “Sell This Not That: Maximizing Your Reimbursements with VSP & EyeMed.”