Class – ‘Contact Lenses of the Americas Specialist Symposium’ – is an initiative led by Carlos Mayoral (Key Account Manager – Latin America) whose vision was to bring world-class specialty contact lens education to Latin America in an inclusive and accessible format. Class was launched as an educational conference, first held in Bogota, Colombia in 2018, and then Buenos Aires, Argentina in 2019.
“Having the event with simultaneous translation enabled us to make the latest knowledge available and accessible to a market which is eager to develop and learn more.”
Carlos Mayoral, 2018
Both conferences proved extremely successful, with more than 1,500 local participants across the two events, complemented by many international sponsors, speakers and exhibitors. With everything planned for Class 2020 to take place again in Colombia, the Covid-19 Pandemic called for us to adapt the event. It was not possible to travel and hold a physical conference, so instead, we introduced ‘Class Online’.
“Whilst physical congresses remain unfeasible, we will continue to keep the specialist contact lens community together, offering free education and bringing more countries and companies on board.”
Carlos Mayoral, 2020
We were blown away by the support of our sponsors and speakers. They helped us to deliver an extremely successful specialty contact lens event, with more than 140 presentations in English, Spanish and Portuguese. We were very proud of the reception received for Class 2020 Online, which brought together more than 40,000 participants from over 120 countries. A far greater reach than initially expected!
We are still living in very challenging times, with the Pandemic continuing to affect so many lives worldwide. As such, we felt it was not suitable to hold a physical conference this year. So, following the success of Class 2020 Online, we believed that there was an opportunity to grow our audience from last year, and deliver another virtual conference – this time with a more Global program.
I am personally very delighted to welcome new speakers to the Class 2021 program from the United Kingdom, Russia, India and China. In total there will be more than 200 presentations in a variety of languages, including English, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Chinese and Arabic. Class 2021 will bring the latest and most comprehensive information on specialty contact lenses, not only to the Latin American audience but to a global audience.
Another addition to this year’s program is that of Academy talks. We have partnered with Academic Institutions from around the world that have provided extensive talks on specialty contact lens education, as well as information on their associations and how they can support practitioners in their regions.
At Contamac, we are all very excited to launch this 4-week educational marathon to the world – during which we hope to provide valuable, insightful and contemporary education and information to the industry. In such a difficult time, both personally and professionally, this is an opportunity for us all to come together and share knowledge across countries, languages and cultures.
I’d like to raise a physical glass to virtual success! And hope to see all of you soon!
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