Drs Dean Corbett, Peter Ring, Michael Merrimen and David Kent demonstrating the more relaxed attire favoured at AUSCRS at the 2015 conference in Noosa

This year’s annual meeting of the Australasian Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons (AUSCRS) will be held at Macquarie Conference Centre, Peppers (previously known as the Outrigger), Noosa from Wednesday 17 October to Saturday 20 October.

Since its beginnings in 1996, AUSCRS has been the only local Australian and New Zealand annual meeting devoted to cataract and refractive surgery. Despite this, it remains poorly attended by New Zealand ophthalmologists many of whom are refractive surgeons and almost all of us are cataract surgeons. I’d like to encourage more attendance at our local meeting by New Zealand-based ophthalmologists many of whom would find this a useful and very enjoyable meeting to attend.

AUSCRS is a much less formal meeting than either the American or European cataract and refractive surgery meetings. Dress has always been casual with no jackets, suits or ties and the meeting has always intentionally been held at “resort" destinations in Australia and New Zealand, making it very “family friendly” to attend. The relaxed and friendly atmosphere, is also more than complemented by the high calibre of speakers drawn from across the world and locally.

There’s lots of discussion and debate, and plenty of opportunity to freely discuss topics with both internationally-renowned and local experts, truly unrivalled by similar meetings. Another annual AUSCRS highlight and tradition is the imaginative themes and formats of the sessions, with local and international speakers often dressing up in entertaining costumes, sometimes bordering on the bizarre. It has been very entertaining over the years to see world-renowned ophthalmologists dressed up in amusing costumes debating often quite controversial topics.

Some New Zealand ophthalmologists appear to be put off attending AUSCRS because of a perception the meeting is largely for refractive surgeons. This has never been the case and most of the meeting remains primarily concentrated on advances in cataract surgery. So any New Zealand ophthalmologist who performs cataract surgery would also find AUSCRS a very useful meeting to attend.

Another unique part of AUSCRS is the advanced trainee session on the Wednesday morning where some of the leading Australasian cataract and refractive surgeons present a series of educational lectures and interactive sessions for senior registrars and fellows. Feedback from registrars has always been very positive for this programme.

The conference-proper starts with an opening street party on Wednesday evening, then there are three days of academic sessions on Thursday, Friday and Saturday with the Gold Medal Lecture on Thursday morning. The meeting finishes with the AUSCRS Gala Event on Saturday night, leaving Sunday for delegates to sight-see and travel home.

The overseas speakers are yet to be announced for this year’s AUSCRS, but usually include some of the world’s leading cataract and refractive surgeons. Professor Graham Barrett continues to preside over AUSCRS and there really isn’t anyone better in Australasia with the experience and academic mana to be the leader of our local cataract and refractive surgery meeting.

I believe most New Zealand ophthalmologists should consider attending AUSCRS as they will truly enjoy it and find the calibre of education second-to-none. We should also all be supporting this ‘local' meeting to keep it sustainable in the long term. So, I hope you’ll join me at AUSCRS 2018 in Noosa this October.

For more: please visit http://www.auscrs2018.org.au/

*Dr David Kent is a consultant ophthalmologist with Fendalton Eye Clinic and Christchurch Eye Hospital. He has co-authored many papers and presented at many international meetings on laser refractive surgery. He is a member of both the American and Australasian Societies of Cataract and Refractive Surgery, and the New Zealand AUSCRS council representative.