The 2024 Vision Expo East conference will be the last to be held in New York City before moving to Orlando, where it will now take place each year in the foreseeable future. Click image to enlarge.

One of the tentpole meetings of the eyecare educational landscape each year, Vision Expo East will host one last event in its longtime home of New York City next year before pulling up stakes for a reimagined experience in Orlando thereafter, the Vision Council announced earlier today.

“We’re confident that hosting Vision Expo in Orlando will position our customers for greater success and we’re incredibly excited to deliver a brand new, elevated and connected experience there,” said Fran Pennella of the conference management company RX, co-organizer and co-owner of VEE with The Vison Council, in a press release. “This new chapter for Vision Expo East comes with a side of nostalgia for the incredible history and opportunity that came with our nearly four decades in New York City. We are so grateful for the hospitality of New York and the Javits Center to grow our event.”

Vision Expo East 2025 will take place in Orlando at the Orange County Convention Center February 19-22, 2025. The rebooted meeting will offer “abundant opportunities for exhibitors to engage with attendees in a more centralized environment,” the release states. “In addition to offering attendees a multi-year, preferred date pattern of Thursday to Saturday, the show venue, hotels, meeting spaces and special events will all be located within a walkable area, ensuring a better connected and community-like experience.”

Vision Expo East’s final show in New York, celebrating and commemorating nearly 40 years of achievement and growth within the optical industry, will occur March 14-17, 2024. 

“We had the opportunity to make a change that aligns with the future of this industry, and we strongly believe that hosting Vision Expo East in Orlando will attract our existing loyal audience as well as expand audiences from the robust Southeast and international markets, re-engage legacy partners and ultimately support growth for everyone involved,” said Mitch Barkley of The Vision Council in the statement.