OPTA
8.-10.4. 2022

Exhibition stands of the only trade fair of Eye Optics, Optometry and Ophthalmology on the Czech and Slovak market attracted 4 435 professional visitors. Last year, the trade fair was visited by 3246 people in its entire duration, therefore the total annual attendance grew by about a third. "Attendance was excellent and beyond expectation. Counting also common visitors to trade fairs STYL and KABO who saw OPTA, we reach five thousand visitors, "said fair manager Vera Menšíková. The twentieth jubilee OPTA presented offers of more than a hundred exhibitors and nearly 200 brands.

The fair was attended by almost all major players on the Czech and Central European market, for whom OPTA is a key tool of the marketing mix. The exhibition stands displayed new collections of spectacle frames and sunglasses for the coming season from the world's leading brands. In addition to current fashion trends, visitors became acquainted with innovations of the correction and contact lenses and instrumentation for opticians, optometrists and ophthalmologists. An attractive part of the offer consisted of a sample exhibition stand of a private healthcare facility, prepared by the Association of Czech Opticians and Optometrists in cooperation with Essilor - Optics as a supplier of instrumentation. There are 1,027 active optometrists in the Czech Republic now – university-educated professionals who are able to provide the first phase examinations with equal qualification as ophthalmologists, while being able to devote more time to clients because they are not as pressured by performances reported to insurance companies. Optometry is taught at three universities in the Czech Republic today, each year they produce approximately one hundred graduates, including optometrists from Slovakia, where optometry education is not yet available. And optometrists were the clients for whom the sample exhibition of a private healthcare facility was intended, prepared by experts in two different economically challenging versions while meeting all the requirements of current legislation.

Highlighted theme of this year’s edition, "Fashion and Glasses" was manifested in several ways. Due to a partial date overlap with the STYL and KABO Fashion Fairs on Sunday, visitors could find out the trends in textiles, clothing, footwear and fashion accessories. On the other hand, trade fair visitors from among fashion boutique owners could visit OPTA with its innovations in sunglasses, which are also included in their goods portfolio. Some OPTA exhibitors made use of the offer to present their novelties in a showcase at the STYL trade fair and their models were highlighted at one of the local fashion shows.

An attractive innovation of OPTA 2014 featured a Styling Point under the guidance of the famous make-up artist Pavel Bauer. During the three days, the stand with five make-up artists and hairdressers saw line-ups of fashion enthusiasts seeking expert makeup and advice on how to match glasses with hair styling and overall appearance.

After some years, fashion shows have become a part of the fair, organized by the Italian company Safilo at their generously designed stand. A major worldwide supplier of sunglasses and dioptric glasses of premium brands returned to OPTA after many years and presented the most recent trends in seven fashion shows.

For the ninth time, Top Opta 2014 awards for the best exhibits were presented at the fair. Top Opta 2014 went to Safilo (exclusive glasses GUCCI GG 2235/N/S from the "Gucci Bamboo" collection, plated with 18-karat gold ), Rodenstock CR (sunglasses Porsche Design P8581) , Sagitta (ReadEasy + Move digital reading device with voice output) and Omega Optix (sales catalogue application with a complete product range of lenses and finishes created for the iOS and Android). The Professionals’ Top Opta Award where the outcome is decided by a vote of visitors to the trade fair and its website was won by a wide margin by Sagitta’s ReadEasy + Move. It is a breakthrough innovation that can dramatically improve the quality of life for all clients with visual impairment.

The fair was officially opened by representatives of the three key professional associations of Czech and Slovak Republic – the Association of Czech Opticians and Optometrists as co-host, the Optical Union of Slovakia and Czech Contactological Society. The guest of the opening ceremony Vladimír Pikora, chief economist at Next Finance, delivered a lecture on "The Economy in 2014: Will Things Be Better?"

Professional supporting programme was included as a traditional part of the fair. Friday's series of lectures in the Lecture Point in Hall B focused on specialist education and care for the blind and visually impaired. In parallel, there were also lectures on the subject of the new Civic Code and its impact on the complaints procedure. Saturday also included among others a panel discussion on the risks of laser surgery of refractive impairments or a lecture on legislative conditions for the operation of a private healthcare facility linked to the sample NZZ exhibition stand. The supporting programme provided increased space to students of optics and optometry. The highlight of the social programme was the popular Saturday After party conceived as an OPTA 20^th birthday celebration.

Quotes about the trade fair

Miloslav Řezáč, Sales Director, Rodenstock ČR:
I see this year's fair as a success and I am convinced that optics need OPTA for further development of the sector. The structure of visitors changes, in addition to the stable clientele, which is involved in all business activities, there are the newly graduating opticians and optometrists, which is definitely good. Also the business behaviour has changed. While ten years ago the fair was mainly about large orders, today we conclude them in smaller volumes, but in greater numbers. OPTA is therefore changing, but it is still meaningful for us.

Jaroslav Majerčík, co-owner of Sagitta:
This year’s OPTA was a success also in terms of the weather, therefore customers who did not get to Brno last year because of a traffic calamity also arrived. Customers were still buying rather carefully, but they were interested in new trends and the latest models. The results of this year's Top Opta exhibits competition brought us great joy, since we won the award for the first time, both from the evaluation committee and the professional community. We appreciate  it very much and thank everyone for their favour.

Alice Tobolková, company executive, Aglaja:
We see This year's fair very positively, we got quite a lot of new contacts. We arranged more meetings for after the fair with our customers, whom we missed due to popular demand. Compared with last year, traffic increased and the mood was more positive, people were more interested in the novelties instead of discounts this time.

Petr Rožnovský, CEO, PRONAP Czech Republic:
Our stand was visited by many visitors and we will probably achieve better business results than last year. There is a better atmosphere overall, people are more willing to buy, so we are satisfied.

Ivana Živanská, Marketing Manager, Omega Optix:
Visitor rate compared to last year increased in my opinion. Our stand was full from the very beginning, there was no downtime. Frames were selling well and we had success with a new Crocs brand, which we presented here. We are very pleased with the Top Opta award we received for the sales catalogue application for computers, tablets, Android, etc. On the whole, we are satisfied with this year's participation.

Kateřina Ševcová, marketing and product manager, Essilor – Optika:
It is still early for a comprehensive evaluation of the fair, but attendance was according to our expectations, we are satisfied and glad we attended. Working with the SČOO on the presentation of a model of a private healthcare facility was interesting and useful for us. For visitors, this was an opportunity to experience cutting-edge equipment and learn more about health care legislation in the follow-up supporting programme. We are very glad that whatever the attendance of the fair may be, our customers find us and come to us. Our booth was never empty.

Beno Blachut, President of the Association of Czech Opticians and Optometrists:
There are 1520 opticians establishments in the Czech Republic today, where approximately 3500 optometrists take care of the quality of Czech population’s vision. It is important to keep meeting with one another and be able to communicate, and this is what OPTA serves so well. We should overcome the current stage where our customers are particularly interested in the price and focus on the offers just using absurdly presented discounts that are attacking their basic instincts. Optician and optometrist is a profession that cares about improving the quality of life, but one certainly will not achieve the quality of vision and quality service through discounts.

Jiří Michálek, President of the Czech Contactological Society:
OPTA with its twenty years of existence is quite irreplaceable among optical events. I would like us to continue meeting, because health is irreplaceable in people’s lives and health of our eyes is what we can do something for.

The 21^st International Fair of Eye Optics, Optometry and Ophthalmology will be held on 20 – 22 February 2015.