100% Optical 2024 Review

We attended 100% Optical 2024, here's how we thought this year's event went…

With the merger between 100% Optical and 100% Ophthalmology starting this year, there were many question marks raised about how the two events would cope sharing the same space. Now the dust has settled on the event and we've had time to reflect, we're here to give our  honest thoughts on 100% Optical 2024.

I'm happy to report that this year's event massively exceeded my expectations! It's been 2 years since I last attended due to being on maternity leave so I was unsure how the changes would affect my experience. The show definitely appeared to be more commercially focused than in previous years, but still retained that connection to clinical excellence, support and education - truly the best of both worlds!

There was such a high energy in the room that was truly infectious; everyone was having a great time throughout the event. We are always networking focused when coming to 100% Optical, but people we spoke with were very positive about the commercial focus at the show which helped generate some good leads for them.

What were the highlights?

One of the highlights for me at this year's show was being able to interact with providers of surgical technologies and products, which is an area that's always been difficult for us to access in previous trade shows and conferences. This was a truly great opportunity to meet with a mixture of established clients, candidates and prospects in this part of the market.

Another highlight of mine was the focus on myopia management and control, which is clearly a hot topic right now in the industry! It was exciting to see so many product providers making this a priority and using their platform to engage the audience in this developing are within eyecare.

And finally, a true personal highlight for me was being back out and seeing people from my network! Maternity leave can be quite an isolating time so it was great to be back at this event and meeting up with people I've known for many years - it's good to know I haven't lost all my socialising skills!

Who did we meet?

In our short time at the event this year we managed to meet with some incredible companies; established clients of FMC's as well as prospects that we're keen to work with.

Particular highlights include meeting with Mainline Instruments and our most recent hire for them Cristina Greco (Marketing Manager). They were showcasing products from iCare and Oculus, this company are making waves in the market and are certainly one to watch! They foster a dynamic and patient centric approach whilst having the clear ambition to be supplier of choice for the optical sector.

It was also fantastic to see the team at Optos and two candidates we recently placed there that are due to start their new roles in March - Katie Hill and David Roberts - who will be terrific additions to Sharon Ormonde's elite team!. Having worked with Optos for close to 10 years it's great to see how our candidates make an impact and develop long-term careers with the business.

We also had a fantastic meeting with Randeep Gill at HOYA! We talked about many things such as the drive on myopia management and control and how HOYA are working to shape the future of this sector. Their passion around driving excellence within this area was palpable! We've recruited quite a number of people into their sales team and it was wonderful to see how they are developing.

In the time we were at this year's event, we caught up with over 25 candidates that we have placed (it was a very busy day!) Seeing how they're all growing into their roles is always lovely to see.

What technology caught our eye?

There was so much new, innovative technology on show at this year's event that was so interesting to see and hear from the people at the heart of development and delivery into the industry. Here's a list of the best eye tech that we thought particularly stood out:

• Optos' Silverstone Device - This combines ultra-widefield retinal imaging with integrated, image-guided swept-source OCT. This means that practices can have both technologies in one device, resulting in both cost and space benefits!
• Mainline Instruments and Oculus - They are continuing to drive their partnership with each other and are leading the way when it comes to high-quality ophthalmic solutions, with the Myopia Master being  great example
• Lumithera - Their Valeda Light Delivery System for Dry AMD was really impressive! This device is being well received and the results speak for themselves
• Altris AI - They have been focused on automated OCT scan analysis with the help of artificial intelligence through a web platform and their new Early Glaucoma Risk Analysis module. We've been talking about how AI can impact eyecare for some time now, and Altris AI appear to be leading the way and really are focused on how they can enhance patient outcome, make workflow more efficient, and improve practice performance

Final thoughts…

What was the thing we were disappointed with from this year's show? Honestly, we just didn’t have enough time to do everything! There were many great seminars that we missed out on and other parts of the event we could not get round to in one day. We will 100% be back next year, hopefully for the whole weekend!

Want to hear more of our thoughts on this year's event? Interested in talking about potential career opportunities in the ophthalmic space? Reach out to me on natasha.szombara@fmctalent.com