opti 2024 concluded: “a perfect kick-off into the optical year”
The opti organizers announced that this year’s opti ended very successfully and was a great success on all sides. This year’s opti inspired opticians as an industry highlight at the start of the year. 21,500 visitors appreciated the common hub of all protagonists from the ophthalmic world. The exhibitors’ sales successes and the communication of new trends, innovations and inspiration in new formats through the trade show’s supporting programme certainly contributed their fair share to this great community spirit.
The enthusiastic atmosphere that could be physically felt in the halls on all three days of the trade show was the result of close cooperation between the opti team, exhibitors and industry representatives throughout last year, as evidenced by the numerous statements from trade show participants.
And of course the numbers reflected the success as well, above all the 21,500 visitors from the industry, a good 60% of whom are decision-makers. Visitors came from 70 countries. Visitors rated opti particularly highly: 93.4% of all visitors rated the atmosphere at opti 2024 as good to very good, 92.6% rated opti 2024 as good to very good overall and 82.4% are planning to place orders or commission assignments after the trade show.
The almost 390 exhibitors from 28 countries represented the entire optical supply chain: from machinery and shopfitting to contact lenses and spectacle lenses, from frame manufacturers and the industry’s top brands to young independent designers. The exhibitors’ figures are almost unbeatable: 94.5% of all exhibitors rated the visitor quality at their stand as good to very good in terms of interest in the products, 91% of them rated opti 2024 as good to very good overall.
“opti continues on its successful course! The feedback from visitors and exhibitors in many conversations confirmed that our trade show concept and the date in January are absolutely right. Close co-operation and the development of a joint concept with all trade show stakeholders over the course of the last year were crucial to the event’s success. It’s great to see how the opti community loves its trade show and believes in it – the sense of community is what made this success possible!” said Cathleen Kabashi, head of opti.
Dieter Dohr, Chair of the Management Board of GHM Gesellschaft für Handwerksmessen mbH which organises opti, emphasised: “I’m thrilled! The atmosphere was incredible, the joy of the industry was palpable. The visitors wanted to experience their trade show again and they were able to do just that. opti serves as a compass for the industry in Germany, Austria and Switzerland when designing its product range and provides orientation for the business year as a whole. During this January weekend, opti reaped the success it has sown over the past twelve months through dialogue with the industry, round tables, listening and joint development.”
Exciting supporting programme
The carefully curated events and presentations on industry-relevant topics, which were developed in the spirit of #WEAREopti together with numerous partners from industry and ophthalmic optics, as well as the award ceremonies, allowed trade show visitors to discover trends and technologies, while panel discussions with experts provided answers and solutions for the industry.
“The good numbers of visitors – whether at the opti SUSTAINABILITY HUB, the opti MYOPIA HUB or the new opti TREND HUB at the opti INNOVATION AREA, which was implemented for the first time – show us that we are on the right track with the concept of our supporting programme and that the journey will continue in this direction next year,” said Cathleen Kabashi, head of opti.
The opti HUBS also received top marks in the visitor survey: a good 85% regarded the topics of the opti TREND HUB as relevant to very relevant for them, and just as many respondents positively rated the opti MYOPIA HUB as interesting to very interesting.
The next opti 2025 is to be held at the Fairground Munich from 31 January to 2 February.
