Leading optical bodies have announced plans to host a wide range of the standalone CET events under one roof in 2020.
It follows a stakeholder discussion on the future of optical exhibitions in the UK initiated by the Optical Confederation and featuring Optrafair organiser the FMO.
They proposed the ‘20/20 event’ would be held at the NEC in Birmingham, creating the largest ophthalmic educational event ever to be held in the UK and incorporated into Optrafair 2020.
FMO Chairman Mark Truss said: ‘This represents the culmination of far-reaching discussions with all parts of the optical sector, to celebrate the significance of the 20/20 notation. The FMO understands the need for a range of CET events for optometrists and dispensing opticians, but we, like the other members of the Optical Confederation, are committed to using the start of the new decade in 20/20 to deliver this exciting event.’
Members of the Optical Confederation include the AOP, ABDO, the ACLM, the FMO and FODO.
Chris Hunt, chairman of the Optical Confederation, said: ‘I have seen a real need to address the difficulties that manufacturers and suppliers talk to me about – their capacity to continue to support a comparatively large number of small CET events with attached exhibitions is stretched to the limit, and the Optical Confederation seemed like an ideal forum to bring stakeholders together to see if we could find a solution.
‘I am delighted that FMO, with their years of experience in providing the UK's biggest optical trade exhibition, have grasped this opportunity to bring everyone together for one big event in 20/20.’
Bryony Pawinska, chief executive of FMO, will be approaching potential partners over the next few months.
She said: ‘It is only when you start talking to organisations that provide successful CET events that you start to understand all of the sensitivities for each provider, but my years at the College, which now offers a hugely successful CET event every year for its members, stands me in good stead in understanding what will and what won't work.
‘The FMO and Optical Confederation along with all of its members will now make the concept work, but I am confident that we can all look forward to 20/20 as the year that optics in all its many forms comes together under one roof.’