Nearly 1,500 eye care professionals and people from the optical industry attended Hakim Group’s annual retreat on December 2-3 at the Telford International Centre.
Attendees raised more than £1,600 for Vision Aid through sales at the pre-loved Hakim merchandise stand, which included branded Christmas baubles and re-usable coffee cups.
Imran Hakim, CEO of Hakim Group, welcomed delegates to the conference and said the company expected to include 400 independent practices in the next few months.
The event programme had a focus on fear and courage, which Hakim said were intrinsically linked before asking the audience what they feared the most.
Conference host Dr Andy Cope, a specialist in positive psychology, then took to the stage and told attendees that the weekend was about stepping out of our own fears and meeting our potential.
The first speaker on day one was Michelle Poler (pictured), author of Hello Fears, who spoke about her journey conquering 100 fears for 100 days.
She documented each day of her project on YouTube and faced her biggest fear on the last day, public speaking at a TedX event, before growing the 100 day movement further.
In the afternoon session, Deri Llewellyn-Davies shared his inspiring story to live a life of no regrets, including his near death experience while climbing Everest.