If there’s one thing we have (hopefully) learned in the past 11 months, it is that it’s best not to get ahead of ourselves. But it’s hard not speculate on how the picture for optometry and optics as a sector might look in six, 10 or even 12 months.
The recent widespread disquiet from the profession on amber phase guidance and routine testing has highlighted that communication between practitioners and the sector’s regulator and its associations need to improve. Quickly.
When I think of social media communication best practice, I look at how companies have adopted the various platforms as a first layer of customer service interaction. The best accounts communicate with users and their complaints on an individual basis, but the not-so-good accounts have stock responses ready to copy and paste. If you’ve ever raised a complaint on social media, you’ll know how frustrating it can be to receive the same cold response as everyone else. All the same, and as alluded to last week, communication from practitioners needs to improve too.
The future of trade shows is another aspect that often gets talked about. As Optician goes to press, I understand 100% Optical in May is to be cancelled and that Media 10 will try again in January 2022. If so, it will be a big blow to the UK optical sector, especially as foreign travel looks to be curtailed this year by a quarantine period on return to the UK. Even if European trade shows do end up taking place this year, will they be worth two weeks in a Sofitel at Gatwick when get you back?
The effects of the pandemic have painted a pretty bleak picture for the future of trade shows, not necessarily because the Covid-19 situation won’t improve enough for them to be a realistic proposition, but because in the meantime, we may well find an alternative.
