Munich’s Messestadt played host to Opti Munich 2020 in early January, welcoming more than 28,000 visitors and 667 exhibitors from 40 countries. Delegates flock to the southern German city for what is widely regarded as one of Europe’s best optical shows seeking the very latest in technology, fashion and frames. Dynamic new ideas are a big draw to the show and the Opti educational programme for 2020 did not disappoint on this front.
Nestled in Hall 4 of Opti Munich’s 60,000 square feet of space was the Opti Forum, the show’s one-stop shop for education and innovative ideas. Previous iterations of the Forum have covered such zeitgeist topics as artificial intelligence and online dispensing, with this year’s schedule building on these areas. Tradition versus innovation, optical start-ups and disruption, teleoptometry and social media were all covered in depth, with talks attracting large, interested crowds.
Tradition and innovation
Friday saw the first of these topics covered with a panel discussion entitled Tradition versus Innovation: Succession Planning. In Germany a large proportion of independent opticians are multi-generational family businesses, with children born into optical families often slated to take over from their parents eventually. This can create tensions; when a person with innovative ideas assumes the helm of their parent’s business they inherit the good and the bad, and it can be hard to modernise practices with the constraints of staff and continued family involvement.
As an optical student on the panel, Ann-Isabel Mattern, explained: ‘You can have an already existing relationship with the ethos of your parents’ business which allows for a base to build and innovate from, but the market is so flooded that preserving and emphasising the family focus of the business is an advantage. Considering this, determining how much innovation I dare to implement can be difficult.’
This fundamental tension between tradition and innovation plays out in the UK too, albeit more regularly outside of a family structure. The other panel members were drawn from other positions in this debate, consisting of another university student currently working in their parents’ practice, a third-generation optician who had recently taken over his family business, and an older practitioner who had taken over the non-family practice that he worked in.
After discussing the relative merits of innovation and tradition, the panel amicably came to the conclusion that each in moderation was desirable in a practice. Communication was lifted up as the lynchpin of ameliorating tension in succession; one panel member explained that while it was frustrating to have to explain the value of social media to staff, who had previously worked under their father, strong communication solved the issue and the practice team was now on board.
Disruptors
Start-ups are by now an established model for creating young, innovative businesses. Optics is an industry no stranger to disruption, prompting a Friday afternoon Opti Forum lecture to focus on the area and how to create an effective start-up.
The panel discussion featured a range of entrepreneurs, who had successfully started their own optical businesses, and investigated what drove them to break the mould and do something different. Among other start-up aficionados in attendance were Kilian Wagner from Viu, Michael Menig from Annu GmbH and Hulya Yig-Ozgen from Brille auf Radern.
Yig-Ozgen explained how she had been inspired to start her own disruptive business because of her need for flexibility, being a mother of two young children. Her business, Brille auf Radern, translates as Glasses on Wheels and sells frames directly to the consumer via an online store. She commented: ‘There is a climate change in Germany, and I believe that online and offline businesses can work together for the benefit of everyone.’
Rather than focusing on the effects of disruption the panel discussion skewed more towards exploring how to effectively set-up a disruptive business. The panel participants explained their stories in turn, emphasising the value of non-standard marketing throughout. Utilising influencers properly, investing in business networks and remaining open to change were the main themes of each panellist’s success, with a scalable business model held up as important. Attendees to the discussion were more interested in how they could co-opt these techniques for their own businesses and the panellists confirmed that these techniques were valuable for all business owners, not just start-ups.
Online presence
Social media’s marketing power is widely appreciated, but how to actually utilise it to the benefit of a business is more complicated. On Saturday, Opti Forum hosted an explanatory lecture entitled Social Media – More local presence for medium-sized businesses. Hosted by the CEOs of EyeDefinition Michael Lammermann and Felix Mueller, the talk examined how social media can be used to increase local presence online and compete with multiples by building communities.
Lammermann highlighted the stakes of not adopting a social media strategy: ‘Multiples can afford traditional media adverts and are already well known, but media has become social. Medium-sized businesses haven’t taken advantage of this yet and they will have to if they want to survive.’
Mueller followed Lammermann’s call to action with a methodical explanation of how to make the best use of social media, explaining in detail how to use YouTube, Facebook and Instagram’s advertising platforms to reach targeted audiences in a local area. Videos, their effectiveness as communication tools and their value as brand advertisements, were covered in depth, with Mueller recommending that practices create their own content for their communities.
Teleoptometry
One of Opti Forum’s most anticipated sessions was Saturday’s panel discussion on teleoptometry. Featuring experts from across the debate, the workshop examined the untapped potential of remote optometry while considering whether more training and legal regulation is necessary.
Representing the potential of teleoptometry were Dr Anne Wildeck and Peter Haubold-Kretschmer, from an eye centre in Eisenhüttenstadt which provides digital consulting for specialist eye care through its network of practices. These two practitioners constituted the pro-teleoptometry delegation, while the German Central Association of Opticians and Optometrists vice-president Christian Müller provided most of the counter-arguments. The panel was completed by two moderates in Dr Amir Movahed Parasta from digital patient records provider Epitop and Dr Ludger Wollring, from the Professional Association of German Ophthalmologists.
The standard arguments for and against teleoptometry were made, with Wildeck questioned on whether proper care could be taken with patients when only a photo was seen and further questions could not be asked. The profit motive of teleoptometry was also questioned in terms of accruing patients. Safety was of paramount concern to all panel members, with disagreements focusing on method and implementation rather than inherent viability.
Debate was friendly and professional, with the panel eventually agreeing that implementing a degree of teleoptometry would be necessary in the future, although breaks would have to be applied to some areas where questions still need answering. Wildeck summed this up, saying: ‘Why do we have to decide on one or the other? Why can there not be both patients going into ophthalmology clinics and a bit of teleoptometry to support this?’