Chris Bennett: Optrafair is your one-stop networking shop

It’s a bizarre irony that with time increasingly short, and valuable, optical professionals are continually pestered with requests to attend events.

Hardly a week goes by without the opportunity to attend a conference, exhibition, user group, or jolly. But stop; there is only one date you really need to put in your diary – April 1. This is when the whole of the optical business comes together in the heart of the country around Optrafair.

Optical folk are naturally gregarious, inquisitive people, given the opportunity to earn CET points, see new products, hear new ideas, network or have a jolly – the lure is too much. It’s great to catch up with colleagues and competitors but losing so many days in practice is not ideal. A rash of niche, me-too events has placed a massive cost on those who supply optical practices. Ultimately that means you and your customers pay the price.