Dubai, as the destination, was a significant factor that led to the success of VisionPlus EXPO. The city reinforced its position as a key destination for travellers from across the globe.

Organised at a new event venue – Festival Arena, close to Festival City of Dubai, there was a common fear in the mind of exhibitors about the visitor turnout at the new location. But at the end, it is felt by almost all the exhibitors as well as the visitors that the venue was a good selection for its high end facilities and grandeur. 

Expectedly, the pandemic and travelling restrictions did affect the overall scale of the event, with China and Japan being genuinely missed. 

But the significant part of the event has been the confidence of 39 exhibitors representing 16 countries, and 1252 visitors from 59 countries (all figures are exact) to take part in the event and return home with happiness and satisfaction of having good business for both segments.  

‘Limited visitor turnout, yes. But every attendee was a genuine buyer’, was the common comment from the exhibitors in their feedback. The fact that 80% of the exhibitors have confirmed their participation for the next year, and 30% have already signed their contract renewals, is a testimonial to the success of the event.

From the visitors perspective, the exhibitors offered a good mix of sunglasses, spectacle frames, niche brands, lenses, contact lenses, solutions and cleaning products, RGP lenses, retail equipment, lab machinery, products for colour blindness, Virtual 3D Tryon, AR VR and OEM among others. 

I should add here a special mention of a group of visitors from Nigeria, who underwent a fourteen-day quarantine just to be at the exhibition and attend the VisionPlus Academy. Each member of this group expressed their appreciation for the quality of the show. And that was extremely gratifying to me personally.  

The VisionPlus Academy was all about quality. Despite a limited number of attendees, the speakers expressed happiness and satisfaction. I happened to see Nilesh Thite’s facebook post sharing his appreciation for the event. 

There were certain teething troubles in the management of the event which I do not wish to hide. Exhibitors faced a delay in the handover of their booth space for branding and display set up. A couple of exhibitors found the transport and logistics department support was not up to the mark. These will all be addressed and fixed in the coming editions for sure. 

Another highlight was the VisionPlus Awards Gallery which showcased all nominees of the awards this year. 

VisionPlus Awards – Night Of The Winners was held on the second day evening at a glitzy show where 21 trophies were handed over to winners in various categories. ZEISS, Exalt Cycle, Silhouette, Chopard, Oakley, Maui Jim and McLaren were among the prominent winners. 

Among Indian brands Pitt & Mitt, Kiksar and Arcadio showed their dynamism and bore fruit from their participation at the VisionPlus EXPO 2021, having both created an international presence for their respective brands. 

Image, IDEE and Dr. Harmanns were represented by our eye care division. All in all, the Indian representation of brands was lesser than its potential, but a start has been made. And that is a big achievement in itself. 

My dream has been, as you are aware, to make India an important source for global eyewear procurement.

I hope the other brands and manufacturers in India will look at the success of the first edition of VisionPlus EXPO as reason enough to take advantage of this opportunity presented to them. 

It was a pleasure seeing friends from India turn up in Dubai. They were gracious enough to compliment me for organising this event. Kiran Sheth of Eternity, Shanu Nag of Astra, Ashutosh Vaidya of Safilo, Vikas Swamy of ZEISS, Sunny Kurien of Kurian’s Opticals are some of them. Each of them was all praise for the work behind the project and wished for its success in the coming years. 

I am sure all those who missed this time will show up during the next show around the same time next year. I assure you, VisionPlus EXPO 2022 will be a show of a different level. 

Remember, if it’s from FourPlus, you can trust it to always be good!

The exhibition / The display

Big brands like ZEISS, Schneider, ICK Lens, Eschenbach, Minima, Montegrappa, Stepper Eyewear, Hello Kitty Eyewear and the list continues, impressed the visitors with the extensive display at their booths

The learning sessions at VP Academy

The lineup of celebrity speakers and the specially curated sessions on day 2 were a huge hit among the opticians. So much so, that opticians travelled from across the globe, adhered to all the pandemic-related protocol and attended the sessions – just because they did not want to miss out on the knowledge sharing. 

Day 2 at the VP Academy was focused on a lot of interesting subjects – Dr. Yaseer Habrawi, Senior Ophthalmologist and Eye Surgeon, Garhoud Hospital, Dubai spoke about the new horizons in colour blindness; Nilesh Thite, Director of Educational Programmes (IACLE) spoke about the methods to increase contact lens business; Mona Kazim, Special Needs & Learning Disabilities Consultant, Irlen Trainer and Diagnostician, Alef Centre, talked about the impact of Irlen Syndrome on digital eye strain; Fahima Karolia, Orthoptist, Sheikh Khalifa Medical City, Abu Dhabi, focused on basics of orthoptics and it concluded with a talk on Vision Therapy by Devyani Suresh Kumar, Clinical Optometrist, Orbit Eye Centre for Pediatric and Oculoplasty. 

Here is a glimpse of Day 3 sessions:

1. Dr. Christian Lappe, Director – Scientific Affairs & Technical Communication, ZEISS Vision Care, will start the day with a session on the impact of digital lifestyle on our visual behaviour. 
2. Dr. Jamel Rizwana Hussaindeen – Head of Academy, Rivoli Vision, will talk about prescribing prisms while addressing binocular vision dysfunctions. 
3. The day will conclude with a session on Digital Eye Strain by Maher Adnan Al Salhi, Education & Professional Services, Essilor Middle East, Dubai.

VP Awards

One of the biggest attractions of day 2 was the VisionPlus Awards. Opticians were eagerly awaiting the results and the wait finally ended. Winners were announced and it was a night of fun,frolic and entertainment. Everyone was a winner as the stalwarts walked away with the trophies. The night was a celebration of the excellence that the eyewear industry had achieved during the year. And why not!  The awards programme received nominations from leading brands and the jury did have a tough time short listing the nominees. Stay tuned as the results will be out shortly!

The VisionPlus EXPO 2021 is all set to establish new benchmarks with the kind of encouraging response that it has received in its first two days. Tomorrow being the concluding day of the grand celebration of excellence in eyewear, the visitors will have to look forward. So, don’t miss out on one of the most happening events of the optical trade community?

To know more, please visit www.vpexpodubai.com

Brands On Display

It is a great opportunity for the visiting optician community to cash in as the event is graced by some big brands like ZEISS, Schneider, ICK Lens, Eschenbach, Minima, Montegrappa, Stepper Eyewear, Hello Kitty Eyewear, Comes (Italy), Mei (Italy), OptiSwiss, Monogram, ICK lens, Lafont, Davidoff, Morel, Jaguar, Etnia Barcelona, Optotech, SI International, Eyepie, Celena Colored Contact Lenses, Beauty Vision (Kuwait), KNCO (France), among many others. 

Speakers Speak at the VP Academy

The VP Academy was another added attraction. It was a great session by key speaker Dr. Christian Lappe, Director Scientific Affairs &  Technical Communication from Zeiss Vision Care talking at length about Blue Light and the challenges faced on vision and ocular health and it was a great eye opener as it threw light on some extraordinary facts and broke a few popular myths. The second speaker Nilesh Thite, Director of Education Program spoke on opportunities and threats to contact lens practice and that was again very interesting as he had some valuable insights.

In the second half at the VP Academy, there were keynote speakers Devakani S kumar, Optometrist from Orbit Eyecare Centre and Maher Adnan Al Salhi from Essilor Middle East taking centre stage. While Devakani addressed the issue of Binocular Vision Dysfunction, which was an important and lesser known fact, Maher Adnan Al Salhi spoke about Myopia Control, which again is getting more and more relevant by the day. 

VP Awards catches attention

The VisionPlus Awards Gallery displaying the nominated products was the most attractive spot for all visitors. 

Dubai is transforming to become a magical city. There is so much to see, explore and enjoy during the international optical trade fair VP Expo 2021 – a must goto destination for an optician.

Dubai EXPO 20/20 is becoming the Talk-Of-The Globe in the present time and the Dubai Government is putting all efforts to make it perhaps the once-in-a-lifetime experience for the global visitors to the event.

The trending recent videos highlighting the event gives the viewer a glimpse of how life and lifestyle is going to change in the coming days at global level. India like many other countries has its own pavilion showcasing the offerings for the global visitors. All of these are guarantees that Dubai Expo is going to be a big success for sure.

To coincide with this is The International Optical Trade Fair VisionPlus EXPO – a three day event scheduled for 26/27/28 October 2021. FourPlus Media, putting its all efforts to make it a big optical event. 

Here’s an opportunity for the Indian optical fraternity to take the best advantage of making Business-cum-Pleasure trip to Dubai.

For details on travel deals to attend VisionPlus EXPO 2021

To know more about the VisionPlus EXPO 2021

To register as a visitor/ eye care professional,

Ensuring that opticians do not miss out on the chance of participating in one of the biggest celebrations of eyewear in the region, VisionPlus EXPO 2021 is offering a golden opportunity in the form of Project Hybrid. As part of this, eyewear companies from Asia can showcase their optical products through a hybrid booth — a dedicated space where they can have their latest collection displayed physically at the exhibition venue, and connect with the buyers at the exhibition virtually at the click of a button.

Each booth will have a hi-tech virtual communication pod through which exhibitors can speak to the customers, interact with them and conduct business, like they would at a regular optical trade exhibition. All this without travelling to Dubai. VisionPlus EXPO will also be providing a dedicated hostess for each hybrid booth to handle customer queries and ensure seamless connectivity.

Here is what participating eyewear companies stand to gain through Hybrid booths at VisionPlus EXPO:

• Exposure to global optical buyers visiting VisionPlus EXPO 2021, in Dubai
• A state of the art, technologically empowered booth where exhibitors can showcase the latest in their portfolio without being there physically
• A chance to let customers experience the touch-feel factor of eyewear, eyewear cases, or other accessories on display
• Impress prospective customers with a virtual communication pod equipped with high-speed 5G network

Project Eyewear

Another highlight at VisionPlus EXPO 2021 is their highly affordable 6 sqm booths in the Project Eyewear featured area.

This promises to give budding eyewear designers a chance to showcase their latest designs to the creme de la creme of the optical trade community visiting Dubai.

The aspiring designers can put their best foot forward to impress the stalwarts of the optical trade from all across the globe. In return, opticians and brand owners will get a chance to capitalise on the potential of these newcomers before they become the big names of the industry. Plus the collections displayed under Project Eyewear will add a breath of fresh air to the regular options.

They say, Dubai can make the impossible happen. And with VisionPlus EXPO 2021, that certainly seems true for optical businesses.

The VisionPlus EXPO 2021 has been drawing a positive response from the global eyewear community. It has been touted as the NEXT destination for international Eyewear Shows. Jasbir Bolar, Marketing Director of FourPlus Media and Zahra Amir, Show Director of VisionPlus EXPO spoke to us at length about their plans for the exhibition. 

Coinciding with the launch of the ambitious Dubai Expo 2020, FourPlus Media has announced VisionPlus EXPO 2021, an international optical trade fair that aims to attract buyers from over 50 countries in their maiden edition.

With major optical exhibitions internationally being cancelled, this fair gives the global eyewear companies, including regional brands from Europe, America and Asia a chance to regain their lost momentum and connect with new potential buyers.

“Dubai has unique advantages, geographically as well as culturally, to bridge the gap for buyers to procure global, international brands as well as to connect them with OEM manufacturers from Asia and the rest of the world. We’re confident that VisionPlus EXPO, Dubai will leave both ends of the optical industry spectrum equally satisfied, and give the optical trade a new direction that it deserves”, says Jasbir Bolar, Marketing Director of FourPlus Media.

Key features of VisionPlus EXPO, Dubai:

• Truly International Show: With optical buyers expected from over 50 countries, VisionPlus EXPO is truly an international show. Key global brands have already expressed intent to exhibit and participate in the exhibition.
• OEM Pavillion: A demarcated area for Private label manufacturers and Raw material provider has been allotted at the fair to attract participation from OEM manufacturers from Asia and other parts of the world.
• Launch at the start of Dubai Expo 2020: With over 25 million visitors expected to converge to Dubai, starting October 2021 to witness Expo 2020, the local purchases is expected to skyrocket.
• Culminating into The Global Eyewear Shopping Festival, Dubai: The fair is slated to culminate into a two-month-long consumer activation to boost eyewear retail in Dubai. The festival will be launched at the VisionPlus EXPO 2021.

VisionPlus EXPO 2021 is expected to position Dubai as the ‘next-for-eyewear’ in the list of global destinations. The fair is scheduled to be held on 26-27-28 October 2021 at the scenic Festival Arena Exhibition Centre, Dubai