ODMAFair25 – independents converge in Sydney

ODMAFair25 struck at the heart of what makes independent optics so unique, while also confronting
some of the biggest challenges practice owners face. Insight was there for the big moments in the education program and on the tradefloor.

If there’s one clear takeaway from 2025’s biggest independent optical gathering in Australia, it’s that the industry is at a pivotal point – figuring out how to operationalise AI, alongside lifting wellbeing standards and finding new ways for practices to sharpen their point-of-difference.

These topics shone in a rich and engaging ODMAFair25 held across 27-29 June 2025 at International Convention Centre Sydney (ICC Sydney) that welcomed more than 3,250 people working in optical practices across Australia, New Zealand and internationally. That’s more than double the turnout of the Optical Distributors and Manufacturers Association (ODMA)’s last Sydney event, and even more than the organisation’s last major show, O=MEGA23 in Melbourne.

Some key moments stood out. In the education program, it was Mr Adam Spencer’s lively panel discussing with three independents about how AI is “turbocharging” clinicians, while a “signature scent” Melbourne optometrist Mr Jayson Stone had developed for his practice made his peers think about the little touches that can elevate the patient experience.

The trade floor saw many product releases, including new AI products. Image: ODMA.

On the trade floor – alongside new frames and lens releases – were future-facing products like EssilorLuxottica’s Nuance Audio Glasses, which use directional microphones and open-ear speakers to help people with perceived mild-to-moderate hearing loss. Subject to inclusion on the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods, expect to find these in practices across Australia soon, including independents.

The new Ray-Ban Meta AI glasses were also a hit on the EssilorLuxottica booth. Delegates trialling the technology looked at a sheet of Italian text, and upon the request, the glasses translated it into English through speakers discreetly hidden in the frames just above the ear. Then looking at two limes, the glasses could recognise what fruit it was, and offer a cocktail recipe.

Stepper Opti AI was a new addition this year, showcasing its new virtual reality-enhanced vision assessment to prescribe progressive lenses.

“It’s also been a year of strong collaborations on the trade floor between frame and lens companies,” said ODMA CEO Ms Amanda Trotman, the event’s key organiser.

“We saw De Rigo alongside Rodenstock, and CR Labs next to Safilo to drive interest in their Full Circle ‘complete pair’ initiative.

“Some exhibitors came to strengthen ties with existing clients, while others wrote significant business. It’s always a good sign when you see frame companies with cases scattered across the floor.”

The combined speaker schedule and trade floor expo helped draw a crowd that exceeded ODMA’s expectations.

ODMAFair welcomed 2,700 optical practice visitors, plus around 550 suppliers and exhibitors, taking total attendance to around 3,250 people. When factoring in 730 ‘revisits’ the final count reached close to 4,000 visits.

Friday was the busiest day with 1,660 visits, followed by Saturday with 1,280 and Sunday with 1,025.

But it was the calibre and diversity of attendees that most impressed Trotman most.

“We saw many practices sending multiple staff, and we’re thrilled with that. Having the owner, the optometrist, and both practice and dispensing staff all together is extremely valuable,” Trotman said.

“Twenty-four per cent of attendees were optometrist owners, 24% were employed optometrists, 20% were practice managers/staff, 18% dispensing and 14% classified as ‘other’.”

ICC Sydney, a larger venue than the Hordern Pavilion used for the boutique O-SHOW24, plus favourable weather, laid the foundation for a successful event. It also benefited from delegates flowing in from Optometry NSW/ACT’s Super Sunday and the Australasian College of Behavioural Optometry conference.

The most-attended education sessions offered insights into the big challenges and opportunities facing the independent optical industry.

‘Establishing your practice’s point-of-difference’ with optometrist Ms Heidi Hunter was a hit, along with ’21st century tools for the optical dispenser’ by Mr Steve Daras. ‘Optimising inventory’ with ProVision, and ‘How to compete with the corporates’ panel discussion moderated by Ms Emma Gillies were also well attended, along with ‘Marketing to Gen Z in 2025’ with Ms Allison Abdullah.

The Women in Optics breakfast was sold out. Image: Prime Creative Meda.

The ‘Optical Dispensers Australia frames repair workshop’ was sold out. Plus, the inaugural ‘Women in Optics Breakfast’ and keynote speaker Mr Adam Spencer’s talk on how technology is reshaping business drew large crowds.

Trotman was also buoyed by the energy around this year’s awards (see page 23 for winners), which attracted many nominations and more than 2,100 votes from across the industry.

“People said they’d never seen an awards with so many watching – there was a buzz and lots of cheering, which was heartening,” she said.

“I had people like Kristy Gierisch from Eyes Right Optical, who won joint Sales Representative of the Year, tell me how thrilled they were. Everyone was excited for her – many eyewear suppliers voted for her simply because she’s such an amazing person. It really shows the camaraderie in this room and a willingness to give praise where it’s due.”

AI scribes, tailored marketing, plus more

The proliferation of AI wasn’t just a notable difference on this year’s trade floor – it featured in the education program too.

This was spearheaded on day one with keynote speaker Spencer, a futurist, who’s opening keynote breakfast provided a high-level view of AI in business, before drilling down into what digital transformation and integration means for the optical industry in his second session.

Three independent Australian optometrists sat down with him to explore how AI is reshaping their practices – from automating patient records to crafting marketing that speaks in patients’ own words, plus more.

Dr Wilson Luu, who runs Lumiere Eyecare in Sydney with his partner Megan, uses AI enthusiastically for patient handouts, slide decks, and even coding tweaks for his website.

“I’m not a computer programmer, however I learned how to code through using AI,” he said.

He’s also leveraging AI tools to organise meetings but says AI medical scribe technology hasn’t sped things up from a transcription perspective yet. He prefers to touch type right now, but sees value in the patient summary reports from AI scribes.

Laura Reale, left, discussing how she uses AI for marketing in her Lifestyle Optical practice in Sydney; Adam Spencer, right, detailing how the technical revolution is changing business. Images: ODMA/Prime Creative Media.

On tricky cases, he’ll input de-identified details into AI to get a list of differential diagnoses: “Then I can start working through to find out what’s the actual condition, how it’s happening and translating that to my patients.”

Mr Michael Jones, optometrist and partner of RJK Optometry in Coffs Harbour, has trialled AI medical scribe tools like iScribe and Heidi to capture patient consultations.

But he’s still on the fence until it can be fully integrated with the practice management software in his practice.

“It felt a little bit false having the microphone there,” he said. “You’re talking about grandkids, what they’re up to, and then you’re having to read out your findings for them to be included in the notes when usually I’d use a shortcut on my keyboard – it just didn’t seem personal enough.”

He still sees promise in emerging AI imaging platforms, although notes the cost companies are currently seeking is “disproportionate to what we’re going to get out of it.”

Eyewear suppliers use ODMA events as a launchpad for new collections. Image: ODMA.

Ms Laura Reale, principal optometrist and founder of Lifestyle Optical in Westfield Sydney, sees perhaps the biggest shake-up in marketing. By mining her patient records for language and trends, she’s creating deeply tailored campaigns.

“Patients do not stop talking, and we’re looking for the chief complaint, but we’ve missed everything else in between,” she said. “I can’t write anything down that fast, so AI’s going to fill the gaps – and then I’ve got more content for marketing, in the patient’s language, not in the university’s language.”

She’s excited by the shift, but it did stir debate about how such practices can be conducted with incoming changes to Australian privacy laws.

“This is the first time optometry can do customised marketing to patients based on clinical information. There’s no way we could have done that legwork, or gone that deep, and then written copy,” Reale said.

Spencer summed up the bigger picture, noting AI isn’t taking over, but “turbocharging” professionals and eliminating the “drudge work”.

“You’re not losing your job to AI, but if you’re sitting next to the person at work using it, you’re going to struggle to keep up because they’re doing the job 30% more efficiently.”

Standing out

In an optical market with an expanding corporate footprint, the differentiation factor becomes even more important for independents.

That was the underlying theme when Ms Emma Gillies, director of Purple Key Consulting, hosted a panel of three Australian independent optometrists, who shared creative ways they carve out their own niche and keep patients coming back.

For Mr Jayson Stone, who opened his boutique practice Seekers Optical on Gertrude Street in Melbourne five years ago, it all began with a vision shaped by his background in architecture.

Wanting to avoid the clinical look, he briefed his interior architect friend with a simple idea: “If [skin care group] Aesop came to you and said, ‘Will you design us a store?’ – what would you do? That’s what I want, but I’ll put glasses on the shelves instead of little brown bottles.”

His creativity didn’t stop there. Seekers also boasts a custom signature scent, pumped through the practice and infused into every glasses case.

“Scent is the biggest trigger of memory,” Stone said. “The idea is patients come in, have a good experience, and every time they open that case at home, that scent brings them back to us. It keeps that connection with the customer daily.”

The ZEISS Clarus 700 ultra-widefield retinal imaging system was popular on the trade floor. Image: Prime Creative Media.

Ms Rowena Beckenham, who has run her practice on Sydney’s northern beaches for 26 years and chairs the ProVision board, believes time is her biggest differentiator.

“We treat every patient like they’re family,” she said.

Her team has meticulously refined patient flow, breaking consultations into clear stages: from diagnosing problems to explaining them in everyday language, then moving to a handover where a lens-first dispense takes place. The dispenser is held up as the front-of-house expert.

“It’s about giving reassurance that we’re doing preventative eyecare, and also making sure people walk out with the best solutions,” she said.

Joining this panel discussion too, Dr Wilson Luu, who left a health fund
role partly because he was questioned on why he had so many reviews despite doubling the practice revenue, said independence allows him to invest heavily in the patient relationship.

In his practice, visits can last 45 minutes to an hour, but not all on the eye test.

“We’ll probably spend 15-20 minutes just chatting. It might sound like you’re not getting much from a return perspective, but it’s the things money can’t buy – building relationships across generations.”

Where practices should be placing their focus

“Double vision”. That was the name of Mr Brendan Dowd’s presentation – a nod to the two most powerful forces currently reshaping the optical market.

“We can see 35% of our population was over 40 about 40 years ago,” he explained. “It’s now 48%. It’s an interesting age bracket, because it’s often an age where people start to rely a lot more on optical devices.”

“At the same time, over that same period, the incidence of myopia has doubled.”

Dowd, who heads up the ANZ sales and customer success team at global research giant NielsenIQ, provided some fascinating insights into the consumer psyche, optical industry sales trends, and where things are heading.

At the heart of the market is the patient. Drawing on Nielsen’s global data, he highlighted the five top values for Australians: protecting the family, honesty, authenticity, stable relationships and freedom.

“Thriftiness also stands out a lot higher in Australia compared to other countries,” he said, noting this could shape how optometrists should approach messaging.

“If it’s helpfulness, it’s trying to maybe engender loyalty in a time when it’s sorely lacking. If it’s thriftiness, it will obviously impact the way they shop. Consumer values drive consumer behaviour.”

Cost of living pressures are unsurprisingly top of mind for consumers. But he warned that doesn’t necessarily translate to chasing the lowest price.

“Nearly 50% of consumers said they’d prefer a lower cost-to-use, versus just 12% who wanted a lower upfront cost to buy. It’s value for money that matters – not simply what’s cheap.”

Dowd shared local research showing 70% of patients at Australian practices are repeat customers, and nearly half of practices are independently owned. Globally, price changes for spectacle lenses (+5%), sunglasses (+5%) and optical frames (+2%), all grew year-on-year, largely outpacing inflation.

That growth, he pointed out, is largely being driven by price rather than sheer volume.

“People are spending more on these products on average than they have been in the past,” he said.

Progressive lenses are doing much of the heavy lifting. They account for around 60% of overall spectacle lens value, with sales up 2%, even as single vision and proximity lenses dipped 3% and 5%, respectively.

Dowd also flagged sustainable eyewear and smart glasses are poised for growth.

“We can also see fashion sells, especially with sunglasses, so
speaking to patients around fashionable, thin and lightweight frames,
along with eco-friendly options, will only help drive your results with your patients.”

But the growth pales in comparison to myopia control.

“When we looked at overall growth for standard lenses and contacts, it was around 5-6%,” Dowd said. “But for myopia control lenses, it’s 26% for contacts and 29% for spectacle lenses. That’s about five to six times the growth rate.”

So where does this leave Australian eyecare? Dowd concluded on an encouraging note, showing about 80% of eyecare providers expect the business climate to be at least stable into 2026, with 40% within that expecting it to improve.

“I don’t know many other industries that would love to see results like that,” he said.

“From a global perspective, practitioners felt under-prepared for AI, advanced technology, but also telehealth, so that’s something to be ready for, it you’re not looking into it already.”

A new movement

ODMAFair25 may well go down as an inflection point for female empowerment and engagement in Australian optical industry.

Several informal groups – along with individuals – came together for the inaugural Women in Optics Breakfast. The sold out event is expected to serve as a springboard for more formal activities in future, helping to galvanise an increasingly feminine optometry industry.

Hosted by Corporate Wellbeing Hub’s Ms Carli Phillips and sponsored by ProVision, it delved into many of the struggles women face, ranging from high mental loads and balancing family life, through to handling relationship breakdowns and being taken seriously as a new business owner.

Phillips shared the moment she realised she was taking on too much. What was seemingly an innocuous cold deteriorated so badly that she ended up in hospital completely burnt out physically and mentally.

“The cardiologist came into my room, leant over my bed and he said to me, ‘you’re 39 years of age, and you look pretty fit and healthy. What on earth is going on in your life for you to be so immunocompromised that you are now here lying in a hospital bed?’. I said ‘nothing, just all the things I see other women doing, I’m parenting, I’m running a business, I’m doing two jobs. I’m looking after my partner, renovating the house and doing my MBA at night,” she said.

“He said, ‘stop’. And this is when time stood still for me. I actually remember staring at the lines in the palm of his hand. He said to me, ‘stop – you need to start looking after you’.”

Phillips revealed findings from a survey of Australian optometrists showing 61% are living well despite having struggles, 25% are not feeling terrible but are just getting by, 8% are on top of the world, and 6% are really struggling. The biggest causes of struggles were caring for others, work issues, and navigating change, with one in 10 saying they don’t have anyone they can talk to about their mental health.

The session reached its crescendo with a panel discussion featuring Ms Hanna Kim, optometrist-owner of Strathfield Eyecare, Ms Jacque Katsieris, managing director of eyewear supplier ProOptics, Ms Alisha Shastri,
optometrist-owner of iOptical in Melbourne, and Ms Rowena Beckenham who featured on the earlier practice differentiation panel.

Some pearls they offered were: Prioritise and block time out to work on yourself – whether it’s a pilates class or walk in the fresh air – ensure this time isn’t moved. Recognise early if you’re not OK, so that you don’t pay a bigger price later. Things like increased screentime and eating poorly can be indicators when stressful things like staffing shortages crop up.

Shastri discussed how outsourcing is key, such as social media marketing, so owners and optometrists can focus on the practice’s core activities and seeing patients.

Katsieris reminded attendees they’ve got to hold their own hand first before holding someone else’s.

The event marked the unveiling of ProVision’s new Wellbeing Program that is available to its members and will cover modules such as: the art of working smarter, high energy health eating, women’s health and midlife tools, and energy and workload management.

Looking ahead, ODMA’s next event will be O-SHOW26, set for Melbourne from Sunday 16 to Monday 17 August 2026.

ODMA award winners 2025