In probably a first for optics, delegates were standing on chairs and swaying to That's Amore at the celebration dinner at the ABDO conference, writes Robina Moss. The dinner was the social highlight of the four-day event held in Brighton earlier this month.

This year’s conference confirmed it has a growing presence in the optical calendar. It was 75% up on exhibitors in relation to last year’s event and there were over 100 walk-ins for the exhibition only, however the overall turnout was slightly disappointing.

“We did have over 100 walk-ins but expected a lot more due to the south east location and the exhibition being free to enter,” said conference organiser, Elaine Grisdale. “In the end, traffic jams, bad weather, no parking and trains terminating at Haywards Heath affected that number. This meant that although up negligibly, the overall turnout for the three days pretty much mirrored Manchester which was good but below our objectives. The cocktail party and dinner on the other hand were up by between 12 and 30%.”

The conference began with a golf tournament and also crammed in cocktail parties, a hangover breakfast and the final of the Essilor Challenge Trophy for student DOs, as well as CET lectures, workshops, an exhibition and an optical-related ‘Question Time’.

Highlights of the lecture programme were the two keynote speakers who couldn’t have been more different.

From the clinical world, Professor John Marshall, chairman of the academic department of ophthalmology of St Thomas Hospital and scientific adviser to the National Eye Research Centre, presented the interesting CET lecture, the ocular effects of UV. From the business side, new ideas for marketing a practice without money were presented by the energetic Johnny Apples.

Professor Marshall told delegates his aim was to alter attitudes to everyday behaviour and his presentation certainly achieved that. He looked historically at how mankind harnessed light, from the discovery of fire through sun worship and then the development of oil lamps and candles and on to gas lighting and incandescent light in 1879. “Light is fundamental to all our professions,” he explained. It was very interesting to see the impact of lighting on society, for example the phrase ‘daylight robbery’ came about through a tax on windows.

Professor Marshall used a satellite picture taken at 3am to show light pollution on the earth and pointed out that, “Light is radiation you can see.” He then highlighted the impact as we age. It was chilling when he gave the statistics of the ageing population – an expected 1.2m centenarians in the UK in 2074, the ozone hole being three times the size of the USA plus rising UV levels resulting in increasing malignant melanoma rates. He is critical of the government’s policy to introduce new light bulbs to save energy and warned that the profession would see the health and ocular impacts that would result.

Ironically given his chosen name, Mr Apples (who began by explaining why he changed his surname to Apples to tie-in with his favourite prop) also gave food for thought and brought the conference to a lively close. Highly entertaining, he asked delegates if they wanted to be “just another apple in the marketplace of a passion fruit in their industry”.

He showed how differentiation could have a huge impact on sales. He rejected the use of email and said that in the UK, handwritten postcards worked well, however he warned against writing anything about products and services but instead recommended sending something quirky. For example, the top car salesman in the USA in the 1970s used to send a postcard each month with messages such as, I like you. He urged practitioners to identify patients who gave them the most referrals and to choose 50 or 100 to send quirky postcards to for three months to try it for themselves. He also recommended giving browsers a guided tour of the practice.

Prizes for stalwarts of the profession were presented at the dinner. ABDO presented its first special silver salver honour to John Baker who received a standing ovation for being the longest serving member of the GOC, and representing the interests of DOs on the council. John Fried was given life membership of ABDO for also serving on the GOC from 1987-2006 and his work with the SMC. Life membership was also presented to Ros Kirk.

The “Oscar of dispensing optics”, the Hamblin Memorial Prize, was presented to popular Brighton practitioner Huntly Taylor. He has been a member of ABDO for 42 years and chairman of ABDO’s south east area committee for 25 years.

Special guest at the conference was Bernard Maitenaz who received an honorary fellowship for “revolutionising ophthalmic optics” by inventing the first progressive lens 50 years ago. Sheila Hope, production editor of ABDO’s magazine, also received an honourary fellowship.

The optical ‘Question Time’ was a highlight which gave delegates the chance to put their questions to ABDO president Barry Duncan, AOP professional advisor Geoff Roberson, SMC master John Fried, the GOC’s deputy registrar Jon Levett and the board chairman of the Local Optical Committee Support Unit, Alan Tinger. They answered questions on whether DOs should be re-regulated and the controversial issue of whether ABDO should change its name, which was raised at the AGM the day before (see also OT News, October 9).

Next year’s ABDO conference will be at the venue for golf’s 2010 Ryder Cup, the Celtic Manor Resort in Newport, Wales, and the conference will be a week after the tournament, during October 9-11, 2010.

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NICK BOYS MAUI JIM
December 9th, 2009
Many thanks for an outstanding weekend, from Cass and her team through to Elaine and the ABDO directors, we at MAUI JIM thank you.