VM Live Hosts Millennial Project Event, Power in #s

NEW YORK—95 million eyes. That is roughly the number of Millennials' eyes currently using of some sort of vision correction. How to engage this powerful consumer segment was the focus of a VM Live Event called Power in #s; Maximizing the Potential of the ‘Hashtag Nation,’ part of VM’s ongoing Millennial Project, held on Wednesday, June 3, 2015 at The Waterfront Beach Resort in Huntington Beach, Calif.

More than 100 national and regional ECPs and ODs were on hand to hear Matt Rednor (@mrednor), founder and CEO of Decoded Advertising, speak about “Millennial’s ‘IRL’” by offering some general insights on the generation and how to appeal to them from a retail brand perspective. While, Erin Gargan (@socalsocialite), founder of Socialite, LLC, an “experi-social” marketing agency, addressed how social marketing messages are the best way to reach Millennials in “Instant Messaging.”

Rednor and Gargan were followed by a moderated panel of optical retail and ECP experts who all provided a distinct point of view in “Group Chat” on how they have found success with the Millennial consumer as an eyewear customer and patient. Participants included:

Julia Gogosha (@gogosha) – owner of Gogosha Optique, two high-end, service and design driven optical boutiques in Los Angeles.
Aaron Lech, OD – owner of ClearVue Eye Care in Roseville, Calif., and a member of the Primary Eyecare Network advisory board.
Matthew Geller, OD (@MatthewGellerOD) – founder and CEO, OptometryStudents.com, NewGradOptometry.com and CovalentCareers.com (co-founder); optometrist at Lakeside Eyecare and Casa De Oro Eyecare in San Diego, Calif.
Kate Doerksen (@KateDoerksen) – co-founder and CEO of DITTO.com (@ShopDitto), an e-commerce designer eyewear site with proprietary 3D virtual fitting technology.

Sponsored at the Premier level by VSP and by Essilor as a Supporting sponsor, the event was followed by a cocktail hour for attendees and speakers. The first of a series, a second VM Live Millennial Project event is planned for the fall on the East Coast.

Look for more coverage of Power in #’s on VisionMonday.com, coming soon.

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The Vision Monday Millennial Project hosted their first VM Live event called Power in #s; Maximizing the Power of the ‘Hashtag’ Nation on June 3 in Huntington Beach, Calif.

A mix of national and regional retailers and ODs attended the afternoon event meant to explore the growing influence of the Millennial generation and how to engage with them more effectively.

(L to R) Dave Plevyak, Julie Berge and Dan Stevenson from Premier Sponsor, VSP Global, like many attendees, took the opportunity to mingle before the event started.

Kristen Reynolds (l) and Rene Soltis of the Vision Council.

Vision Monday’s Deirdre Carroll (l) and Marge Axelrad (r) with speakers Aaron Lech, OD (center left) and Matt Geller, OD, (center right).

Alanna Martin of Clearvision (l) and Pamela Gibson of Shamir.

Maria Trujillo (l) and Taylor Lam, OD, of Garvey Optometry.

Jobson’s Marc Ferrara welcomes attendees.

Vision Monday’s Deirdre Carroll kicks off the program with an introduction.

Matt Rednor of Decoded Advertising spoke about “Millennials ‘IRL’” and broke down the general characteristics of the generation.

Rednor’s presentation had the crowd riveted.

Erin Gargan of Socialite LLC gave a dynamic presentation on social media messaging to Millennials.

A packed house took in the full program.

The program ended with a “Group Chat,” a panel discussion moderated by VM’s Carroll (l), where ECPs offering four different perspectives introduced their businesses and approach to Millennials. Here, Kate Doerksen, CEO and co-founder of DITTO.com, addresses the crowd.

(L to R) The full moderated panel included Doerksen; Julia Gogosha, owner of Gogosha Optique; Matthew Geller, OD, a practicing optometrist, as well as founder and CEO of OptometryStudents.com, NewGradOptometry.com and CovalentCareers.com (co-founder); and Aaron Lech, OD, owner of ClearVue Eye Care.