LONDON—On February 1, the organizers of 100% Optical (Media 10) announced the postponement of the 2021 trade show to January 2022. The 2021 event was scheduled for May 8-10 at ExCeL London, having already been pushed back from January 2021. 100% Optical will now take place from Jan. 29-31, 2022 at ExCeL London. In addition, 100% Optical announced a two-day virtual event called 100% Optical Online which will take place from May 23-24 2021. This online event will offer the opportunity for opticians and optometrists to network and meet suppliers as well as gather essential CET points.

Nathan Garnett, director for 100% Optical said, “With restrictions likely to stay with us for longer than we had all hoped and anticipated, we feel it would be better for all of our loyal and supportive delegates, clients and partners to postpone the event. We want to come back with a bang. We have the backing now of all the major optical bodies, so I can assure you we will all be pulling together to make 100% Optical 2022 a truly effective trade show for the industry to help recover from this terrible pandemic. If we staged an event with limited attendance, and travel restrictions in place for our overseas exhibitors and visitors, we feel we would not be best serving our clients."

Henrietta Alderman, chief executive officer of the AOP, said, "We are very disappointed not to be able to deliver the event in May as planned, but we know this is the right decision for visitors and exhibitors. Our continued focus this year will be to work with Media 10 as the official event partner, to ensure education content still delivers in May, to support members in getting the points they need in the final year of the CET cycle.

"We know that the year ahead will still challenge us, but through our continued partnership we are confident that the next event will be our best yet. My hope is that 2022 will deliver as a celebration and will allow us to come together in person to discuss the challenges, opportunities and advancement of our profession,” Alderman said.

Stuart Burn, chairman of the FMO commented, “The FMO fully support 100% Optical's decision to postpone the event until next year. Whilst it’s disappointing not to be able to meet up this year we now have the time to build an even more exciting and engaging conference and exhibition. 100% in Jan 22 is shaping up to be the most exhilarating optical event the U.K. will have ever seen and we can’t wait to see our friends, colleagues and customers there.”

General secretary to the Association of British Dispensing Opticians, Sir Anthony Garrett CBE HonFBDO said, "Whilst it must have been a difficult decision to move 100% Optical from May it is clearly the right one. The sector can now concentrate on January 2022 and make sure that the show is a huge success. We at the Association of British Dispensing Opticians look forward to fully supporting it."

Registration is open online for both 100% Optical 2022 and 100% Optical Online.