MIDO 2024: 40,000 ATTENDEES OVER 3 DAYS!
The 3-day eyewear show concludes at Fieramilano Rho. Unbridled enthusiasm at MIDO 2024: 40,000 attendees over 3 days.
President Giovanni Vitaloni: “Prior to the show opening, we had hoped for an increase in visitors compared to last year. Thanks to everyone’s efforts and the industry’s trust in us each year, we achieved the ambitious goal we had set for ourselves”
Milano, 6 February 2024 – The international eyewear trade show hosted more than 1,200 exhibitors in the 7 pavilions of exhibit area and welcomed more than 40,000 attendees during the 3-day show, an 11% gain over last year. The upswing was equally distributed among Italian and international participants. The latter, specifically, came from 160 countries, from Asia to the United States and all of Europe.
“Prior to the show opening, we had hoped for an increase in visitors compared to last year. Thanks to everyone’s efforts and the industry’s trust in us each year, we achieved the ambitious goal we had set for ourselves,” remarked MIDO President Giovanni Vitaloni. “Throughout the exhibit area, we witnessed active sales and keen interest by buyers who were here thanks, in part, to our partnership with ITA-Italian Trade Agency, where Made in Italy is synonymous with quality, excellence and transparency. The presence of the entire supply chain ensured vitality and diversity of supply and demand, validating MIDO as the only industry show with this characteristic.”
Visibility in traditional media (newspapers, radio, TV), social networks and digital platforms, in Italy and around the world, is also a measure of success for the eyewear show. This year, approximately 400 accredited journalists attended the show and published more than 150 articles, just during the 3 days of MIDO, in Italian, French, German, Argentine, British, American, Indian and Dutch media outlets, to name only a few.
Equally important was online activity by the many users interacting in real time with the show. The social channels reached 50% more people than last year and the event’s content generated more than 2 million impressions. Interactions exceeded 250,000 and 25% more users downloaded the App, a considerable increase in rate of use, thanks also to the new tool for exhibitors that allowed them to log visitors to their stands.
The MIDO 2024 | Digital Edition, with nearly 12,000 subscribers, saw an increase in showcase pages, up from 650 in 2023 to 845 this year, highlighting the extent to which exhibitors consider it increasingly advantageous to combine in-person participation with virtual activity.
Amid the MIDO aisles and stands, sealing deals and networking are the essential added value, the motor that each year drives many companies from all around the world to participate in the Milano trade show.
But MIDO is also culture, cross-fertilization, exchange of views on the industry’s future and interaction between practical and potential solutions. Which explains why the conferences held in the OTTICLUB space are so valuable. In this always-packed arena, the 2024 discussions with high-profile guests like Diego Dalla Palma, Ico Migliore and Ernst Knam revolved around beauty, design and passion. Interviewed by Francesco Morace for the MIDday Talks series of meetings, the guests considered the new, less stereotyped model of beauty currently at the forefront in the world of aesthetics, structured sustainable lightness in design, and artisanal intelligence – a necessary return to the roots. The MIDday Talks will continue throughout 2024.
Sustainability was also in the spotlight with the presentation of the CSE: Certified Sustainable Eyewear program – voluntary international certification of product sustainability – registered and promoted by ANFAO. Time was also allotted to the current hot topic of inclusion with the conference on inclusive language in the Empowering Optical Women Leadership Program, during presentation of the results achieved at one year since the inception of the program that supports women in leadership positions in the eyewear industry, organized by ANFAO, sponsored by Fondazione Marisa Bellisario and supported by the Ente Bilaterale Occhialeria. “Sustainability and inclusion are two topics dear to ANFAO and we made that clear this year with the presentation of two key projects that highlight the actual, visible efforts of the Association on a daily basis in the eyewear industry aimed at improving it and making it even more competitive,” stated ANFAO President Lorraine Berton.
The medical-scientific aspects of eyewear were addressed at 3 round tables focused on myopia and presbyopia. A major joint agreement on the topic was proposed during the meeting titled “Presbyopia and multifocal lens prescription: the patient’s ideal path from the eye doctor to the optical center and vice-versa”, promoted by the ANFAO Lens Group, Federottica and Fabiano Gruppo Editoriale. For the first time ever, a development program was presented under which the ophthalmologist can provide to the optician – through a new prescription based on the greater level of information that the medical sphere might have at its disposal regarding currently available solutions – and that the optician, when specific situations arise requiring medical intervention can, with the patient’s consent, relay to the ophthalmologist who will then be able to examine the conditions based on significant background information.
And, lastly, the MIDO AWARDS, an overriding point of interest on day two that honored the optician’s centers, exhibitors and industry professionals who are committed every day, in various areas, to improving themselves and their profession, to the benefit of the entire supply chain. All of the award winners can be found on the official site mido.com.
The next date with MIDO will be from February 8 to 10, 2025 at Fieramilano Rho.
To stay up-to-date on MIDO news, visit www.mido.com/en/ and the social channels: Instagram @mido_exhibition, Facebook @MIDOExhibition, X @MIDOExhibition.
