February 19, 2008 
Last weekend in February 2008 in Brno exhibition center will be held International Fair of Eye Optics, Optometry and Ophthalmology, OPTA, with the theme ˝Eyeglasses for children“ …
OPTA was always a Chechoslovakian fair, very attractive for the Slovak exhibitors and visitors. Now it is officially Chechoslovakian fair. At the beginning of 2007 a new partner of fair became Optical Union of Slovakia, which joined the traditional partners – BVV Brno Trade Fair and the Association of Czech Opticians and Optometrists. OPTA Fair is exclusively supported by the Slovak Optical Union because it is the only official exhibition of the Slovak optical services.
The main theme of the fair: glasses for children
In cooperation with professional partners, theme: „Children and their vision“ was selected as the main one for the upcoming fair. Beno Blachut, president of the Association of Czech Opticians and Optometrists explains why this is so: ˝ Professional care for child vision and the appropriate and aesthetic correction is very important to happiness, well being and healthy development of our children, and above all, good eyesight enables them to achieve higher level of knowledge. Therefore ophthalmologists as well as commercially oriented optometrists and opticians must give priority to children’s vision care. ˝ Vision is a sense that has the longest developmental period in relation to other senses and its complicated functions, which require cooperation of aboth eyes, are not innate and must be acquired. Caring for children vision is also a necessary aspect because of the changing anatomy of the child’s head, we must further take into account that young children are much more active and clumsy in dealing with aids for the correction. Glasses must fit properly, and the frames should be light, stable and resilient.
On OPTA Fair 2008, optical correction supplies for children will not only be exhibited in a special display cases on stands of prominent companies, but will be a central part of the complex with the program for children. Visitors will be able to view the selected models on live models on children’s show of frames. Competition for the best exhibit of the fair, TOP OPTA 2008, which is placing a category called „glasses for children“ will take into account the theme of the fair. Professional judicial committee will be the same as the lay jury of children from kindergarten, evaluating the shown products. The other four categories of TOP OPTA 2008 are glass lenses, contact lenses and frames, including sunglasses and instruments, and technology for optics and ophthalmology. At the last fair competition were 14 exhibitors with 28 products. The deadline for registration in the TOP OPTA 2008 is the 30th January, and the results will be published on the official opening of the fair and winning products will be displayed in the Pavilion V.
Meeting on theme European Education of Optometrists
Parallel with OPTA 2008 exhibition is held a three-day meeting of European Education of Optometrists in Brno in the Trade Fair exhibition area. In Friday, the 22nd February there will be a traditional Central and Eastern European Congress for Optical and Optometry Teachers, on 23 and 24 February will be Vela-European Congress on theme of bringing together optometry schools. Meeting, a unique event of its kind is organized by the Association of Czech Opticians and Optometrists and the European Council of Optometry and Optics (ECOO) in cooperation with the undertakings Brno Trade Fairs, CIBA Vision and Essilor. Together with representatives of leading educational institutions from across Europe, the presidents of European and world professional councils and many important people from the area of optometry will be presented at the meeting. The aim of the meeting is to enable the unification of optometry education within the EU, to initiate an active international cooperation of all participating polytechnics and provide an ideal springboard for further collaboration.
News in the organization
The organizers have prepared a lot of news to present. The nomenclature was changed, ie, extended with other groups of products, among other things, children’s glasses, protective glasses … The opening of the fair is also changed. At the request of exhibitors, on Saturday the fair will be open until 19.00 h, and the time of opening of the fair on Friday may also be prolonged. All visitors must be registered, and the most economical would be the pre-registration on the Internet. For the first time the VIP card, a ticket for the fair and tickets for public transport will be in the form of one card. Also there will be a social program on Saturday night … Come and see for yourself!