This year, like all years, we hit the ground running. Starting in January, our industry got moving with trade shows, meetings and launches; from opti to Mido to The Vision Council’s Executive Summit to Transitions Academy to SECO to 100% Optical to Vision Expo East—the list goes on and on, and we’re only three months into 2024.

There’s never a shortage of things to do in this industry, and there’s never a shortage of takeaways from our meetings, either. Now, as we settle into Spring and hopefully have some time to take a breath of fresh (and hopefully warm!) air, we can reflect on all that we’ve learned so far.

And we have learned so much already. At this year’s Vision Monday Leadership Summit, for example, we learned about AI—how it impacts our industry and how we can make sure we’re keeping up with this ever-changing technology so we understand it and can leverage it properly. At Vision Expo East, Mido, opti, SECO and 100% Optical, we learned about the latest and greatest in the field, from cutting edge technical advancements to avant-garde frames and fashion trends.

And at all of this year’s events so far, we learned how to push ourselves and our industry forward into 2024 and beyond.

In these early days of Spring, as the sunlight hours stretch out and the weather gets warmer, we, too, can take the opportunity to warm up to new things, new ideas and a new year. We can dedicate ourselves to a new goal, a new skill—a new advancement in the industry, even. Or, we can look at what’s most important to us and realign our goals to prioritize that.

The start of Spring gives us the perfect chance to refresh, look ahead and welcome whatever is going to come next. Here’s to a lovely, fresh season, filled with new.