ALEXANDRIA, Va.—Vision Expo, the premier biannual event in the US optical world co-hosted by The Vision Council and RX, concluded in Las Vegas on Saturday, September 30, with resounding praise and excitement from exhibiting companies and attendees alike. As the curtains closed on another remarkable Vision Expo West, participants were eager to share their experiences and insights about the event. The combination of returning favorites and fresh brands at Vision Expo West 2023 created an atmosphere of excitement and collaboration.

Attendees had the opportunity to explore a wide variety of exhibitors, all enthusiastic to showcase the latest innovations in their respective fields, from high fashion to groundbreaking medical advancements.

Networking and education remained at the forefront as well, for both industry veterans and aspiring students. Vision Expo and The Vision Council have been and will remain steadfast advocates for fostering career advancement and business growth in the eyecare and eyewear sectors.

Here's what some exhibiting companies and attendees had to say.

“Vision Expo West continues to be an incredible opportunity for Safilo to support the industry and celebrate our people, products and partnership with our customers. We were excited to be present with an expanded footprint this year, host two celebratory events for the early renewals of our kate spade new york and Tommy Hilfiger global eyewear licenses, provide indispensable educational offerings, and partake in important industry sponsorships. It was also a very exciting opportunity for us to officially debut and offer live demos of our two new Carrera Smart Glasses with Alexa, in collaboration with Amazon, which received overwhelmingly positive feedback from show attendees, trade media and eyewear influencers alike.” – Vittorio Verdun, president of North America, Safilo Group

“Just seeing everybody here that shares the same passion for eye health and eyecare, I think this is just really incredible and I’m just super happy to be here.” – Diamond DeShields, WNBA champion

"The energy at Vision Expo West was palpable thanks to The Vision Council. The opportunity to create an experience for attendees to feel the essence of our brands and innovation and hear their excitement for our latest launches such as Swarovski and Ray-Ban | Meta, energizes our team even more to continue the work we do every day to support the optical industry.” – Sherianne James, CMO and SVP, professional solutions, EssilorLuxottica NA

“Vision Expo has been amazing. The energy felt vibrant, I met fantastic people, and the show was an incredible networking experience; I felt the joy of being back with all my eyecare professionals in Las Vegas. I can’t wait for Vision Expo East next year.” – Dr. Darryl Glover, optometrist and professional services special projects liaison with MyEyeDr., co-founder of Defocus Media, Black Eyecare Perspective, and Eyefrica Media

“Vision Expo made it so easy for us to optimize our time with attendees. From having a mobile app to capture sales leads, to utilizing the new customer invitation program, we were set up to have a successful show before we even landed in Las Vegas. Show traffic was fantastic and attendees were intentional and interested—we had a great experience overall.” – Victoria Hallberg, chief commercial officer of DigitalOptometrics

“I was struck by an enthusiasm level from attendees and exhibitors I haven’t felt since pre-pandemic shows. I’ve been to more than a few shows all over the world and even I was excited by the palpable energy in Vegas.” – Steve Horowitz, president of Eyewear Designs LTD

“Vision Expo was the perfect place to create momentum for all our exciting new products such as our carbon negative, one-to-one blue light readers, and Lowercase, our newest brand that is made in New York City. There was a renewed energy this year at the Show and countless opportunities to connect with our community.” – Rebecca Giefer, CEO of Modo Americas

“Vision Expo West is always an incredibly important week for us; but even more so this year as we unveiled exciting new technology years in the making. As always, the event delivered—and then some! We had high traffic and incredible engagement every hour of every day, and the overall positivity and enthusiasm seemed to be at an all-time high. We believe that N3, the new technology that we introduced this week, will enable even more eye care providers to provide incredible outcomes to their patients, regardless of binocular vision experience. Having the opportunity to deliver this message to independent optometry live and in person was invaluable to us!” – Brant Southwell, VP of marketing, Neurolens

“As a first-time exhibitor, we found Vision Expo West to be an invaluable experience, and an ideal environment to unveil Zenni Business and our exciting VR product launch alongside industry leaders. Zenni is in an exciting growth period and the expo gave us a platform to communicate our mission, expand vendor partnerships and establish new business relationships. We're thrilled by the support and collaboration. We look forward to returning next year." – David Ting, global CTO and general manager at Zenni Optical

A number of Friday and Saturday events took place after the closing of the Vision Monday Vision Expo West Dailies, and a few of those are gathered here.

Watch for additional Vision Expo West Show Recaps this weekend in VMAIL Weekend.






The Ray-Ban booth featured Cam Parker, a live digital artist.

Husband and wife team Amy and Jim Schneider at the Eyes of Faith Optical booth.

Gathering for the Latinos En Optometry meetup on Friday afternoon are Dr. Diana Canto-Sims, co-founder of Latinos En Optometry; Dr. Howard Purcell, president and CEO of New England College of Optometry; Dr. Glenda Aleman, OK Love; and Lawrence Chavez, Everyday Contacts.










WNBA Champion and Oakley athlete Diamond DeShields participated in a panel discussion to talk about her own eye health journey with Keratoconus, followed by an autograph session at the Oakley booth.

The PECAA team welcomed 344 PECAA members and vendor partners to its member appreciation reception at Cañonita Restaurant. PECAA Solutions Specialist Dave Halverson visits with PECAA California members and guests. (L to R) Tom Vansuch with Vansuch Optometric, Inc. in Orange, Calif; Dave Halverson, PECAA; Delia Lopez, a PECAA guest; and Laura Ramirez and Maria Garcia with Inland Family Optometry in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.

The Clear Lake Eye Center Team spent quality time catching up with PECAA’s Sara Campbell, executive VP Membership, and Zeiss representatives Shahryar Salamat and Jeff Clarke along with Shannon Jackson, Jacqueline Brending and Gabriell Brending of Clear Lake Eye Center, Webster, Texas.










MyEyeDr. (l) was one of the nine companies that supported the Career Zone-Student Lounge which served as a central hub for students and young professionals to network with participating companies, all of which were actively recruiting and seeking new talent. (R) Part of the Zone’s activities, optometry students were able to have professional headshots taken, courtesy of MyEyeDr.


Michelle Brown, Digital Vision, making her picks at the Optical Women’s Association Networking Reception and Silent Auction.










Having a little fun at the OWA Reception are Kristie Nguyen, OD; Kayla Ashlee, Spexy; and Madeline Dehaas, Protip Team at Spexy.

Bad Habits “The EyeDocs of Rock,” the longtime rock band comprised of several practicing optometrists, performed at Expo West’s opening night party on Thursday (l) and attendees had a rocking good time at at the Brooklyn Bowl.