MILAN—The 48th edition of Mido experienced attendance of more than 58,000 eyecare professionals from around the world, including a major increase in foreign attendees at the show completed here at the Rho Pero exhibition halls Feb. 24 to 26. Organizers reported that Mido saw a 4.9 percent increase in overall attendance and a jump of 5 percent in exhibition space from a record total of 1,305 exhibitors. The #MIDO2018 hashtag exceeded half a million interactions: comments, likes and shares. Social users participated in the stream of news from the show, generating an average of 100,000 ‘”likes” per day. Live stories were streamed, primarily on Instagram, from the show floor itself. A non-stop feed of posts from the profiles of visitors, bloggers, influencers and VIPs on hand at the show streamed alongside the official @mido_exhibition profile.

“Mido is to eyewear what Oscar night is to cinema,” observed Mido president Giovanni Vitaloni, who added, “Increasingly more eyewear professionals view our show as the year’s top event for the industry and their participation, in ever-increasing numbers, attests to the thriving dynamism of the industry. We welcomed our 1,305 exhibitors in a venue that becomes more and more enjoyable each year, allowing all of us to focus on creativity and doing business during the three-day show. Our ability to tailor our approach to the show makes it ‘special’ and extremely popular—an elegant and entertaining event where doing business and networking with colleagues from the world over is a daily occurrence.”

This year the theme was innovation. On hand were sports champions, VIPs from the entertainment world and famous web stars. The importance of Mido for the Italian corporate world was underscored by the presence of Undersecretary of Economic Development, Ivan Scalfarotto who, along with the Mayor of Milan, Giuseppe Sala, and the CEO of Fiera Milano, Fabrizio Curci, cut the inaugural ribbon, reconfirming that Italian-made eyewear is a mainstay in the internationalization of Italy’s excellence.

The theme of innovation was also applied through showcasing the latest trends in an immense space dedicated to technology and machinery and in-depth exploration of the latest innovations in the professions. Also among the Mido innovations for 2018 was its focus on eyecare, with the first “Eye Health Awareness Day” that brought together international institutions and associations active in the area of eye health. This initiative could lead to establishing an Italian ministerial registry of projects aimed at raising public awareness and, at the international level, an inter-association roundtable to continue the conversation and develop a joint campaign.

VMAIL will bring more images and trends from Mido to its readers soon. The dates for Mido 2019 are Feb. 23 to 25.