It seems to happen more often than any of us would like. For the second straight year, I had to choose between the Eiffel Tower on Las Vegas Boulevard and the Eiffel Tower on the Champ de Mars. For the second straight year, Vision Expo West and SILMO Paris were held on the same weekend in September. For the second straight year, I headed east not west. For the second straight year, I headed to the City of Light and not The City of Lights.
I am getting pretty proficient and getting from the airport into the city by taking the RER B train, the same train I take every day to SILMO, as the Parc des Expositions de Villepinte where SILMO is held every year is the last stop before Charles de Gaul Airport. It is a good 35-minute train ride each way from Chatelet Les Halles to the show. Plenty of time to wake up, catch up on the news, and review plans for the four-day trade fair.
SILMO Paris is four days long, a departure from most other trade fairs’ 3-day schedule. Yes, the fourth day is slow. The last day of every trade show is slow. Many question the longer schedule however, my answer is if every show’s last day is slow, would you prefer 3 busy days and one slow day or two busy days and one slow day? I think the answer is pretty easy when you consider the expense of building a booth and bringing in your staff to manage it.
You truly need that fourth day to cover the expanse of SILMO. While many of us think a Vision Expo with 300-plus brands is a sight to behold, SILMO Paris has over 900 exhibitors from 42 countries showcasing some 1,500 brand names. SILMO Paris is on a scale that is hard to imagine if you have never experienced it in person.
As much as I try to share just how big SILMO Paris is, my live videos each day barely do the show justice. SILMO Paris has 75,000 square meters of exhibition space. That is over 807,000 square feet in everything optical. Vision Expo West, by contrast, is somewhere in the neighborhood of 209,000 square feet.
Then there are the actual booth spaces. For so many brands, the space they take up at SILMO, or for that matter, MIDO in Milan, is double if not triple the size of their booths in New York (next year Orlando) or Las Vegas. Part of it is the population of all of Europe is about 25 more than the population of North America. More so is the cost of each booth. Space costs are 1/3 to 1/4 that of either Vision Expo Show. There is also a big difference in the booth designs. SILMO Paris booths are not only expansive horizontally but vertically as well. While some major brands like VSP, ClearVision, Europa, and Etnia may wow us at a Vision Expo, the majority of booths in New York and Las Vegas are little more than white tables with white tablecloths accompanied with white folding chairs in a white booth with white curtains. SILMO Paris booths are more often than not a cascade of color and expression.
There was also a time when Las Vegas was an inexpensive and delicious weekend experience. I may sound old, but it truly wasn’t that long ago we could all get a high-quality Las Vegas Strip hotel room for under $100 a night. $100 is now about what it costs to get a good lunch in Las Vegas. While airfares are still relatively inexpensive to get to and from LAs Vegas, the cost to eat and sleep in Las Vegas is anything but. I have heard from more than one person that it costs them less to travel to and stay 6 days in Paris than 6 days in Las Vegas.
The SILMO d’Or Awards are the Academy Awards of the optical industry and this year’s event was as spectacular as ever. I was honored to be one of the judges for the 30th Anniversary SILMO d’Or Awards and the competition this year was filled with wonderful designs, shapes, and colors. The awards ceremony was held at the Carrousel du Louvre, underneath and adjacent to the infamous museum. Our congratulations to all the winners!
My intention in writing all this is not to cast dispersions on our shows here in the U.S. I am very thankful we have these two fairly sizeable showcase events to attend each year. I truly look forward to attending Vision Expo, wherever they are held. I am only pointing out there is a huge difference in a show like SILMO Paris or MIDO | Milano and Vision Expo East or West. It is sort of like seeing the Eiffel Tower in front of the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas if you have never traveled much and seeing the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Both are pretty exciting experiences, but there is truly no comparing the two.
Make 2025 the year you join The Optical Journal at SILMO Paris. You will be so glad you did. SILMO Paris 2025 will run September 26-29 in PARIS NORD VILLEPINTE.
