Ob Malope

Honestly can’t wait to share with the global eyecare community what and I have been preparing for the industry over the last 2 or so years.

The past couple of months these incredible ladies have pushed me beyond extraordinary limits due to their dedication to excellence in their work.

Beyond grateful for the experience I’ve been fortunate to go through with these amazing leaders.

The passion these two leaders have for the eyecare industry is remarkable.

Truly amazed with how they think about eyecare as a whole.

I’m rooting for them in a big way as I truly believe they are going to do extraordinary things in eyecare.

The last day of the 100 year celebration was made special by these two amazing leaders and

The amazing leadership team of has been trusting for their training and development requirements since 2017/2018.

We remember the very first optometric training workshop we did with the team took place at .pieterse house.

Thank you .pieterse and for always giving us the opportunity to add tremendous value to your team and business.

and thank you for making the 100 year celebrations an enjoyable and life changing experience for

We are super grateful for what you did for the company and continue to do.

The conference was super special and it is all thanks to you two during the conference.

We had loads of fun and very single visitor we had at the stand thoroughly enjoyed the experience whilst learning about the value proposition.

One of the biggest highlights of 2024 so far is definitely the South African Optometric Association 100 year conference celebration that took place.

I am truly grateful to God for planting me in the eyecare industry the way he has.

On the last day of the Contact Lenses Workshop at the Optometry Department of University of the Free State I was tasked with discussing how to navigate the sales journey of patient when it comes to speciality contact lenses.

We started off the presentation by giving an overview of what Visionstryt and Eyefrica Media do in the eyecare industry.

Here is the recording of the talk

Navigating the sales journey of a patient when it comes to speciality contact lenses

Practical lessons learnt from working as an Optometrist have been greatly influenced by Communication.

1. Value should be what you talk out.

👀 Our patients look at what will they benefit or gain if they go with what we recommend versus what will they loose if they don’t.

2. Speak in the language that people understand.

👀 speaking by in multiple languages has been a major advantage when in practice as it enabled me to express empathy and compassion in a real way.

3. Be genuine and authentic in how you relay your message.

👀 Patients don’t need sales pitches from eyecare professionals.

4. Listen more than you speak.

👀 People need to know & see that you actually understand what their concerns are and how they affect their lives.

5. Ask questions.

👀 probing allows or enables you to get more clarity on the real issues

6. Address all concerns that patients may have.

👀 Be clear on the problem you are solving.

7. Give practical examples in your discussion.

👀 Inspire confidence and build trust.

Communication is about connection.
Connect with your patients at their level but make sure you take them to a level they have never been before once you done communicating.

The Optometry Department at University of the Free State organized a 3 day workshop on Speciality Contact Lenses which was so successful.

I got the opportunity to educate the students on how to establish and grow a Speciality Contact Lenses Optometry Practice.

The presentation slides were recorded which we shall share soon however on the meantime check out the full recording of the lecture here 👇🏿👇🏿👇🏿

Please don’t forget to subscribe to the channel

Thank you very much Liza-Marié Jansen and Prof. Tuwani Rasengane for trusting me to deliver a stellar lecture for the students.

The importance of building a Speciality Contact Lenses Optometry Practice

I always tell the story of how it took me 5 and a half years to complete my 4 year Optometry Degree from Optometry.

I remember how distraught I was when Prof. Rasengane shared the news with me that I had to repeat because of contact lenses.

Thank goodness she told me and reassured me that I’m not a failure.

Since the day I met Prof she has always challenged me on the following:

👀 Going after what I’m passionate about in Optometry
👀 Never settle for less than excellence
👀 Be brave and resilient throughout my eyecare journey despite the obstacles I’ll face
👀 Don’t be concerned about what other people think but always remember first impressions
👀 Go out of my way to add value to the industry

Every year, Prof ensues I get to spend significant time with Optometric Students to talk about a variety of topics that will help them be prepared to enter the market place when they qualify.

Dear Young Optometrist, always make what you count no matter how small it may appear to be at the time.

What an incredible 3 days of the Contact Lenses Workshop at Optometry Department with final year students.

An extraordinary line of of speakers with a world class programme organized by the department.

Bernadine Flynn & I had tremendous fun pouring our hearts in delivering our presentations to the students who were highly engaged throughout the entire workshop.

This was truly a great honour and privilege for us to contribute towards the academic journey of these amazing students who are going to take the industry to the next level.

Extremely grateful to the Optometric Team that facilitated the whole event and extended the invite to me.
Special word of thanks to Liza-Marié Jansen for all that she did

What a great morning today was to be able to give a lecture on Speciality Contact Lenses.

The quickest and most effective way to elevate our eyecare industry to the highest possible level of excellence is by ensuring the following takes place:

1. Increase our knowledge and competency skills through continuous education and training.

2. Set a very high standard of operations within everything we do in our practices so that consumers experience something better than what they’ve received before.

3. Never compromise the quality of our offerings or services.

4. Provide speciality eyecare

5. Change the public perception of our industry by increasing the minimum standards of care eyecare that consumers expect to receive from us.

What are you views on Continuous Professional Development and Employee Training?

There are a lot of misconceptions about training workshops for employees such as:

- They will leave once they are trained.
- Too expensive and time consuming.
- "I can train them myself as the owner"
- We will train them on the job.
- They don't really need to know all that stuff.
- etc.

These Visionstryt workshops are:

1. Fun & Interactive
2. Informative & Practical
3. Take into consideration different business models, type of practice, years in existence, demographics, etc.
4. Solution Based
5. Multicultural
6. Structured in a manner that employees with 2 months experience or business owners with 30+ years experience all leave with something they will be able to implement in practice.

You cannot afford to not activate your business or equip your team with fresh innovative ways of doing things.

Check out the website for more details

www.obmalope.com

What an incredible way to end the 8 day TFOS-CEPHII Webinar Series.

Day 8 was so amazing as Dr. Rachna delivered a stellar presentation to end the series

Here is the link to the full recording from last night.

TFOS Lifestyle: Impact of cosmetics on the ocular surface by Dr. Rachna Murthy

Prof. James Wolffsohn gave an incredible presentation last night

If you were not able to join the webinar then subscribe to the Eyefrica Media YouTube channel and watch the full episode there 👇🏿👇🏿👇🏿👇🏿

TFOS Lifestyle: Impact of digital environment on ocular surface by Prof. James Wolffsohn

A few people could not join us last night for Day 6 so here is the full recording of the webinar by Dr. Georgios Kontadakis

All 6 recordings readily available on the Eyefrica Media YouTube channel

We have 2 more webinars to go this coming week

TFOS Lifestyle: Impact of elective medications & procedures on ocular surface disease by Dr Georgios

We have had 5 incredible days so far of the TFOS-CEPHII Webinar Series.

Here is the link to session 5 in case you could not make it.

Don’t forget to subscribe to the YouTube channel

TFOS Lifestyle: Impact of lifestyle challenges on ocular surface disease by Dr. Jesus Merayo

What an amazing turnout last night and a highly engaged audience once again.

If could not join day 4 of the TFOS Lifestyle report then please subscribe to the Eyefrica Media YouTube channel and watch the full webinar presentation

TFOS Lifestyle: Impact of nutrition on the ocular surface by Dr. Barbara Caffery

What an incredible webinar presentation by Dr. Penny Asbell we had last night and more so the amazing reviews and feedback received.

Here is the full recording of day 3 of the TFOS Lifestyle Report

If you have not yet managed to join a session then definitely do so tonight with day 4

TFOS Lifestyle: Impact of environmental challenges on ocular surface disease by Dr. Penny Asbell