Conference Workshops: Wednesday 24 September 2025

Option 1) Measuring Customer Experience Effectively

Summary: Every day our customers interact with us in a way that we hope means they will come back and encourage others to use us too. Knowing how good our customers’ experiences are is therefore essential if we are to keep improving and keep up with rising expectations.

In this interactive workshop we will explore how meaningful measurement goes beyond basic customer satisfaction surveys. You will learn how to align customer metrics with your strategic goals, ensure your organisation is equipped to act on insights and ultimately prioritise improvement actions. This session will help you measure the right things in the right way so that the data leads to impactful decisions, not just scores and reports.

Audience: All

Geography: UK wide

Facilitator:

Jerry Angrave, Strategic Customer Experience Consultant, Empathyce

Jerry Angrave is founder and director of Empathyce, a customer experience consultancy. He is a Certified Customer Experience Professional and works with companies around the world to help make them more customer centric. Jerry chairs the Accessibility Advisory Board at Virgin Atlantic and is a member of the Accessibility Advisory groups at Heathrow and Bristol airports.

Option 2) Ethnic Minority Access and Care

Summary: Our communities are diversifying and it is important that our reach, engagement and service provision matches up to the communities we serve. Sight Cymru has for many years worked with communities and professionals to break the barriers and open access and care for ethnic minority communities. The workshop will focus on why this work is important and share tested good practices and findings.

Audience: Service Providers, Leaders and Trustees

Geography: UK wide

Facilitators:

Dr. Bablin Molik, CEO, Sight Cymru

Bablin graduated in BSc Biochemistry and then went on to complete her PhD in Vision Biology and Glaucoma. She has worked in Sight Cymru for over 12 years and was appointed CEO in 2019. Alongside her work with Sight Cymru, she is also an elected councillor in Cardiff, Lord Mayor of Cardiff 2023/24 and currently the chair of the Adult Social Care Scrutiny Committee. She is also board member for UCAN productions and a Patron at Skills and Volunteering Cymru (SVC).

Olubunmi Gani-Mustapha, Business Support Manager, Sight Cymru

Bunmi is the Business Support Manager at Sight Cymru, where she leads projects that promote independence and inclusion for people living with sight loss. Passionate about equality and community engagement, she brings both professional insight and lived experience to her work in the sight loss sector. Bunmi brings a wealth of experience from her background in Business Analysis and Consular Affairs. She obtained a distinction in her Master of Business Administration (MBA) UK and has worked for several years in public service roles, both in the UK and internationally.

Tosin Adeleke, Awareness Officer, Sight Cymru

Tosin holds a First Degree in Biology and a Master’s in Epidemiology from Nigeria. With experience as a hospital administrator in Nigeria.  Tosin relocated to the UK in 2023 and currently serves as an Awareness Officer at Sight Cymru, where he combines his healthcare background with community outreach and education.

Option 3) Wait…Who do I talk to about that? Cracking the Code of Health Sector Speak.

Summary: Ever found yourself shouting into the void, trying to get a response from someone in the NHS? You are not alone!

Based on the real-world learnings from our recent Specsavers project, this workshop is here to help you cut through the jargon jungle and get your message heard by the right people – whether they’re health professionals, commissioners, or contractors who mysteriously vanish the moment you find out their name.

Six Visionary member organisations bravely took part in our project, which explored how we, as sight loss charities, can make our voices clearer and louder in health settings – and not just to people who already ‘get it’.

In this workshop, we will:

• share what we learned (so you don’t have to reinvent the wheel),
• help you track down who you should be talking to (without needing MI5 clearance),
• show you how to tweak your existing materials so they speak the language of NHS-land.

Join us for an honest, practical and slightly irreverent look at how to make your fantastic work stand out in a system that isn’t always easy to navigate – and leave with tools to boost your comms confidence and impact.

Audience: Anyone who wants to influence our colleagues working in health, from all sizes of organisations.

Geography: England

Facilitators:

Carol O’Brien, CEO, Sight Concern Bedfordshire

Sight Concern is funded by NHS Integrated Care Board, Hospital Trusts and local authorities to improve beneficiary outcomes by being part of the Bedfordshire eyecare pathway.  Carol balances the time spent nurturing NHS relationships with sustaining the charity’s impact through its larger income stream – grants and contracts.

Kathie Hughes, Low Vision Advisor, Sight Concern Bedfordshire

Kathie Hughes is a Low Vision Advisor at Sight Concern Bedfordshire, where she leads their Low Vision Service, supporting individuals living with sight loss to maintain their independence and improve their quality of life. Kathie works closely with clients to provide low vision aids, practical advice, rehabilitation strategies and assistive technology guidance tailored to their individual needs.

Laura Mitchell, CEO of Berkshire Vision and 

Gill Comley, Head of Projects & Volunteering at Berkshire Vision

Berkshire Vision do not hold any NHS contracts and have been looking to engage with their two local ICB’s with Specsavers guidance.

Richard Curtis, NHS Enhanced Optical Services – Service Development Manager, Specsavers

Richard is part of the team which leads the development of Enhanced Optical services for Specsavers in England. Within his role he balances engagement with the NHS and the expectations of a global organisation. Richard Joined Specsavers 11 years ago having previously spent over a decade working in the NHS in a variety of roles but most notably in the contracting and commissioning of services.

Richard loves to cycle and lives in the New Forest with his wife and daughter.

Specsavers logo

Sponsor: Thank you to Specsavers for sponsoring this workshop and project work.

Option 4) Collaborate for Impact.  Making partnerships work for the people we support.

Summary: This interactive workshop will explore what it really takes to build effective partnerships across organisations of different sizes, structures, and cultures. Using insights from the North – West Eyecare Pathway working group as a starting point, we’ll reflect on what has helped—and hindered—collaborative working so far and consider how this learning applies to our own contexts.

Through group discussions and practical tools, we’ll identify what enables strong partnerships, where the sticking points tend to be, and how we might overcome them. Whether you’re already part of a partnership or just starting to explore the potential, this session will help you surface ideas, embrace opportunities for self-reflection, and leave with tangible next steps.

Audience: Everyone from any size of organisation

Geography: UK wide, the case study is focused on work in England

Facilitators: 

Sara Cook, Service Manager, Sight Advice South Lakes

Sara is the Services Manager at Sight Advice South Lakes, where she leads a wide range of support services for people living with sight loss. Before joining the charity sector, Sara spent 17 years working in education. Over the past three years, she has focused on building partnerships that strengthen local service delivery, improve outcomes for blind and partially sighted people, and create space for honest conversations across organisations of all sizes.

Colin Elliot, Partnership Development Manager, RNIB

Colin is RNIB’s Partnership and Development Manager for Northern Ireland and also contributes to development work in NW England. Colin has previously held various roles in the statutory and voluntary sector, notably a regional team leadership role at Guide Dogs.

Mike Harrison, Partnership Development Manager, RNIB

Mike is RNIB’s partnership and Development Manager in NW England and has worked in the sight loss sector for over 20 years. Formerly at Henshaws and Action for Blind People, Mike’s role at RNIB has seen him contribute to the development of ECLO nationally and is now the Eye Care Support Pathway. Mike has lived experience of sight loss which helps inform his work.

Option 5) Vision at Work: A new approach to inclusive recruitment for people with sight loss.

Summary: This engaging, hands-on workshop invites delegates to explore an inclusive recruitment website specifically designed for visually impaired job seekers. Delegates will receive the site URL and be guided through its accessible features – from job listings to CV submission tools. Co-led by Blind Ambition and RNIB, this interactive session will showcase how visually impaired users can independently navigate and benefit from the platform. We’ll also gather feedback to further refine and improve the service. This session highlights how inclusive tech, co-designed with lived experience, can dismantle barriers and empower blind and partially sighted people in the job market.

Audience:  Leaders, Trustees, Project/Service Managers, Employment and Inclusion Leads, Digital Inclusion Officers – everyone interested in disability inclusion and employment from all size organisations.

Geography: UK wide

Facilitators:

Seema Flower, Founder and Managing Director, Blind Ambition

Seema Flower is a totally blind entrepreneur and award-winning disability inclusion expert. As founder of Blind Ambition, she works with national and international organisations to improve accessibility and tackle the 75% unemployment rate among blind and partially sighted people.

Martin O’Kane, Head of Employment and High Education Pathways, RNIB

Martin leads RNIB’s Employment and Technology Services and has worked in the field of sight loss and employment for many years. He is passionate about removing barriers for people with sight loss to find and retain work.

Option 6) The Eye Care Support Pathway for Children and Young People with a vision impairment in England

Summary: Produced by Guide Dogs in partnership with the wider sight loss and clinical sector, the Eye Care Support Pathway for Children and Young People with a Vision Impairment is an essential resource for parents, practitioners, service providers and commissioners. The Pathway sets out the journey of support for children and young people as a clear navigable pathway, from initially noticing a possible eye condition, right through to transitioning to adult services (and the adult pathway).

Join us to hear more about the Pathway and to discuss how we can work together as a sector to disseminate and implement this new resource, helping to support both your work and families and young people in your area.

Audience: Local service providers, habilitation and QTVI specialists, clinical professionals, and anyone else involved in supporting parents, young people and children with a vision impairment from all size organisations.

Geography: England

Facilitators:

Alex Clarke, Senior Policy, Public Affairs and Campaigns Manager

Alex Clarke is Senior Policy, Public Affairs and Campaigns Manager at Guide Dogs, working to influence policy and legislation to improve the experiences of children and young people with a vision impairment.

Throughout his career, Alex has had extensive experience leading campaigns to secure positive change for national charities, including Citizens Advice and Age UK.

Laura Hughes, Chief Executive Officer, Moorvision

Laura Hughes is the founder and CEO of MoorVision, a sight loss charity offering support to Children and Young People aged 0-29 across Devon and Cornwall. The charity was started as a parent/carer support group in 2007 and now supports almost 300 Children and Young People with VI. Laura is a member of the CYP VI Network Group and an active participant and speaker at these and Visionary meetings and conferences.

Guide Dogs logo

Sponsor: Thank you to Guide Dogs UK for sponsoring and facilitating this workshop.

Workshop Session 2: 15:15 -16:30

Option 1) Well intentioned to well executed – Creating your Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Action Plan.

Summary: The Well Intentioned to Well Executed workshop prepares organisations to take meaningful action towards building an anti-oppressive and inclusive workplace culture. The workshop will focus on three main areas.

1. A general refresher on language, frameworks, and skills.
2. A mini assessment of where your organisation stands with its EDI efforts.
3. Building a personalised toolkit for your EDI strategy.

In addition, participants will discuss strategies for moving beyond intentions to action and principles for garnering engagement from stakeholders. During this interactive and hands-on workshop, learners will develop skills for creating and implementing an EDI action plan by building a personalised toolkit.

Audience: Everyone

Geography:  UK wide

Facilitator:

Anuradha Kowtha, Accessibility Consultant, The Kowtha Constellation

Anuradha Kowtha is the founder and strategist at The Kowtha Constellation. We empower organisations to pioneer accessible and equitable initiatives and create psychologically safe environments that foster innovation, joy, and liberation – so that they can attract and retain top talent.

Sight Scotland and Sight Scotland Veterans combined logo

Sponsor: Thank you to Sight Scotland and Sight Scotland Veterans for sponsoring this workshop.

Option 2) Acquired Sight Loss:  Effective partnerships and a perspective of the nuances of working in a small jurisdiction.

Summary: The workshop will encourage delegates to work through two scenarios to explore access to and use of the different skills and services available, allowing opportunity to share examples of good practice. This will be explored within the context of the Eye Care Pathway and in addition to the variations of working with and without legislated requirements. The workshop will also allow the comparison of working in isolated settings where self-resilience is critical for providing services. The hope is that exploring these scenarios will allow delegates to consider different ways of working to improve the client journey.

Audience: Team leaders and those strategically and operationally engaged in partnership working.

Geography: UK wide but outlining also nuances of working in isolated areas where broader resilience is not immediately available.

Facilitators:

Mark Coxshall, Chief Executive Officer, EYECAN

Mark worked in the States of Jersey Police for 30 years and held the rank of Detective Chief Inspector. Mark has a significant background in developing partnerships at local, national and international levels across policing areas and now within the charity sector. In July 2023, Mark assumed his current role as Chief Executive Officer for EYECAN (Formerly the Jersey Blind Society). Mark is a member of Government of Jersey Disability and Inclusion Advisory Board.

Agnetta Nerac, Community Team Manager, EYECAN

Agnetta is an Occupational Therapist and worked within the Government of Jersey Health & Community Services for 20 years. Her roles have included working in Community Services, Wheelchair Services, Older Person’s Mental Health Services and latterly as Deputy Head and Head of Service. Agnetta moved to EYECAN in August 2020 to work as part of their community team, and in January 2025 took on the role as Community Team Manager.

Utility Aid logo

Sponsor: Thank you to Utility Aid for sponsoring this workshop.

Option 3) Ending Projects and Services with Purpose.

Summary: We often focus on successful launches and implementations of projects and services but rarely plan for effective conclusions and exits. This workshop addresses the critical but overlooked skill of ending initiatives well.

How we manage endings, whether winding down a project, discontinuing a service, or handing over to another provider, significantly impacts stakeholders, determines whether achievements are preserved and shapes future opportunities

Mismanaged endings can have a negative impact on relationships, waste valuable learning and leave loose ends that drain resources long after formal conclusion. In contrast, thoughtful endings create opportunities for growth and future success.

Discussion will include:

• • planning effective endings from day one,
  • communicating transparently with all stakeholders including staff and volunteers,
  • capturing and transferring critical knowledge,
  • creating meaningful procedures which acknowledge achievements,

recognising and managing the emotional aspects of organisational endings.

Participants will work through real scenarios and share experiences to build practical skills for ending projects well, communicate more confidently about change throughout the process and protect both relationships and the legacy of their work.

Audience: Leaders, trustees and anyone developing and managing projects.

Geography: UK wide

Facilitator:

Nicola Upton, Consultant, N. Upton Consulting

Nicola is a charity consultant, specialising in change, leadership, and developing services with impact.  She has worked in charities for over 20 years, from the very large to the very small, including as a Director and CEO, leading service delivery and at different times, overseeing income generation, HR, strategy and engagement.

Nicola is committed to supporting charities to improve their resilience and capacity, and to help to answer the ‘knotty questions’ they have with practical, achievable solutions.

Option 4) Maximising and Measuring Impact

Summary:  Join Fight for Sight, the Thomas Pocklington Trust and the Powell Family Foundation to explore all things impact. We’ll share what we’re looking for as funders and will use what we hear from you – as potential applicants – to inform the shape of future funding. Fight for Sight will share experiences of developing our Theory of Change and Impact framework and will use this to stimulate an open and honest debate about the funding of our sector: what it should focus on, what the quality of the evidence base is and how we work together to accelerate change for blind and vision impaired people.

Audience: All

Geography: UK wide

Facilitators:

Ellie Southwood – Director of Impact and External Affairs at Fight for Sight

Ellie joined Fight for Sight following a decade as an elected Councillor on Brent Council. She served in the Council’s Cabinet for 8 years with responsibilities ranging from housing to environmental and highways services. Ellie is a former Chair of the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) and currently chairs Habinteg Housing Association, which specialises in accessible and adaptable homes.

Colin Whitbourn – Executive Director at the Powell Family Foundation

Colin has worked for vision impairment charities for over 20 years including Action for Blind People and RNIB. He is now Executive Director at The Powell Family Foundation.

Martin Symcox – Head of Partnerships and Projects at Thomas Pocklington Trust

Martin Symcox is Head of Partnerships and Projects at Thomas Pocklington Trust, a national charity supporting blind and partially sighted people to bring about equity and inclusion in every aspect of society. With over 19 years of leadership experience across the leisure and sight loss sectors, Martin has consistently driven strategic innovation, improved accessibility in sport and leisure, and built lasting partnerships that deliver real impact.  Martin has previously served as CEO of Metro Blind Sport, where he led transformative initiatives to expand inclusive sporting opportunities, and as Director at the Royal Life Saving Society UK, the country’s leading water safety charity. Martin also holds a Non-Executive Director role at Seable Holidays, a specialist travel company for people with sight loss. He is a passionate advocate for equity, inclusion and opportunity in every aspect of life.

Fight for Sight logo

Sponsor: Thank you to Fight for Sight for sponsoring this workshop.

Option 5) Partnering to Boost Participation in Eye Research.

Summary: We know that many people with lived experience of sight loss want to take part in research. Taking part in research can help people make a difference to future generations, support health research and take an active role in their own health care. Over 90% of people who take part in research would consider doing so again. But what’s stopping people?

This workshop, run by Macular Society and Glaucoma UK, will explore the different ways people with lived experience can be part of research, from inception to dissemination. We will investigate how charities funding research, sight loss charities, service users and researchers can work together to encourage participation and make sure the benefits of eye research are felt as widely as possible.

Audience: Everyone, particularly with an interest in eye research from all sizes of organisations

Geography: UK wide

Facilitators:

Dr Peter Bloomfield, Director of Research, Macular Society

Peter is Director of Research at the Macular Society and is expanding research programmes across academia and industry. He is a neuroscientist by background and his PhD from Imperial College London focused on human brain imaging.

Joanna Hodgkinson, Head of Research, Glaucoma UK

Joanna is Glaucoma UK’s Head of Research, overseeing all aspects of the charity’s research funding and support, including encouraging participation in research and disseminating the findings of the research.  Joanna previously worked as Head of Support Services at Glaucoma UK and used to be a science teacher. This means she has a love of helping people make sense of science, including the intricacies of glaucoma research and what it means for them.

Macular Society logo – Beating macular disease.

Glaucoma UK logo and Macular Society logo – Beating Macular Disease

Sponsor: Thank you to Glaucoma UK and Macular Society for sponsoring and facilitating this workshop.

Option 6) Making It Happen: Starting and sustaining services for children and young people.

Summary: Join Hayley and Nneamaka for an open discussion about what it really takes to deliver great services for children, young people and families. This workshop aims to bring together people just starting out and those with established services. During the workshop Hayley and Nneamaka will share what they’ve learned, what has worked in their local communities and how ideas have grown into services. This workshop will be an open and honest conversation around the real challenges we face, the practical things that make a difference and personal reflections on developing services. Come prepared to talk about your own experiences, pick up some quick wins from others and leave with new ideas. Whether you’re launching something new, trying to improve what you’ve got, or just want to connect with others facing similar challenges, we hope this workshop will be valuable.

Audience: Anyone currently delivering and developing services for children and young people or thinking of starting activities and who doesn’t know where to start.

Geography: UK wide

Facilitators:

Hayley Grocock, Chief Executive Officer, Wakefield District Sight Aid.

Hayley has been CEO of Wakefield District Sight Aid (WDSA) for 8 years. She also facilitates Visionary’s bi-monthly Small Organisations Forum. WDSA is a small, local charity that started exploring activities for children and young people two years ago. Now successfully running a programme of activities, including the only VI youth football team in West Yorkshire, Hayley is looking forward to sharing WDSA’s journey with you.

Nneamaka Eleje, Children’s Outreach Worker, Merton Vision

Merton Vision supports blind and visually impaired children and young people across the London Borough of Merton.  Nneamaka works directly with children and their families, providing practical support such as helping them access benefits and grants, securing essential equipment and organising inclusive activities for children, their siblings, and families. Merton Vision also delivers vision impairment awareness training in schools to foster understanding and create inclusive environments for visually impaired pupils. Their collective work is focused on empowering families and ensuring every child receives the support they need to thrive.

Cathy Hurst, Grants Manager, The Powell Family Foundation

The Powell Family Foundation awards grants to children and young people with a vision impairment and the organisations that support them. Cathy started at TPFF a few months after its inception in April 2023 and is responsible for managing the grant programme.

The Powell Family Foundation logo

Sponsor:  Thank you to everyone at The Powell Family Foundation for sponsoring this workshop