by Janet Dickelman
Are you ready for the 2023 American Council of the Blind conference and convention? Zoom-only sessions will be held Thursday, June 22 through Saturday, June 24. Then join us in Schaumburg for in-person or virtually, Friday, June 30 through Friday, July 7th. Opening general session is Saturday, July 1st; the exhibit hall will also open that day. Tours will run from Friday through Friday. The banquet will be held on Thursday, July 6th.
If you are looking for continuing education units or professional development hours, here is all the information you will need.
Procuring CE units or PD hours is easy. Registration for the conference and convention will open in May. Discover an amazing array of programs that carry CE and PD hours by visiting acbconvention.org beginning in April. As convention registration approaches, CE and PD sessions will be updated frequently. CE sessions will also be listed in the official conference program or by subscribing to the acbconvention email list as they become available.
To earn continuing education units and professional development hours, you must register for the conference and convention by logging into your member account at members.acb.org and simply purchase the number of Flex Credits you think you will need. When you attend a CE session, a unique code will be announced at the beginning of each session, and another unique code will be announced at the end of the session. Make note of these codes, as well as the session title, date and time, as you will need to include this information when you submit your assessment. If you attend more programs and presentations than you anticipate, just submit reports for all sessions and we will contact you for any additional payment.
To complete an online assessment and evaluation form, log into the member site (members.acb.org). You must complete an assessment and evaluation form for each session or program you attend. There is no longer a deadline for submission of your assessments. Once ACB has validated your assessments, you can log into your member site to print your CE certificate. You are responsible for submitting your certificate to your employer for your professional development hours or to ACVREP for your continuing education units. Topics will include, but are not limited to, employment, technology, health and leisure, orientation and mobility, self-advocacy, braille, low vision, and much more.
Staying in Touch
The conference and convention announce list will be filled with information. To subscribe to the list, send a blank e-mail to [email protected]. If you received updates for the 2022 convention, you do not need to subscribe to the list.
Hotel Details
Room rates at the Renaissance are $98 per night double occupancy (with an additional $10 charge for up to four people), plus tax, which is currently 15%. To make reservations online, visit
https://book.passkey.com/go/AmericanCounciloftheBlind2023. For telephone reservations, call 1-800-468-3571. This is a central reservations number, so please indicate you are with the American Council of the Blind 2023 conference and convention at the Renaissance Hotel in Schaumburg, Ill.
Convention Contacts
2023 exhibit information: Michael Smitherman, (601) 331-7740, [email protected]
2023 sponsorships: [email protected], or contact Eric Bridges or Clark Rachfal at (202) 467-5081.
For any other convention-related questions, contact Janet Dickelman, convention chair, at (651) 428-5059, or via e-mail, [email protected].