by Janet Dickelman
I hope you all had a wonderful convention experience, whether you joined us virtually or were in person in Jacksonville.
As always, it gives me great pleasure to acknowledge the hard work and dedication of so many who made the convention a success!
To the convention committee: Each of you handle your duties independently and efficiently; you make my life so much easier! As I was whisked from arrivals to my gate by Margarine and her wonderful airport volunteers, I was reminded of how much our volunteers do to ensure that our conference and convention runs smoothly.
Margarine Beaman, who so ably handles our accessibility at the hotel as well as meeting everyone as they arrive and depart from the airport, you are amazing! When we arrive at the hotel, everything is labeled and contrast tape is up, and all this is done by our own Energizer bunny!
Speaking of volunteers, Sally Benjamin spends hours recruiting volunteers prior to the convention and then is always on call to greet our volunteers, provide them with orientation and make sure they have the information they need to assist everyone at the hotel! Sally always worries that we don’t have enough volunteers, but the ones we had were amazing.
What a great exhibit hall we had with Michael Smitherman at the helm! Did you enjoy the recorded exhibitor loop and the exhibitor open house on June 26th?
Once again Rhonda Trott outdid herself in arranging our excellent lineup of tours, from the Kennedy Space Center to air boats, museums, and an evening at the beach and IFly. We had something for everyone!
Cecily Nipper handled the information desk with grace and efficiency. Cecily also prepared and sent out all presenter Zoom links, determining which sessions would be eligible for continuing education credits and making certain CEU codes were given out.
Our countless Zoom hosts and streamers kept things going remotely. Rick Morin and his cadre handled our A/V needs, and everyone raved about how good the sound was this year.
The host committee, chaired by Sheila Young, outdid themselves with not one but two parties and so many items for our registration bags. Sheila, Mikey, Cassandra, Kati, Cachet, Barbara, Gloria and Leslie, thank you so much for all your help and dedication as the FCB host committee.
Our wonderful ACB staff does so much to make the convention a success, everyone had a role!
A special thank-you to Kaitlyn Herrera for sending out convention-related emails during the conference, and the Minneapolis staff comprised of Nancy Becker, Nancy Christine Feela, Chris Sawyer and Sayuree Naik, who have been doing all things convention for months!
There are too many others to mention by name who played a part in the convention. Please know although you aren’t acknowledged in this article, you were a huge help!
The Hyatt staff was outstanding, so helpful, kind and always willing to go that extra mile! Dianne Liberty, our convention services person, went above and beyond the parameters of her job!
To all of you reading this article, thanks for your convention feedback and suggestions. They will definitely be considered.
Convention Attendance
For those of you who are curious, we had 1,180 people register for the convention; 660 of those joined us in Jacksonville.
This year we shared convention space with Blinded Veterans Association, with around 160 attendees. Thanks to BVA, it was wonderful having some new exhibitors, the Bow Wow Lounge, and what an opening general session with the color guard and trumpet. BVA brought a lot of energy and enthusiasm to the convention!
Now our thoughts turn to Dallas, Texas and the Hyatt Regency Hotel, located at 300 Reunion Boulevard. Convention dates are July 4 -11, 2025. Travel to Dallas and hotel details will be provided in the October Forum.
Staying in Touch
The 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 2024 convention, you do not need to re-subscribe to the list.
For any convention-related questions, please contact Janet Dickelman, convention chair, (651) 428-5059 or via e-mail, [email protected].