Products and Services to Make Life Easier -- Whether You are a Techie or Not!
Plans are well under way for the 2007 ACB convention to be held in Minneapolis from June 30 through July 7 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel. The information access committee intends to start things off with a highly worthwhile seminar on various types of technology, and we hope you will plan to join us.
It is impossible to know what will please the greatest number of people who attend our event this year! The committee has chosen to initiate discussions on such issues as cell phones and wireless devices, home appliances, and shopping, e-mailing and browsing without a computer. We have great speakers, including Darrin Burton, a well-known author and speaker who evaluates a variety of products at the American Foundation for the Blind; Emdad Khan, who developed a way you can use the Internet on your phone; and representatives and demos from companies that provide wireless products and services including T-Mobile and AT&T Mobility. If any or all of these topics appeal to you, plan to arrive early enough on Saturday, June 30, so you can attend our interactive discussions and demonstrations from 2 to 5 p.m. You can either reserve your ticket on your pre-registration form or purchase one at the door for $3. Technology is progressing so rapidly that, at the very least, it's difficult to keep up with it. Join us so that you can stay in step.
The National Educational and Legal Defense Services for the Blind (NELDS) will host a CD swap shop and yard sale on Saturday evening, June 30, 2007. The plan is to encourage ACB members to bring CDs where they have multiple copies, or ones they no longer play, and either swap them with other members for CDs they would like to add to their collections, or sell them to someone for an appropriate price.
The swap shop will be held from 6 to 7:30 p.m., prior to the Welcome to Minnesota Party. In addition to good old-fashioned bargaining and greeting old friends, there will be a cash bar to help the process along. The pre- registration price is $5; admission at the door will be $7.
We encourage everyone to bring their extra CDs and spend a fun evening in bartering them. Who knows what you will take home as new favorite recordings?
If you can't attend the convention but would like to contribute CDs to the cause, you may send them to Sandy Sanderson, Alaska Independent Blind, 1102 International Airport Rd., Anchorage, AK 99518.
NELDS would like to thank the many members who participated in the 2007 ACB convention drawing. The first prize winner of two round trip airline tickets to Minneapolis is Jack Mindrup of Nebraska. Second prize of five nights hotel room and taxes for a party of two went to the enterprising Middle Tennessee chapter of the Tennessee Council of the Blind. They plan to use the prize to help five chapter members attend the convention by giving each one a night's free room. And third prize -- two banquet tickets -- went to our national treasurer, Mike Godino.
Tickets for the 2008 raffle will be available in Minneapolis.