[Colorado-talk] NFBCO Convention Announcement from the President

[Lorinda Riddle]

THE 57TH ANNUAL NFBCO CONVENTION



Greetings Friend, the 57th Annual Convention of the National Federation of
the Blind of Colorado is coming soon.  It will be taking place from November
3rd through November 6th at the DoubleTree Hotel located at 3203 Quebec
Street in Denver.  Rooms are $86 a night regardless of the number of people
in them and we can only hold our room block until October 15th.  Please call
303 321-3333 and tell reservations that you are with the NFB Colorado
convention.  You can also go to our website, www.nfbco.org, and follow an
online reservation link to book your room that way.  We are also happy to
announce that online convention registration is open at this time.  Again,
go to our website, www.nfbco.org, and preregister for the convention.  It is
less expensive to preregister.  With preregistration, convention
registration is $15, Friday's luncheon $15, Saturday's luncheon $15, and the
Saturday Banquet $30.  After October 20th, everything goes up, covnetion
registration $20, Friday's luncheon $20, Saturday's luncheon $20, and
Saturday evening's Banquet $40.  The last logistical announcement is that we
will extend the deadline for convention assistance to October 10th.  Please
contact  Lisa Bonderson at lbonderson at labarrelaw.com or 303 504-5979 to get
yourself or your chapter members on that list.



This year, we are delighted  to have Patti Chang from Illinois as our
national representative.  Patti serves on our National Board of Directors
and as our Illinois affiliate president.  She is a supervising and trial
lawyer for the City of Chicago and a wonderful addition to this year's
convention.  She will be delivering a keynote address at the Saturday
Evening Banquet.



We are still in the process of finalizing the agenda and will release the
final version around October 20th or so.  However, I can tell you that we
plan to explore many topics in great depth during regular convention
sessions.  We are assembling a panel of experts to address the status of
education for blind and visually impaired children in the State of
Colorado.  We will focus on rehabilitation services available to us and how
the severe budget cuts will affect us.  It is time to ask the question of
whther the Colorado Commission  for Individuals Who Are Blind and Visually
Impaired is of benefit to us and whther we should urge that the Commission
be allowed to sunset in 2012 as the current law dictates.  How do we get
better public transportation in our state under the current fiscal climate?
We will hear all about our BELL, Braille Enrichment Living and Learning,
Program and how we are changing young lives.  These topics and many others
will be addressed at our Convention.  We will also hear from our 2011 NFB
Colorado scholarship winners.  We cannot hold a NFB Colorado convention
without the always inspiring, My Blindness, Myself panel where we will hear
the personal stories of a few of our members and how they have dealt with
their blindness and why they became active in the NFB.  General sessions
will run Friday morning, Saturday morning, and Sunday morning.



In addition to the general sessions, we will conduct several substantive
breakout sessions on Friday and Saturday afternoons along with special
interest meetings such as the blind students, parents of blind children, the
senior blind, blind merchants and more.



Once again, we will have an exhibit hall where you can explore the latest
and greatest in products and services.  We will have an exclusive session
Friday morning where only exhibits and registration will be open.  Exhibits
will also be open throughout much of the convention.



We also plan to have some fun during the convention.  Our three host
chapters, the Denver Chapter, the MileHigh Chapter and the North Metro
Chapter are planning fabulous social events where the theme will be sports
and recreation.  My understanding is that you will be able to try your hand
at several different challenging activities Friday evening.  We will also
have excellent food and socializing throughout the entire weekend.  We will
have a great deal of fun with a fundraising auction where we hope to raise
big bucks for our BELL and other programs.



Stay tuned for more convention announcements.  Additionally, my lovely wife,
Anahit, will be providing an announcement each Friday about the fabulous
items for sale in this year's auction.    Be sure to make your hotel
reservations soon and preregister for the convention also.





Scott C. LaBarre, Esq.

President NFB Colorado