[il-talk] Great job, Mr. Meyer!

[Bill Reif]

Dave and I are both on the email list for Newsline sponsors; and he often 
forwards the program's monthly newsletter.  I have chosen to "beat him to 
the punch" because it's great to be able to share how well Illinois is 
doing, and that Renee West, the new Marketing and Outreach Manager for 
sponsored technologies, recognizes the great work Dave Meyer is doing in 
managing Illinois's Information Channel.  Who would have believed that Our 
Information channel, non-existent less than a year ago, would be held up as 
exemplary?  Great job, Dave!!  The other Illinois usage and email stats 
aren't too shabby either.

Bill

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "West, Renee" <RWest at nfb.org>
To: <nfb-newsline-sponsors at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Wednesday, November 12, 2008 7:58 AM
Subject: [Nfb-newsline-sponsors] November 2008 NFB-NEWSLINE® Happenings 
Newsletter


NFB-Newsline® Sponsors:

Please find attached and below the November 2008 issue of NFB-Newsline® 
Happenings. Should you have any questions or comments as regards the 
newsletter or contents therein, please don't hesitate to call or email me; 
my contact details are available in my signature block.

Thank you!

Renee West
Manager, Marketing and Outreach
Sponsored Technology Programs
NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND
1800 Johnson Street
Baltimore MD 21230
Phone: (410) 659-9314 ext. 2411
Fax: (410) 659-5129
Website: www.nfb.org <http://www.nfb.org/> ; www.nfbnewsline.org

Plain-text version of newsletter follows:

NFB-NEWSLINE® HAPPENINGS-NOVEMBER 2008

Hellos and Handshakes

 Hello, Sponsor!  My name is Renée West, and I have recently assumed the 
position of Manager of Outreach and Marketing for NFB-NEWSLINE®.  I am 
sincerely delighted to work with all of you (as well as our own NFB staff) 
to present, preserve, and promote this priceless service.  I am very nearly 
bursting with enthusiasm and ideas about how we can help the print-disabled 
community discover, employ, and enjoy NFB-NEWSLINE®.  If you have any 
questions (or suggestions!) about marketing this outstanding service, or 
need assistance in helping your state's subscribers in using NFB-NEWSLINE®, 
please don't hesitate to contact me.  My phone number is (410) 659-9314, 
extension 2411, and my e-mail address is rwest at nfb.org.  I would truly love 
to hear from you!

 As the new Editor of this newsletter, I feel like shaking things up a bit. 
You'll notice some new regularly appearing content, a monthly helpful hint, 
and likely far too many alliterations and puns.  Additionally, I will also 
be creating a different newsletter for a different audience: subscribers! 
We have seen a dramatic growth in both our subscriber e-mail database (a 
near 35% increase so far this year!) and in requests for e mail delivery (we 
sent nearly 105,000 newspapers via e-mail in September!), so now seems the 
perfect time to open up a line of communication with our users via this 
method.  We hope that such contact will enable subscribers to find increased 
value in, and become aware of new elements to, NFB-NEWSLINE®.  Beginning the 
week of 11/10/08, we will begin sending out periodic communications to all 
subscribers with an e-mail address in our database, providing details about 
current system features, system enhancements, and other needful information. 
This newsletter can be a tool for you as well; should you have any 
suggestions regarding the contents of these e-mails that will be sent to 
subscribers, please contact me so that we can discuss.

Channel Chat

As an NFB-NEWSLINE® sponsor, you have a truly excellent means by which you 
can communicate with your clients, patrons, or members.  With your local 
channel, you can provide subscribers with information pertaining to current 
events, important meetings, and policy and program updates.  If you've been 
searching for a viable avenue to disseminate such crucial information in a 
time-sensitive way, look no longer and look no further; instead, look at 
NFB-NEWSLINE®!

Because I believe so strongly in the positive power of your local channel, I 
want to help you make the best use of this resource with regular "chats." 
Let me get started by giving you the Golden Rule: update frequently! 
Material that is several weeks, months, or (gasp!) years old not only risks 
providing false information (such as contact data or meeting location) but 
also, if users know that your channel's contents are not kept up to date, 
they are not at all likely to "tune in" to your channel.  As such it is 
likely that, if your channel is cluttered with old material, any new content 
will not reach its intended audience.  Additionally, it may be wise to add a 
short addendum to your state greeting when you've either done a substantive 
update after a period of disuse, or when you've added material you feel is 
extremely important to subscribers.

Perhaps you are aware of the positive potential of your local NFB-NEWSLINE® 
channel, but feel that you don't have the free staff hours to utilize this 
resource; in this case, may we recommend asking for a volunteer to assist 
you in this effort?  Many states are able to fully use this function with 
the help of an extra pair of hands.

The sponsor channel area has the potential to be a key element in 
communicating with the print-disabled community, but you need to ensure that 
content is managed well.  As an example of a well-managed sponsor channel, 
let me tell you about Illinois.  David Meyer has been assisting the state 
sponsor (the Illinois Talking Book and Braille Service) in really taking 
advantage of this unique tool.  Their local channel offers space to several 
statewide agencies and organizations, and also features a section providing 
general news so as to offer a wide variety of information to their patrons. 
On this channel, subscribers can listen to agency newsletters, learn about 
upcoming workshops, find useful contacts, hear monthly listings of new 
books, and learn about the library's recent endeavors.

Lastly, let me mention how successful was our placing of presidential 
candidate's Web site content on NFB-NEWSLINE®!  To those states that so 
graciously agreed to host this content on their local channel, we say thank 
you, and we acknowledge the service that you provided to your print-disabled 
community.  We received many expressions of gratitude for featuring this 
important and timely information.

Remember...this is YOUR space, so get out YOUR message!

JUST THE STATS, MA'AM

 Many changes have taken place since the last Sponsor newsletter in May.  In 
October alone 144,835 calls were made, a nice increase since May's 138,286. 
Thanks to you, our subscriber base and use keep growing; we had 581 new 
subscribers last month!  Also (and this is very exciting!) October marked 
the third month in a row where we've had over 2.8 million minutes of 
NFB-NEWSLINE® service delivered!  Holy cow!  As for local calls, in October 
the average percentage of calls to local numbers was 68.17, which is 
approximately 4 percent higher than that of May's 67.92 percent average. 
Some standout states are New Hampshire, Connecticut, D.C., New Jersey, 
Alabama, Delaware, and Pennsylvania, all of which had an average local call 
rate above 90 percent.  Excellent!  Here are the state stats for October:

Top Ten Minutes Used:

 Since the last newsletter in May, there have been some changes.  Firstly, 
Missouri has replaced Georgia for the tenth spot on this list.  Welcome to 
the club, Mighty MO!  In the intervening months, most top-ten states have 
gained minutes.  The greatest increase belongs to Massachusetts, moving from 
fourth to second with a WHOPPING increase of 19,469 minutes!

1. California:  265,598 minutes
2. Massachusetts:  191,715 minutes
3. New York:  190,793 minutes
4. Florida:  178,007 minutes
5. Ohio:  154,785 minutes
6. Illinois:  149,243 minutes
7. Maryland:  125,576 minutes
8. Texas:  124,174 minutes
9. Pennsylvania:  88,314 minutes
10.  Missouri:  87,731 minutes

Top Ten New Subscribers:

 In the four intervening months since this newsletter was last published, 
state new-subscriber numbers have seen some changes.  Congratulations to 
Texas, whose monthly subscriber number is 14 higher than in May!  Yee-haw!

1. Florida with 58
2. Texas with 36
3. Oregon with 33
4. Nebraska tied with North Carolina at 30 new users
5. California with 29
6. Wisconsin with 26
7. Pennsylvania with 25
8. Michigan with 24
9. New Jersey with 20
10.  Illinois at 19

E-mail Superstars:

 The following states represent the top ten for e-mail deliveries.  We've 
had some exciting developments since May!  Total number of e-mails sent has 
zoomed upward; 120,076 e-mails were sent in October (17,088 more than May's 
102,988).  The top-ten list rolled out the welcome mat for two Midwestern 
states: Illinois and Nebraska-welcome to the club!

1. California:  9,760
2. Texas:  9,742
3. Ohio:  7,249
4. Maryland:  6,589
5. Pennsylvania:  6,085
6. North Carolina:  5,850
7. Massachusetts:  5,542
8. New York:  4,977
9. Illinois:  4,724
10. Nebraska:  4,428

Top Ten Registered Subscribers:

 Most states are pretty much where they were when this list was last brought 
to your attention, and although there have been a few rearrangements in 
number placement on the list all states have seen very good improvement! 
You guys have done a terrific job!

1. Florida with 9275
2. California with 6330
3. Maryland with 2924
4. Michigan with 2532
5. North Carolina with 2451
6. Texas with 2416
7. Wisconsin with 2327
8. New York with 2234
9. Ohio with 2219
10.  Massachusetts with 2068


NFB-NEWSLINE® Innovative Initiatives!

 Since July of 1995, blind people have boldly gone where no blind person had 
ever gone before to get their news: the telephone!  With the advent of the 
NFB-NEWSLINE® service, members of the print-disabled community could be as 
thoroughly informed of election results, edamame recipes, and economic 
reports as the next (sighted) guy.  While phone calls and e-mails function 
as the base of our service, we continue to build on our (and your) prior 
efforts-and now we're exploring new and exciting ways that blind folk can 
get the news they need, when they need it.  The following are two 
initiatives that are on the launchpad, very nearly ready for takeoff:

News via the Victor Reader Stream

A companion software program for the PC will be crafted in conjunction with 
a Web site where subscribers can select daily newspapers to be delivered 
directly to their computer each morning.  The software will then 
automatically transfer the selected daily newspapers to the Humanware Victor 
Reader Stream.  The user can then take this portable, pocket-sized device 
and read the selected material at their convenience.  Currently, some 
subscribers who lack technical experience may find the process of 
transferring content from their e-mail to their Victor Reader Stream a bit 
inconvenient.  However, when the automated process is rolled out, getting 
your daily news onto your favorite device will be quick and easy-even for 
those who are less than tech-savvy!

News in Spaaaaaace...Cyberspace, that is!

A secure Web site will be developed where subscribers can login to view 
their daily newspaper or magazine of choice.  This Web site is to be 
optimized for ease of use by persons using adaptive technology such as 
screen readers and enlargement software programs.  Additionally, this Web 
site will be designed to be efficiently used by persons of all levels of 
technical expertise.  One really excellent feature of the 
newspapers-by-Web-site experience is that, in addition to featuring full 
content, subscribers can do an all over search for a key term.  This means 
that one can find every instance of the term "antimatter" within all 
sections of a newspaper, whether it be within the technology or 
entertainment pages.  This amazing functionality sets into orbit a new 
ability for members of the print-disabled community to do research for 
homework or career, and makes getting informed a blast!


Subscriber's Corner

This month's featured NFB-NEWSLINE® subscriber is Mrs. Barbara Macpherson 
from Tucson, Arizona.  I learned of her through an editorial piece that she 
wrote and was featured in her local newspaper, the Arizona Daily Star, in 
which she offered strong criticism of the movie Blindness.  Like her fellow 
members of the National Federation of the Blind, Barbara feels that this 
movie does sincere damage to not only the image of blind people, but to the 
real lives of blind people as well.  I was very impressed by the fact that, 
along with her expressions of concern regarding the movie's content, she 
used her protest of the movie as a chance to educate the sighted public and 
to offer a welcome mat to other blind Tucson residents.  Says Barbara, "I 
welcome the opportunity to inform the Tucson public about living with low 
vision.  There are resources and help in Tucson for those...with blindness 
and low vision."  What a great spirit!

It was my pleasure to learn that Mrs. Macpherson, who creates publicity 
materials for the NFB's Tucson chapter, is an active user of the 
NFB-NEWSLINE® service, and I was very happy to have an opportunity to speak 
with her about her usage.  According to Mrs. Macpherson, she uses 
NFB-NEWSLINE® about every other day to keep herself informed.  She 
especially values the Arizona Daily Star for providing her with local news 
and events, especially concerning health, as she was able to find out the 
details for getting her flu shot by reading her newspaper.  In particular, 
she loves to read the opinion column by local reporter Bonnie Henry, who 
provides entertaining stories of local history and places.  Beyond her local 
paper, Barbara enjoys reading USA Today as well as the AARP Bulletin and 
AARP The Magazine.  She truly loves the fact that she can get the news at 
any time, and that it's there for her even if she awakens in the middle of 
the night.

Seeing the value of NFB-NEWSLINE®, Mrs. Macpherson is eager to talk with 
others about the service.  She goes to alumni meetings of the Southern 
Arizona Association for the Visually Impaired to promote the service and 
tells members that "blind people should be informed."  Articulating the idea 
of how easy it is for blind folks to access and use the service, she 
exclaimed, "It's available by phone!"  She expressed her thankfulness to the 
Arizona Braille and Talking Book Library for sponsoring the service, and to 
the Arizona Daily Star for offering their fine paper on NFB-NEWSLINE®. 
Thank you, Barbara, for taking the time to educate the public about this 
delightful service!


Your Monthly Helpful Hint

Be sure that your Web site features information on NFB-NEWSLINE® where you 
feature your other quality services.  It's an easy and stress-free way to 
promote the service to your Web site's visitors; just remember to update 
content as needed (for example, note the addition of a new paper, especially 
one in your state).  If you need content, I can provide you with an 
introductory description of the service appropriate for those who may not be 
familiar with NFB-NEWSLINE®.  I can also give you the text of our new Users 
Guide, which is a comprehensive handbook to the service's many features. 
Just ask, and you shall receive!






--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


_______________________________________________
Nfb-newsline-sponsors mailing list
Nfb-newsline-sponsors at nfbnet.org
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfb-newsline-sponsors_nfbnet.org
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