[il-talk] Digest of National Convention Meetings Reports

[Glenn III]

​Hello fellow IL-Talk-ers.

       Below my signature is a combined (or digest) copy of the National
Convention Meetings Reports voted on at the NFB of IL State Board meeting.
All the reports submitted, by the way, were approved, as usual. Each report
is separated by three asterisks: *** so you can skip to any one you wish
more easily.

       By the way, this doesn’t include the IL Affilliate’s chapter,
division and committee annual reports, which I can send soon, after I
finish the State Board meeting minutes (which will include reports that
were given orally live at the meeting, and which will be before the next
State Board teleconference happening near the end of September).

       If I have missed any National meeting report (except if it were
given orally at our state board meeting) please let me know.



Thanks,

Glenn III, NFBI Secretary.





***CASH AND CARING, Monday, July 4th – Dave Meyer:

CASH AND CARING REPORT 2016



David Meyer



This committee is chaired by Ramona Walhoff. She defined the purpose of the
committee as one where fundraising ideas are shared. The two goals she
stated were as follows: A. find a project that will raise enough money to
make a significant difference in the finances of a local chapter or state
affiliate, and B. To raise enough funds that an affiliate or chapter can
contribute funds to the National office.

One great source for fundraising ideas is the internet. Though there are
hundreds of ideas out there, a chapter or affiliate needs to find an idea
which sounds like a good fit so folks are motivated to participate.



One fundraising idea that was covered was a daily raffle which was done in
Florida. It was presented by Jorge Hernandez. The way this raffle worked
was to draw a winning ticket each day during the period of the raffle. Each
person who won received $25 except for Saturday drawings which were for
$50. Once a drawing was conducted, the ticket would be returned to the
drawing, giving participants the chance to win more than once. Tickets were
sold during a period of ten weeks, with the raffle occurring daily for one
month. The actual raffle began approximately two weeks after tickets were
sold. There were 1,000 tickets for sale, with each ticket selling for $5.
During the past year, approximately 600 tickets were sold. Each drawing was
recorded, with the drawing being posted on YouTube. Results were also
posted on the affiliate list serve. Each winner was called following the
drawing.



Approximately 1/3 of the winners were not affiliate members.



Announcement of winners may be put up on Twitter and FaceBook as well as
YouTube. Finally, a side benefit of this type of raffle is that a chapter
may gain new members as a result of the activity.

Some ideas that have been successful in recent years have been a bike ride
in Idaho, an advertising campaign in Oklahoma, where businesses pay to have
their ads placed on placemats which are used at the convention banquet.





***COMMUNICATIONS, Friday, July 1 – Debbie Stein:

COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE MEETING 2016



Communications Committee chair Corbb O'Connor presided over the meeting.
This was a well-planned session that delivered a lot of information and
fostered a lively discussion.



LIZ CAMPBELL's PRESENTATION



Liz Campbell, a blind journalist with the Fort Worth Star Telegram, gave a
presentation on journalism today. She explained how social media has
changed her role as a reporter. She has been a reporter for thirty-two
years, since the beginning of assistive technology. In the past she had to
write leads that would draw readers in. Copy editors wrote headlines, and
photographers added interest to grab attention. Today crowd sourcing is
highly important, bringing out interaction with readers. Over 70 percent of
traffic comes through people sharing content on Facebook or searching
Google for a story on a particular topic.



Campbell noted that press releases are no longer an effective way to get a
newspaper's attention. She suggested including a photo or a graphic of some
kind. Papers are not interested in a story without an image. Images on
social media attract 70 to 80 percent more readers than stories without
images. Print media have downsized tremendously. Reporters now write their
own headlines, follow trending, and are expected to choose photos and
videos. Responsibilities have increased and staff has been eliminated.
Don't send anything in the mail or by fax! Everyone wants material by email
or even Twitter.



If a story gets a lot of attention, Facebook can boost a post. This also
can happen if you pay a $5 fee.



Send information to as many people as you can. Most might ignore it, but
one might find it interesting.

Facebook will allow you to share with a particular group or put a post on
someone's timeline.

You can clip information onto an individual's Facebook page. From there you
can send out information on a cause or event. You can invite others to like
a page.



The Texas affiliate found that Facebook only shows a popular event. Many
chapters created groups so that more people see the message.



Radio is also using a lot of web content. NPR's website is full of videos.



Test out which post people like a lot. Texas tried posting a photo a day
for BELL. They got great reactions.

Sharing content is essential. That's where you really get attention. It's
better to re-tweet than simply to pass it on. Re-tweeting shows how many
people shared the message.



Pitch emails can work in contacting reporters. The email should contain a
paragraph or two and a photo.



For Facebook the ideal is to add your photo to an album. That way you can
title it. Then go back to your news feed and share it. It takes about three
minutes per photo. There is no way to caption a photo from Status Update.
The caption should be catchy.



Twitter allows you to caption photos. First turn on Accessibility features
in Settings. You can add as many characters as you want.



BEST PRACTICES



It was suggested that the Communications Committee create a living document
on social networking. The document can include information on how to take
good photos as a blind person. Corbb said the best blind photographers seem
to be people who cannot access the screen. We need to learn how to create a
JAWS-ACCESSIBLE brochure with photos.



For fundraising you need a brief document full of pictures. Every affiliate
needs such a document. We have to communicate this idea to our
text-oriented members. In some states leadership is very opposed to photo
brochures because they are not blind friendly.



It would be helpful to have a library of NFB stock photos. Anna Kresmer at
the tenBroek Library has access to the photo archives. Each affiliate can
create its own photo archive by having people with iPhones attend events.
Create an organizational Drop Box account where photos can be stored.



Participants suggested it would be helpful to have standardized templates
for donation letters and auction items. There should be names for levels of
sponsorship.



NEWSLETTERS



Brochures are not a substitute for the newsletter. Newsletters no longer
have to be printed. Email and postings are most effective.



Storytelling has always been our strength, and we must continue to use it
to convey our message. Newsletters can draw stories from blog posts. Blog
posts can be linked to Facebook.



It was suggested that affiliates or the national organization do a
Moth-style storytelling event and film it as a new media event. People are
demanding good audio content.



We must have guidance on how to produce good videos. We use readers, so how
about using people to take video at our events?



FOLLOW-UP



Corbb O'Connor will maintain contact with the committee during the year and
follow up on suggestions that grew out of this meeting.



Submitted by Debbie Stein.





***LEGISLATIVE MEET UP, Thursday, June 30 – Jemal Powell & Steve Hastalis:



Notes by Steve Hastalis:

Friday, July 1, 2016: 7:00 9:00 pm LEGISLATIVE MEET UP, Wekiwa 6, Level 2,
A recap of Washington Seminar, a run-down of priorities, a reunion for
legislative directors, and a lesson from special guest Brooke Lierman,
delegate to the Maryland General Assembly and attorney at Brown, Goldstein
& Levy, about politics behind the scenes. Parnell Diggs, Gabe Cazares, and
Derek Manners, Government Affairs Team. Department of Defense (DOD) has
issued proposed rules which would curtail employment opportunities of blind
merchants on military bases in this country. Department of Justice (DOJ)
has issued proposed rules and has asked questions which would subvert
non-visual web access. At NFB.ORG, "WHATSNEW," follow the links to a web
form with a survey on web accessibility.



Additions from Jemal Powell:

During the Legislative Meetup the Legislative Directors were encouraged to
have their affiliates call members of congress about our legislation from
the Washington seminar:  “Aim High” Legislation, the TIME act and Space
Available. Maryland delegate Brook Lierman gave meeting participants some
suggestions on how to deal with State Legislators, such as encouraging
members to meet with local representatives in their local offices or town
halls as well as encouraging members to go to the State capitol to meet
their Legislators and discuss issues.



Written and submitted by Jemal Powell and Steve Hastalis.





*** NFB BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING, Saturday, July 2 – Patti Chang



Board Meeting Report



Our 2016 face-to-face convention board meeting took place on July 2nd 2016.
All board members were present and many people were in attendance in the
audience.  The host affiliates were introduced and convention logistics
covered.  Both the Teacher of Blind Children and the Blind Educator awards
were presented.  Our scholarship finalists each introduced themselves to
our convention.

       Three board members, Patti Chang, Carl Jacobsen, and Alpedio Rolon
announced that they would not be running again.  Financial reports were
given relative to SUN, White Cane, Jernigan, and PAC.  Illinois sits well
in those standings except for PAC.

       Finally numerous announcements were made.  Our upcoming World Blind
Union meeting was outlined.



Respectfully submitted,

Patti S. Gregory-Chang





***RESOLUTIONS COMMITTEE – Denise Avant:



The resolutions committee of the National Federation of the Blind met on
July 1, 2016. There were sixteen resolutions. All were reported out of the
committee without much comment. When they were considered by our convention
as a whole on July 4, 2016, all passed. Only one was controversial. This
was resolution 2016-04 dealing with Apple’s inadequate testing of software.
After considerable debate, and a roll call vote, the resolution passed by a
wide margin. Two other resolutions are noteworthy as the Federation
condemned and deplored the action of the entity involved.

The first resolution was 2016-05, regarding equal access to internships by
the blind in colleges and universities. The resolution condemned and
deplored “the actions of colleges and universities that have restricted
blind students’ participation in educational internships, required blind
students to complete internships only with assistance from sighted peers,
or denied accommodations within these internships” and demanded “that
colleges and universities implement procedures, train employees, and
otherwise take active measures to ensure that educational internships are
fully, equally, and independently accessible to blind students.”

The second resolution using the condemn and deplore language was 2016-06,
regarding Releasing Web Access Regulations under ADA Titles II and III



The resolution condemned and deplored the Obama administration's “repeated
delay tactics in issuing the much-needed guidance for public entities and
public accommodations with respect to the information, goods, and services
that they provide via the internet” and called “upon the administration to
release the regulations that will provide guidance on web accessibility as
authorized under Titles II and III of the Americans with Disabilities Act
without further delay.”



Finally, the resolution urged “all political and civic leaders to join with
us in calling on this administration to fulfill the promise made and bring
clarity to the accessibility of public information, commerce, and education
in the twenty-first century.”



The resolutions are available in full on our website at www.nfb.org.



Denise R. Avant

President, National Federation Of The Blind Of Illinois

Live the life you want





***WHITE CANE AND AFFILLIATE FINANCE COMMITTEE, Wednesday, June 29 – Cathy
Randall:



WHITE CANE AFFILIATE FINANCE REPORT



August 19, 2016



The meeting began with a presentation from Tammy Albee from NFB-NewsLine.
She talked about ways to use NewsLine as a possible fundraising tool. She
suggested going to the state legislature and to local lions clubs for
marketing money. I’m not sure how she meant for this marketing money to be
used. Would it be for NewsLine? Would it be for other programs within the
affiliate? She did not specify. Personally, I don’t see the legislator as
an additional source of funding for NewsLine or anything else in Illinois.
She also suggested that one might contact local organizations who may pay
for newsletters to be posted on the blindness information channel.



One person brought up the possibility of sponsoring a golf tournament as a
fundraiser. A not-for-profit fundraiser where I worked for several years
has done an annual golf tournament and has been quite successful.



Cathy and I both talked about several fundraisers done locally and
statewide, including the Chicago read-a-thon, the White Sox fundraiser and
the successful fundraising we have done with the Naperville Lions Club.
Some local chapters have successfully done car washes for fundraisers, with
blind and sighted individuals washing the cars. One chapter in Florida
raised $500 through such an effort.



Anil Lewis then talked about fundraising. He said the first secret for
successful fundraising is for one to ask for money for the chapter. A good
theme is that this money will change lives of blind people. If after being
asked someone says no, you really have not lost. Rather, you are where you
were to begin with. We should concentrate on raising funds from people not
currently in the organization. Raffles and candy sales were encouraged.



Scott LaBarre then talked about the PAC plan. Nationally, there are
approximately 1,600 contributors. At the beginning of convention, we were
bringing in approximately $480,000 annually. He then talked about the
Colorado raffle. The first prize is $2,500 with a $1,000 second prize and a
third prize of $500. Chances are one for $10 or three for $20. Tickets are
sold in person and online. The raffle takes place over approximately four
months. Scott said we should email everyone we know about the raffles we
may be involved with. Scott and Kevan Worley have raised as much as $4,000
individually.



This meeting had many good ideas, most of which we have tried at one time
or another. As I see it, the secret to successful fundraising is for all of
us to commit ourselves to whatever project we intend to do.

***
​