[Nfb-science] Conference Question

[cheryl fogle]

Christine,


I have attended conferences alone several times and presented a paper at my
last conference.  The first thing I do is talk with the hotel front desk
staff as I'm checking in.  I ask for general directions from the front desk
to the conference rooms.  The hotel arrangements I've seen so far usually
put the lobby and front desk in between the restaurant and a hallway to the
conference rooms.  As I'm getting my materials from the conference
registration desk, I'll ask them where the poster room is and the paper
presentations are held.  If there's a long line when I get my materials,
I'll forgo the questions then and return later when the volunteers have more
time to be descriptive.

As for setting up your poster, I would arrive early and get assistance from
your session organizer.  The program might have that person listed and if
you can get a copy from the conference website, you might send a quick
e-mail asking about logistics.  I had to do that last time to get someone to
advance my slides on a common computer.

Good luck

Cheryl


-----Original Message-----
From: nfb-science-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nfb-science-bounces at nfbnet.org]
On Behalf Of Christine Szostak
Sent: Saturday, October 09, 2010 1:41 PM
To: NFB Science and Engineering Division List
Subject: [Nfb-science] Conference Question

Dear Colleagues,
  I would greatly appreciate any thoughts or advice on the following. I will
be attending and presenting a poster at a conference in just over a month
related to my field of science. The conference, as many such similar
conferences go, will be held at a large, conference-style hotel. One of my
concerns with such conferences is in accurately navigating through the
conference halls, rooms...

  Namely, my  question is specific to total blindness and dealing with the
following while alone at the conference (for reference I use a guidedog):

1)  Being required to navigate through large and very open spaces with large
crowds/numerous often crowded objects and limited spatial cues.

2)  Knowing the set-up of and finding seats within a large conference hall.
Relatedly, Finding the location for and setting up a poster for
presentation.

3) Having a limited ability to use cues such as  Braille or raised letter
signs (e.g., they are not available or easy to locate).

4)  Having to deal with  multiple floors in a fairly unfamiliar building.

5)  Wanting to navigate around poster sessions to see specific work of
interest.

  I was wondering with respect to the above what others on this list have
done to  make conference travel with no vision successful. I want to be able
to focus on the work, not my vision loss. Thanks in advance.
Many thanks,
Christine
 M. Szostak
Graduate Student
Language Perception Laboratory
Department of Psychology, Cognitive Area The Ohio State University Columbus,
Ohio szostak.1 at osu.edu _______________________________________________
Nfb-science mailing list
Nfb-science at nfbnet.org
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfb-science_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
Nfb-science:
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nfb-science_nfbnet.org/cfogle%40unm.ed
u