[NFBMO] Convention Follow-up

Mon Apr 9 22:47:35 UTC 2018

Hi Gene and everyone,

I thought this convention was absolutely wonderful.  Thank you to the
Jefferson City Chapter for all their hard work.  Those door prizes may
have been the nicest I have ever seen.  The hospitality room was nice
and not crowded when I ate there.

In 2013, I thought that exhibit area was acceptable, but OMG that
fountain!  I can't even...  I wanted to track down Gene Coulter and
ask him if we could at least turn it off while we were exhibiting, but
it would have been too much work to listen for him over that dang
fountain.  Lol  I had a hard time working our Columbia table because I
couldn't hear the voices around me to call them over and buy things.

I like the boxed lunch.  For me, the simpler the better, and eating a
box lunch on Saturday would allow us to keep exhibits open because we
could take the lunch away with us.  I was slightly disappointed that I
couldn't buy anything on Saturday over lunch, since I didn't get the
chance to do so on Friday.  I was also super grateful that I could
order Dr. Pepper with my meal!  Great idea Gene!

I don't think anyone would stay for a lunch on Sunday.  Am I wrong?

This year the planned meal food was pretty good.  In fact, I thought
the banquet food deserves a five.  Usually, I dislike most planned
meal food, but this year it was quite good.

Would we have enough members attending who could staff exhibit tables
earlier on Friday?  If so, then I would support extending the hours.

My last point concerns the hotel staff.  I wish we could train the
hotel staff and any volunteers with the host chapter to be a little
less pushy as they try to help us.  Everywhere I went on Friday I was
stopped by someone trying to show me where to go.  That was fine, but
I can't even tell you any of their names, and when I refused their
help, I was met with skepticism as though I couldn't possibly want to
get wherever I was going on my own.  At one point I ended up going the
wrong way but chose to go all the way around and find another path to
my destination because a person offering their help had been so
uncertain that I should be walking on my own.  At national convention
the UPS volunteers and hotel staff are trained to give us their names
and ask if we need anything.  If we say no, they leave us alone
without complaint, and if we say yes, they let us ask for directions
or receive the type of help we actually want.

Did anyone else experience this?  Do I just look particularly lost and
ridiculous?

I do hope to see all of you in Columbia next year!  50 Weeks!

Julie

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On 4/9/18, Bryan Schulz via NFBMO <nfbmo at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Knowing what happened now, I applaud for having a stream at all.
> I know what a chore it is to make things work as you want.
> The bullets you needed in your gun are still sitting in my basement and
> nobody wants them.
> The hotel would probably have said no, you can't use them but you could
> have
> had more mics, cable, wireless mics, and spare mixer at the ready.
> Bryan
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: NFBMO <nfbmo-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Randy C via NFBMO
> Sent: Monday, April 9, 2018 1:45 PM
> To: NFB of Missouri Mailing List <nfbmo at nfbnet.org>
> Cc: Randy C <randycarmack at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [NFBMO] Convention Follow-up
>
>  Bryan,
>
> Thanks for your feedback.  Yes I was having audio issues.  The main problem
> was the sound that was supposed to be coming from the mixer was not working
> and during Saturday morning session I was doing everything in my power to
> get it to work.  During the time that I was trying to get it to work, I was
> trying to use several different external microphones which were not great.
> When I determined that I was not going to get the output from the mixer, I
> then decided that I had to use the best possible external microphone which
> I
> was not very happy with.  By Saturday afternoon while the sound quality was
> not great it was stable.  These issues are on the What Needs to be Done
> Better Next Year List.
>
> For the live streaming server I used, it was Youtube Live which has never
> been a problem.  On the other hand the hotels internet service was not the
> best.  While my tests indicated that I had a significant amount of packet
> loss, I was still happy to have a semi-stable internet connection.
>
> The stream on the website did stream for most browsers & devices.  Though,
> I
> did notice that on iphone it would not stream directly from the website.
> Apple does force you to go to the youtube page but it did provide you with
> a
> direct link to it.
>
> I am sorry about the quality of the audio and I am planning to take every
> step possible to ensure that it is much better next year.
>
> Thanks,
> Randy Carmack
> NFBMO.org Website Administrator
> randycarmack at gmail.com
>
>
> On Sun, Apr 8, 2018 at 6:34 PM, Bryan Schulz via NFBMO <nfbmo at nfbnet.org>
> wrote:
>
>> Hi,
>>
>> I couldn't spare the dollars or time this year.
>> The stream was a bust again.
>> The website said the stream would come straight from nfbmo.org but the
>> only way to listen was from youtube.com.
>> There were constant periods of 1-5 minutes of audio then varying 5 to
>> 30+ seconds of silence.
>> That is no way to impress new perspective members.
>> Bryan
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: NFBMO <nfbmo-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Gene Coulter via
>> NFBMO
>> Sent: Sunday, April 8, 2018 4:34 PM
>> To: 'NFB of Missouri Mailing List' <nfbmo at nfbnet.org>
>> Cc: escoulter at centurytel.net
>> Subject: [NFBMO] Convention Follow-up
>>
>> Greetings
>>
>> Another convention is behind us except for paying the bill. I am
>> writing seeking comments on the convention arrangements.
>>
>> First, for those of you who could not go we really missed you and hope
>> to see you in Columbia March21-24, 2019. If you tuned-in via of the
>> stream we would like to know how it went so your comments would be
> appreciated.
>>
>> For those of you who attended any comments about the program should be
>> directed elsewhere I am interested in learning about your experiences
>> with the hotel, restaurant, Guest rooms,  and meals.  Any constructive
>> comments would be appreciated but also I would like answers to  some
> questions.
>> Email
>> your comments to me at MizzouFan1979 at GMail.Com
>> <mailto:MizzouFan1979 at GMail.Com>  or share them here. If you don't reply
>> I   won't know what to work on.
>>
>>
>>
>> Was the hospitality room adequate?
>>
>> Was the exhibit area acceptable or should we move to get the exhibits
>> and registration in a room?
>>
>> Do you like the box lunch idea for one of the lunches?
>>
>> If so, which lunch Friday or Saturday?
>>
>> An idea was brought up to have a farewell lunch on Sunday what do you
>> think?
>>
>> Should we continue to have exhibits on Saturday lunch hour?
>>
>> If we  do not have Saturday exhibits  should we extend the hours on
>> Friday thereby maybe getting more outside exhibitors, example 2 pm to
>> 10 pm?
>>
>> Overall rate the quality of the planned meal food from 1 to 5 with 5
>> being excellent?
>>
>> On the same scale rate your hotel room?
>>
>> And lastly rate the hotel staff?
>>
>> What problems did you have, if any?
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>>
>>
>> ---
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-- 
Julie A. McGinnity
President, National Federation of the Blind Performing Arts Division,
Second Vice President, National Federation of the Blind of Missouri
"For we walk by faith, not by sight"
2 Cor. 7