[Nfbv-announce] And now, an important word from one of our convention sponsors

[John Bailey]

And now, a word from one of our convention sponsors
Hi,
my name is Jeremy Grandstaff and I am the owner of S & G Endeavors<http://www.sgendeavors.com>, a collaboration and strategic planning consulting firm helping our clients to create change and take action.  As a business owner, a consultant, and a blind person, I am so proud to be a Platinum sponsor for this year's NFBV convention.
For over 14 years, I have facilitated meetings. Whether working with clients to design collaborative meetings or working on long-term, engaging, change initiatives, I have worked with the sighted public, most times being the only blind person in the room, and have used a collaborative change process that could be seen as challenging for a blind person.

*         Our process results in written flip charts, which I don't have the ability to read when on the wall.

*         As our process divides people into small groups, I do not have the ability to hear every conversation and every idea in the room.

*         The room is always buzzing with conversation, making it challenging to easily navigate the room.

*         Knowing everyone's name can also be a challenge, as most of our events have more than 100 people in the room.
In short, the room is a constant buzz of conversations and is always changing and developing right before my "eyes".
Though the challenges exist, they've never even occurred to me as issues until recently, when someone pointed out these challenges and asked how I deal with them. I'm one that has always carved my own way, there was never a challenge that I considered insurmountable. My ability to overcome my obstacles never seemed like a big deal to me, they are a part of living; but, it's also up to me to be able to talk about them and to be able to show the sighted public how blind people do what we do. You can read more specifics that I did share about how I facilitate and how I overcome those above challenges in this blog post<http://www.sgendeavors.com/seeing-the-whole-picture-reflections-from-a-facilitator-whos-also-blind/>.
The NFBV family works together to help someone who is blind, or maybe even has lost their site, succeed. I've grown more and more proud of the leadership and especially of the up-and-coming officers that will continue to help NFBV serve its members and lead on relevant issues, approaches, and dialog.
This approach, this commitment to building the next generation of leaders, is one of the reasons that we're sponsoring this year's convention. Collaborating with others to find the needed solution is a key value to us at S & G, and we see more of this approach each day at NFBV and in its work.
I'll be sending another message along in a week or so with more about our company and our clients' successes, but in the meantime, I wanted to first take a moment to recognize the outstanding work of NFBV, to tell you about what I do, and to say that I'm looking forward to seeing each of you at this year's convention.
We hope you'll stop by our table, join me for a coffee and conversation, or check out more of my story on Sunday morning's panel. The convention is a tool to build your network, learn from others, and have the dialog that will enable you, in fact challenge you, to take it to the next level. If I can be helpful to you being able to have that moment, please don't' hesitate to reach out.
Jeremy Grandstaff, Collaboration & Organization Consultant, S & g Endeavors, www.SGEndeavors.com<http://www.SGEndeavors.com>
614-519-3026, jwg at sgendeavors.com<mailto:jwg at sgendeavors.com>

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