[NFBV-Announce] Words Are Never Enough

Sun Oct 31 22:42:05 UTC 2021

Watching an airplane lift off the ground is always a marvel. You know it's
possible, but knowing it can happen and receiving tangible confirmation
inspires two distinct emotions.

At the close of our convention, we want to take a moment to acknowledge the
many people who played a role in making this year's program lift off the
ground. When we made the call to flip to a virtual format, the team
gracefully pivoted, and despite questions as to whether or not it could be
pulled off a second year in a row, these and many other individuals played a
hand in making the possibility a reality.

Let me preface this by acknowledging I may not include everyone who needs to
be thanked. I am not a micromanager by nature, and while this style of
leadership has its benefits, the greatest disadvantage is that teams are
formed with people whose participation may go unnoticed but is no less
appreciated. Thank you to our many unsung heroes for everything you did to
make this year a success.

First, a warm thank you to our national representative, Denise Avant of the
Illinois affiliate, for giving of her week to spend time in our midst. Her
words are consistently down-to-Earth, thoughtful, and custom-tailored to our
specific needs as an affiliate. Her avoidance of cookie-cutter methods are
always well-received.

Second, thank you to our complete roster of speakers, exhibitors, and
facilitators. Without your support and contributions, our airplane would
have lacked the fuel to sore. We are better as an organization for having
had the benefit of your words to steer us into a new year of possibilities.

On that note, I want to thank our floor manager, Stewart Prost of the Tide
Water Chapter, for having kept the plane moving down the runway. Stewart is
one of a few people I know I can task with a responsibility and never feel
compelled to double check his progress. His work ethic is impeccable.

Thank you to Arielle Silverman of the Greater Alexandria Chapter for having
produced so much of our video content. She took time out of her already busy
schedule to learn a new audio/visual software to prepare the content. She is
detail-oriented and exactly the person we needed to bring color to our
navigation.

Christine Grassman of the Potomac Chapter was first the head of our host
chapter. Then she pivoted and became chair of the host committee. In both
roles she set the pace we needed to make Friday night entertainment and
Saturday morning's opening ceremonies the warm atmosphere we needed to help
all guests feel welcomed. Thank you for you and your team's nimble juggling
act and for making it look so effortless. Thank you as well for everything
you do to keep up the momentum with our PAC program, not because it's a
competition for rankings but because it speaks to people's faith in our
ongoing work outside of the excitement of conventions.

Patrick Johnson of the At Large Chapter is the patient soul who agreed to
navigate our voting system. We always knew the platform would have a mind of
its own, but watching him calmly maneuver the barely accessible software to
where we needed to be to manifest our votes is exactly the kind of even
temperament we need when technology does not cooperate. Thank you to you and
your team for managing this important aspect of our convention.

Thank you to Laurie Wages of the Fredericksburg Chapter for heading up our
auction. You may think you do not live up to your predecessor's standard,
but from where we're sitting, we believe you've crafted your own
enthusiastic charm that goes far in motivating people to contribute to the
important work of the affiliate. Thank you to your entire team for all the
work that went into setting up the online component and vigorously running
with the live aspect.

And speaking of Laurie's auctioneer predecessor, thank you to Jacki Brown
for the unexpected generosity announced at last night's banquet. Charlie
Brown's benevolence lives on through his support of our March on Richmond.
We are truly grateful to Jacki for continuing to be a well-loved pillar in
our community and for serving as a reminder of the enormous contribution our
former affiliate president made, not just in Virginia but across the
country.

Thank you to Domonique Lawless and Melody Roane of the Richmond Chapter for
coordinating our door prizes. Door prizes are oddly enough a sought after
responsibility, but few people realize how much effort goes into pulling off
this operation in a seamless manner. Thank you for taking this on for a
second year running.

Sandy Halverson of the Potomac Chapter can do no wrong in my book. She keeps
going on about how eventually someone else will have to deal with features
of the convention like our registration process, and I'm choosing to
temporarily tune out that foolish talk. She is a gentle spirit in multiple
aspects of our convention planning, and I truly cannot come up with words to
express how grateful I personally am for her calming presence during
convention planning season.

Joe Hobson is not always my calming presence. Joe, however, keeps us honest.
Everyone needs someone to keep us on task, and in addition to continuing to
review hotel bids and contracts for us, he is the one guy whom we can count
on to give candid feedback on proposed agenda items. His type of feedback is
what we always need to keep aiming higher. I'm so glad he willingly comes
out of retirement to give thumbs up or down on what's good and what's just
silly. When he says "good job," I believe him. When he chastises, I listen
closer.

Deepa Goraya of the Potomac Chapter does a phenomenal job with running our
resolutions. Here is another fine example of set it and forget it. A few
email exchanges, and that portion of our convention is executed with
finnesce. Thank you for making Tracy's job a little lighter.

Annette Carr of the Fairfax Chapter is on the front lines promoting the
convention to sponsors and exhibitors. She makes the pitch and cultivates
relationships in a way that keeps companies and nonprofits keep coming back
looking for ways to financially invest in our movement. Virtual or in
person, Annette is our little rainmaker. Thank you to you and your team for
your persistence.

Convention is the launching pad and culmination for our programs. Brianna
Murray has executed an expert handoff in the running of this important
program for our students and has effectively proven she is more than up to
the task of providing one of the engines that keeps this affiliate moving
firmly into spaces previously not tended. Similarly, Louise Walch is the
reliable force behind our BELL Academy, and Jimmy Morris keeps uncovering
bright talent in our scholarship program. We are grateful to them all and
their respective teams for taking the time to highlight some of the
wonderful students this commonwealth has to showcase. State convention is
but a small blip in the work they do for our up and coming generation, for
which you have our undying gratitude.

Jenny Blinsmon of our Tidewater Chapter heads up our help desk. Let me tell
you, now that we've set up this resource, I'm going to think twice before
making myself directly available via the agenda. Why do that when Jenny and
her squad can field all incoming questions of a social, informational, or
technical nature? Thank you, Jenny, and your team, for making our lives
easier in a very concrete way.

Do you know how to tell the difference between fresh blood and seasoned?
Seasoned blood knows when to say "hell no" when deadlines are ignored.
Except, Jacki Bruce will likely still be too sweet to ever say no even many
years from now.

If you missed last night's banquet, first of all, shame on you, but Jacki
Bruce is the latest addition to the list of recipients who have been
bestowed our Seville Allen Award, and it is truly well-deserved. When the
decision was made to go virtual, I breathed a little sigh of relief, but I
felt for Jacki, whom I knew would be stuck at the center of the wheel:
fielding questions, accommodating requests, executing last minute changes,
and doing it all with grace and poise. I hope Jacki's already thrown back a
few wine glasses in celebration of this convention being over. We love you
Jacki, and as to the rest of you clowns who bombarded our Jacki with last
minute requests, I'll deal with you later.

And an equally vehement thank you to Jacki's second in command, Wayne
Williams. Wayne hasn't even met most of us in person, but somehow he's
jumped in headfirst to pulling off another phenomenal convention at the Zoom
controls. Wayne is another force of nature we would do well not to
prematurely burn out.

Thank you to the entire Zoom team for monitoring and unmuting and doing
everything else you do to make an event of this size what it is.

We save some of our most ardent gratitude to the one person who is the
life's blood of this whole operation. He was so looking forward to dancing
and singing for you in person and was probably the most disappointed that he
could not gather his Federation family around him this week. Honestly,
sometimes I want to smack him for needing to stick his nose into every
aspect of convention planning, and then I remember he would not do so if he
did not care at his core that you get the remarkable programming you
deserve. President Tracy Soforenko, even on vacation, wants to make sure all
systems are a go in his absence, and as much as some would like to believe
it's just for the sake of having an enviable convention, the truth is he
does it because he wants blind people to live the life they want. I will
likely never have the privilege of meeting someone as dedicated as our
president. So thank you, Tracy, for being ultimately responsible for helping
us all unlock our possibilities. And of course, thank you to Sharon for
everything she does and the sacrifice she makes in loaning us Tracy far too
much of his available time.

But our most heartfelt thanks is always, without a doubt, to you, our fellow
Federationist, special guest, and most treasured aspect of our convention.
We've already started hearing from you via our convention survey. Please
continue submitting your anonymous responses, and trust your feedback will
help shape future state conventions. You make all the hard work worth it.
You are the reason we want to push the limits and strive to outdo what we
thought was possible. Without you, there is no zeal. Thank you for showing
up, for making us stronger, for doing your part to complete this family
portrait that is the National Federation of the Blind of Virginia.

Warm regards,

Joe Orozco, Convention Operations

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