[NFBV-Potomac-Announce] July 2020 Potomac Chapter Minutes

[John Halverson]

Hello Colleagues and  Friends,

The July Potomac Chapter minutes are below and attached.

John Halverson, Corresponding Secretary

July 9, 2020

The meeting was called to order at 7:05 p.m. and 18 people were present.
The icebreaker question was: Share a funny or inspiring quote or the best piece of advice you never took.

This meeting was primarily focused on the upcoming national NFB convention.
Christine asked the membership for any issues or questions they had regarding the upcoming national convention.
There was a question about the dial-in phone numbers used to access convention meetings via the telephone. The phone numbers have not yet been published, but we suspect that the same phone number will be used for all meetings, with each meeting having a different passcode. More information should be available next week.
We also discussed simply clicking the agenda links from your Web browser on a computer to hear audio of the meetings.
We discussed the Crowd Compass app and website as a way of interacting with the convention.
The website is: event.crowdcompass.com/nfb20
Christine will recruit volunteers to help individuals who don't use smartphones learn to use the CrowdCompass website.
Christine will also create a one-page reference guide to send by email to the membership.
The affiliate has a list of volunteers available to offer technical support during convention.
Christine proposed holding a Zoom call this Sunday for anyone who would like technical assistance with the CrowdCompass app and website. More information will be distributed via the chapter listserv.

Sarah Patnaude confirmed that the Facebook page has been updated.
We held a discussion about how to educate our sponsors about accessibility, or balance our relationships with them and our need to advocate for accessibility?
Tracy has had great success talking with Microsoft reps about his personal experiences using their products and suggestions for needed improvements. At a virtual convention, we should take the opportunity to connect broadly with a variety of individuals.
We also discussed access barriers related to automated ordering kiosks at restaurants.
Members discussed the importance of being resourceful and problem-solving, but also that all of us have different strengths and weaknesses, privileges, and challenges.

Sarah Patnaude split the group into breakout rooms to practice the Zoom breakouts feature.

Following this, we reconvened in the main meeting room.
Nancy Yeager was elected membership chair for the chapter.
Kathryn Webster mentioned that the DC affiliate is also hosting a Zoom training session on Sunday evening. More details will be posted.
A question was raised regarding disbursements of our youth fund. It was proposed to contribute a portion to the affiliate's BELL program after conclusion of the final BELL session. This will be discussed more at the next chapter meeting.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:55 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Arielle Silverman, Secretary, National Federation of the Blind Potomac Chapter

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/nfbv-potomac-announce_nfbnet.org/attachments/20200710/9ada3daf/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: 2020-07-09 Meeting Minutes.docx
Type: application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document
Size: 14404 bytes
Desc: 2020-07-09 Meeting Minutes.docx
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/nfbv-potomac-announce_nfbnet.org/attachments/20200710/9ada3daf/attachment.docx>