[nfbwatlk] FW: NFBCO Convention Announcement from the President

[Prows, Bennett (HHS/OCR)]

From: Lorinda Riddle [mailto:lriddle at cocenter.org]
Sent: Friday, September 30, 2011 2:30 PM
To: lriddle at cocenter.org
Subject: NFBCO Convention Announcement from the President

THE 57TH ANNUAL NFBCO CONVENTION

Greetings Friend, the 57th Annual Convention of the National Federation of the Blind of Colorado is coming soon.  It will be taking place from November 3rd through November 6th at the DoubleTree Hotel located at 3203 Quebec Street in Denver.  Rooms are $86 a night regardless of the number of people in them and we can only hold our room block until October 15th.  Please call 303 321-3333 and tell reservations that you are with the NFB Colorado convention.  You can also go to our website, www.nfbco.org<http://www.nfbco.org>, and follow an online reservation link to book your room that way.  We are also happy to announce that online convention registration is open at this time.  Again, go to our website, www.nfbco.org<http://www.nfbco.org>, and preregister for the convention.  It is less expensive to preregister.  With preregistration, convention registration is $15, Friday's luncheon $15, Saturday's luncheon $15, and the Saturday Banquet $30.  After October 20th, everything goes up, covnetion registration $20, Friday's luncheon $20, Saturday's luncheon $20, and Saturday evening's Banquet $40.  The last logistical announcement is that we will extend the deadline for convention assistance to October 10th.  Please contact  Lisa Bonderson at lbonderson at labarrelaw.com<mailto:lbonderson at labarrelaw.com> or 303 504-5979 to get yourself or your chapter members on that list.

This year, we are delighted  to have Patti Chang from Illinois as our national representative.  Patti serves on our National Board of Directors and as our Illinois affiliate president.  She is a supervising and trial lawyer for the City of Chicago and a wonderful addition to this year's convention.  She will be delivering a keynote address at the Saturday Evening Banquet.

We are still in the process of finalizing the agenda and will release the final version around October 20th or so.  However, I can tell you that we plan to explore many topics in great depth during regular convention sessions.  We are assembling a panel of experts to address the status of education for blind and visually impaired children in the State of Colorado.  We will focus on rehabilitation services available to us and how the severe budget cuts will affect us.  It is time to ask the question of whther the Colorado Commission  for Individuals Who Are Blind and Visually Impaired is of benefit to us and whther we should urge that the Commission be allowed to sunset in 2012 as the current law dictates.  How do we get better public transportation in our state under the current fiscal climate?  We will hear all about our BELL, Braille Enrichment Literacy and Learning Program and how we are changing young lives.  These topics and many others  will be addressed at our Convention.  We will also hear from our 2011 NFB Colorado scholarship winners.  We cannot hold a NFB Colorado convention without the always inspiring, My Blindness, Myself panel where we will hear the personal stories of a few of our members and how they have dealt with their blindness and why they became active in the NFB.  General sessions will run Friday morning, Saturday morning, and Sunday morning.

In addition to the general sessions, we will conduct several substantive breakout sessions on Friday and Saturday afternoons along with special interest meetings such as the blind students, parents of blind children, the senior blind, blind merchants and more.

Once again, we will have an exhibit hall where you can explore the latest and greatest in products and services.  We will have an exclusive session Friday morning where only exhibits and registration will be open.  Exhibits will also be open throughout much of the convention.

We also plan to have some fun during the convention.  Our three host chapters, the Denver Chapter, the MileHigh Chapter and the North Metro Chapter are planning fabulous social events where the theme will be sports and recreation.  My understanding is that you will be able to try your hand at several different challenging activities Friday evening.  We will also have excellent food and socializing throughout the entire weekend.  We will have a great deal of fun with a fundraising auction where we hope to raise big bucks for our BELL and other programs.

Stay tuned for more convention announcements.  Additionally, my lovely wife, Anahit, will be providing an announcement each Friday about the fabulous items for sale in this year's auction.    Be sure to make your hotel reservations soon and preregister for the convention also.


Scott C. LaBarre, Esq.
President NFB Colorado