[Ohio-talk] Follow-up Report on the Summit County Chapter CommunityMeeting

Mon Apr 11 15:25:57 UTC 2011

>From the membership committee great job and lets keep in touch with them
all. Richard

-----Original Message-----
From: ohio-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:ohio-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org]
On Behalf Of Everett Gavel
Sent: Sunday, April 10, 2011 8:54 PM
To: ohio-talk at nfbnet.org
Cc: 'richard payne'; 'Stephanie Claytor'; 'eric duffy'; bpierce at nfb.org
Subject: [Ohio-talk] Follow-up Report on the Summit County Chapter
CommunityMeeting

Hello,

As a follow-up to the Informational Community Meeting the NFB of Greater
Summit County had this past Saturday, I want to share with each of you
who were involved in any way, how it went. I'm also sharing it with the
list to try to help inspire chapters around the state. 

I believe the meeting was a success, looking back upon it. The only real
hitch wasn't even really a problem, just a surprise. Live and learn -
and boy, did I learn.
The room was not what I expected, though it was exactly what they said
we'd be getting. I made the mistake of not going and checking out the
facility in person beforehand, so was surprised when we walked into it.
The size of the room and the layout of all they had in it was rather
cramped.  We couldn't really set up any other tables, such as a
literature table or beverage table.  But we juggled things and of course
it all worked out fine. Bruce asked me to check on the possibility of us
having our regular monthly meetings there now, too. It'll be fine for
that.  It just seemed cramped for 30-35 people (which was the maximum
capacity for the room), and that's what we had.
Everyone except 1 person that said they'd be there through their RSVP,
showed up.  And that one woman was nice enough to call that morning to
apologize and let us know she wouldn't be making it. On top of that we
had 1 guy show up who didn't RSVP. So all in all, the more than 25
people that said they'd be there, were. 

We had speakers from 4 organizations speak for about 15 minutes each.
There was representation from BSVI in Akron, a Low Vision specialist,
Akron Metro SCAT / Paratransit service, and a technology specialist from
the Cleveland Sight Center. Dr. Smith spoke about the NFB of Ohio & its
divisions, membership, & history.
Eric Duffy spoke on some points of interest to the attendees, including
Newsline. We wrapped it up with a bit of a plea for anyone interested in
helping our community in regards to changing what it means to be blind,
to join us in doing exactly that. We had a few interested responses who
asked us to call them to let them know about future chapter meetings.
And as of last night, Cheryl said she'd gotten 2 calls to sign-up for
Newsline, from people who attended our meeting. The meeting wrapped up
with a bit of a technology tryout, or demonstration & Q&A session, with
the CSC Tech Guy letting people check out equipment and have one-on-one
time with him. That was after the speakers, and anyone that wasn't
interested in the technology could consider the meeting over at that
point. That demonstration session went on for about 30-45 minutes
afterward, as people were leaving, or talking, or whatever. During that
whole time William Turner was manning the literature table just outside
the door, in the hallway.
He did a great job and I believe handed out a ton of Kernel books, too. 

We had it set up so that the deli would provide muffins, bagels, coffee
& OJ to attendees, and we brought bottled water as well. The deli
service was great, and we may actually be having them provide coffee and
muffins for each of our monthly meetings as well. Not sure yet. But they
really were extraordinary in today's business climate. They ... and in
all honesty I'll say she, because the manager, Allie, went above and
beyond the norm, all with a constant smile and joy that was catchy. 

It was fun, and we need to do such things on a more regular basis,
definitely, if we truly want to change what it means to be blind.
Because we got a 3.5% response with a direct-mail postcard, hearing from
more than 25 people who were blind and newly blind, and who I'd never
heard of yet in the so-called blindness community. It worked exactly as
it was supposed to. So thanks to all, and I recommend having such a
meeting in your chapter's area as well. Barbara shared the one-page
flyer mailout they used for the Lake County chapter event. We changed
very little of the info, but formatted it into a 5-1/2 by 8-1/2
postcard, which cost less than getting the one-page printed and
ready-to-mail. I will gladly share the MS Word doc that the FedEx Print
Shop used to print the postcards, if anyone asks for it. Again, I would
recommend such an informational community meeting in your area, to help
the community and gain new members. 

Strive On!

Everett

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