[Promotion-technology] Our meeting at the national convention

[Gary Wunder]

Greetings to members of the committee and to those who follow our work. I am
enclosing the letter I've sent to technology exhibitors. After we do the
showcase, I want to give some time to a developer who will demonstrate a
product called Alt, and to take a bit of time for a business meeting. You
will notice we have the room from 7:30 to 10, but I said the time for the
showcase will be 7:30 to 9:30. This means we will start promptly and I'll be
running a stopwatch.
 
I welcome your thoughts and contributions.
 
Warmly,
 
Gary
 
Dear Colleague:

 

You are receiving this message because of your leadership in the Federation.
As you know, following each national convention, we write an extensive
report on every aspect of the convention for the August-September issue of
the Braille Monitor. Since the two people primarily involved in writing our
roundup can't be everywhere at once and don't know as much about your group,
committee, or division as you do, we can't begin to capture the spirit of
your meeting, the number of people attending, and the crucial points
covered.

 

Despite our best efforts I know that we never even hear about a good deal
that readers would like to know. I am, therefore, recruiting a number of
people--you among them--to listen and learn during the convention and then
pass information back to me immediately afterward. I can't promise that your
particular tidbit will be used in the roundup, but I can promise that it
will contribute to the quality of the Monitor as background in another
article.

 

What are we looking for? All kinds of things: important

actions by divisions or committees, division election results, anecdotes
about blind children or first-time conventioneers, job leads that pan out,
rediscovered friends, personal break-throughs, interesting facts, unique
photographs of convention activities, and whatever you see or hear that we
haven't mentioned here. In short, anything you find interesting or inspiring
is something we would like to know about. What you find repetitious may be
just the thing that catches the interest of a new reader who either hasn't
been to the convention or hasn't attended the meeting you have thought
enough to write about.

 

The catch is that we need your report right after the convention. Moreover,
if you don't write it down quickly, you will forget. I will try to remind
you the week after we get back, but please don't wait for my letter before
sending me your gleanings. I do not want you to take the trouble to write
out Monitor copy because we are unlikely to use your words exactly. It's the
ideas and information we need. My contact information appears at the bottom
of this message in the hope that this will be a good way for you to
communicate. If you have e-mail during convention, send it along. It doesn't
matter if we get one or five notes from you--the important thing is that we
get the information that will make people feel they were a part of the
convention and chronicle what happened in Dallas for the historians who will
look at this years from now. Since we are not asking for finished text ready
for entering, you can use any format convenient to you: e-mail, print,
Braille, cassette, fax. If necessary, you can call and tell me your tidbit,
but I would prefer to have something tangible from you to which we can refer
for correct spellings of names and exact facts.

 

If any of you record your committee or division meetings, I'd be glad to
have them. Listening to all of them would be impossible, but a little
guidance from you about a wonderful speech, a brief epiphany someone
reveals, or some other event you can point me too will be helpful. If you
have a digital file, I can help you transfer it to me. Like your text, the
recording does not have to be Monitor quality. If it is good, we'll
transcribe it. If there are quotable lines, we'll extract them.

 

If you have any questions, give me a call or speak to me at convention. If
you can't reach me directly, please contact or speak to Barbara Pierce, who
continues to be an invaluable and irreplaceable support to our Monitor
effort. I appreciate your help.

 

See you in July.

 

Warmly,

 

Gary Wunder, Editor

The Braille Monitor

Telephone: (573) 874-1774

Mobile: (573) 268-4245

Fax: (516) 224-3671

Email: gwunder at nfb.org