[Travelandtourism] Updates on the NFB Travel & Tourism Meeting on July 5, 2015 from 6:00 PM-6:30 PM Registration to meeting 6:30 - 9:30PM maybe longer

Sun Jun 14 22:11:52 UTC 2015

That's fine.

I just made recommendations based on my own experience from meetings I go
to. Obviously you go to completely different ones than I do. I guess the
pledge stuff had less to do with time than with making for a comfortable
atmosphere. And by banter I meant light hearted discussion that didn't much
relate to the kind of thing the group is about. 

My point about the business meeting was related precisely to people getting
to know the chapter. I myself left not long after the business stuff last
year because I was sitting for about two hours mostly hearing stuff that
related to insiders or board members  without discussions of travel and the
like. I think it is ok to have the appealing stuff first, and if people
don't want to get involved further that is ok. It is not all about getting
as many people involved in the business side of things. Information and
inspiration is more important. But that was really just my take. There might
have been more substance there that I was overlooking just because of what I
wanted personally.

All the best,

Trevor     

From: Cheryl Echevarria [mailto:cherylandmaxx at hotmail.com] 
Sent: Sunday, June 14, 2015 8:04 AM
To: 'NFB Travel and Tourism Division List'
Cc: 'david stayer'; 'Amy Baron'; Christine Parsons; dbrown8827 at aol.com;
Debbie Hietala; 'Don Hausz'; 'don. gillmore'; Donna Ring; 'Doug Johnson';
'Evelyn Faix'; 'Glenda Farnum'; 'Jemal Powell'; 'Jessica Snyder'; 'Jo
Taylor'; John and Deana Bates; 'john Tebockhorst'; 'Julie Phillipson';
'Kimberly'; 'larry ball'; 'Margo downey'; Mary Ball; 'Milton Taylor';
peter at slatingroup.com; 'Rebekah Jakeman'; Robert Raisbeck; Sharon Wolfe;
'Steven Hastalis'; Tanna Shoyo; 'Tara Tate'; 'trevor attenberg'; 'Yolanda
Garcia'; 'Lavar Phillips'
Subject: RE: Updates on the NFB Travel & Tourism Meeting on July 5, 2015
from 6:00 PM-6:30 PM Registration to meeting 6:30 - 9:30PM maybe longer

Trevor you thoughts are well taken:

All meetings at convention, and I belong and go to many, run the same exact
way. Business 1st and then topics. 

We are sorry if you don't like the set up or other things. We meet only once
a year at convention. 

But we cannot make everyone happy. We go by a standard meeting like any
other Chapter meeting, business first, then topics 2nd. 

We don't banter, there was a lot going on last year, set up, we can only get
in and out of these rooms by a certain time, since either before or after
another meeting will be starting. Most people who are attending any event at
convention, know that these things going on.

I am glad we are getting more people, and I think the last 2 meetings we
have had more people attending then others only because, people wanted to
hear from our guests, that is another reason we have guests after the
business. Same as any other meeting division is because, we want people to
come for the division or other interest meetings and not for the guests
doing presentations.  If we do that, then when the guests are done, you and
others  would walk out.

We will not do that, we want to have members know who we are   and what we
do.

We do not banter, LOL

2nd the pledge of allegiance and the NFB Pledge was requested to do not only
by the outgoing president Dr. Maurer but also the incoming President Mr.
Riccobonno, during back to basics seminars and also at leadership seminar
which I have attended in Baltimore, and at conventions.

So that is not going to change.

Cheryl Echevarria, President

National Federation of the Blind's Travel and Tourism Division

A proud division of the 

NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND - "Live the life you want"

www.nfbtravel.org

To join the talk list

http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/travelandtourism_nfbnet.org

631-236-5138

cherylandmaxx at hotmail.com

The National Federation of the Blind knows that blindness is not the
characteristic that defines you or your future. Every day we raise the
expectations of blind people, because low expectations create obstacles
between blind people and our dreams. You can have the life you want;
blindness is not what holds you back.

Cheryl Echevarria 

Travel is our specialty and offering the best of meaningful travel for all
ages is our passion!

http://www.echevarriatravel.com

reservations at echevarriatravel.com

631-456-5394

Visit my website to get my FREE report, "Top 5 Good Reasons to Use a Travel
Professional"

I build my business on referrals. Please pass my details on to friends and

family members that deserve the best vacation that they can imagine

P.S. - Families of all sizes is my specialty. Whether you are just starting
out and looking for that romantic destination for your destination wedding
or honeymoon. Booking that planned family vacation to Walt Disney World or
that bucket list trip that Grandma  & Grandpa are planning for the family, I
would love to help you. 

We have partnered with Braille Smith. www.braillesmith.com for all her
braille needs.  Gail Smith is the Secretary of the NFB of Alabama

From: Trevor Attenberg [mailto:tattenberg at gmail.com] 
Sent: Sunday, June 14, 2015 5:19 AM
To: 'Cheryl Echevarria'
Cc: 'NFB Travel and Tourism Division List'
Subject: RE: Updates on the NFB Travel & Tourism Meeting on July 5, 2015
from 6:00 PM-6:30 PM Registration to meeting 6:30 - 9:30PM maybe longer

Hi guys,

With all due respect, I have a couple of recommendations that might help out
the way we run our convention Travel and Tourism. Firs and most important is
I strongly think we should either move business to the end of the meeting,
or have it at a separate event. If we are soliciting $10 from people,
including new and curious convention goers, it is strange that we not at
least give them first a sample of what the chapter is like, and what they
will be getting into. Instead we ask them to vote on people and business
they may be completely unfamiliar with. Moreover, those opting not to pay
may resent not getting to see anything of worthy substance over the course
of the first hour or so. Thus they may leave either without opting to pay
dues, or with likelihood of returning for future events. Personally I felt
quite frustrated last year after I paid up, and had to sit for perhaps an
hour and a half of approvals, elections, formalities, equipment set-up,
waiting for people, and banter among the elected board. I could only imagine
what those totally new felt. It just doesn't seem prudent. Let us give them
a taste of the action first; and if people are interested they can stick
around for business. I don't just go walking into an unfamiliar group's
business meeting; and I personally would have much rather been with another
chapter I was interested in.

                Second, it seems a good idea to consider forgoing the pledge
of allegiance and NFB pledge. Of course these are very important formalities
for many, including those passionate about loyalty to the United States, and
those with a passion towards devoting oneself to the NFB causes. In my
experience, we do run through the NFB pledge in some chapter meetings, and
that is not a real big deal; though most meetings at the convention seem to
forgo it. Again it might be a bit much to introduce the group in such a way
to new convention goers. After all, the meeting should be filled to capacity
with exemplary dialogue that describes what the NFB is about. T&T is the
only meeting I go to that does the national Pledge of Allegiance. While it
is very meaningful to some; it just seems superfluous here. After all, we
may be hosting non-citizens at our meeting. Hopefully we got a diverse bunch
coming. 

                Please don't take this too harshly. I hope you will see this
as me trying to be constructive, and not me just being a Nelly Negative.

Best,

Trevor     

From: Cheryl Echevarria [mailto:cherylandmaxx at hotmail.com] 
Sent: Saturday, June 13, 2015 7:57 AM
To: 'Cheryl Echevarria'
Cc: 'NFB Travel and Tourism Division List'
Subject: Updates on the NFB Travel & Tourism Meeting on July 5, 2015 from
6:00 PM-6:30 PM Registration to meeting 6:30 - 9:30PM maybe longer

Good morning all members of the NFB Travel & Tourism Division:

Some of you may get this email twice, only because I do not know who is on
the talk list or not, and we need all members having the same information.
If you are  an existing members, someone not attending the meeting at
convention, and people on the NFB Talk list that are new and want to join
the division.

Anyone at the convention can join any meeting or seminar, but with
membership in any organization has benefits over non-members.

Remember, if you are not a paid member of the division, you cannot vote or
make a motion, but you are welcome to join in discussions and participate.

To make sure that we know who is who at convention, since we will have a few
sighted people with us, and Treasurer, Johanna Taylor, has vision. We will
be doing a roll call at the meeting on July 5th, of those people who have
paid, and ask all paid members sit on one side of the room and non-members
sit on the other side of the room, especially when we are taking votes and
making a motion this is only fair.  

This is a reminder, if you haven't been active, and we are starting to be a
very active monthly division with monthly teleconference calls and more.

Please remember to pay your annual dues at our meeting which is at 6PM
Registration - 6:30PM, meeting will start promptly at 6:30 PM and continue
until 9:30 PM maybe longer, I don't think we have another meeting after us.
It will be in Salon 17 on the 2nd Floor. Please have exact change of $10
especially if you are the first people to pay. If you are paying by check or
money order, have this done before leaving for home and make the checks out
to the NFB Travel & Tourism. We will also have an option of paying via
credit card, but this is only if the WI-FI in the hotel is working properly,
so try to bring money with you.

We will have at least 2 people at the registration table, please make sure
that you spell and give your first name, last name, email, address and phone
number. We had some issues last year, and many people weren't receiving
information.

After the meeting starts and you come in late, we will not be taking anymore
dues. If you would like to pay your dues prior to convention, you can send a
check to our Treasurer, Mrs. Johanna Taylor. Dues are still $10 and no do
not send cash through the mail, send checks or money orders made out to: NFB
Travel & Tourism, please mail it to 654 W 1820 N, Orem, UT 84057.

If you would like to pay with credit card, we do have the option of going to
our website and paying through PayPal

http://nfbtravel.org/how-to-join-the-nfb-travel-tourism-division/

If you are not attending convention this year, yoru dues are now do. We will
be taking minutes and it will be posted in the Braille Monitor, on the
travelandtourism at nfbnet.org; on our website www.nfbtrave.org; on our
Facebook page

www.Facebook.com/NFB-Travel-and-Tourism-Division

We will also be having a 50/50 raffle at the end of the meeting the 1st 50
people that attend will get a card with a braille number on it when we pull
this number you will win, bring cash, and let the person who is doing the
raffle at the front door that you are participating.  Please help our your
division!

Agenda for the meeting:

Pledge of Allegiance and the National Federation of the Blind Pledge

Introductions of the Officers

Presidential Report from Cheryl Echevarria

Elections: Only on Treasurer, Secretary and 1 Board Member 

Glenda Farnum, had to step down due to personal issues as our Treasurer, and
we need to vote in interim Treasurer, Johanna Taylor, as Treasurer, she has
been acting Treasurer since February 2015.

Margo Downey, had to step down due to personal issues as our Secretary, and
John TeBockhorst has been our interim Secretary since December 2014,  he has
to be voted in a Secretary.

Which means, we have an opening for another board member. Ms. Denise Brown
has indicated she is interested, and we need to vote her in.   

Should anyone else like to run. You need to be a paid member of the
division, we hope that you are  an active one.

Treasurers Report - Johanna Taylor

Minutes of the Meeting from Convention 2014

Business:

2016 Fundraiser Trip Committee: All paid members, there  will be 2 trip
options available, they are not finalized yet, some tweaking here and there,
but  these trips will take place September 2016.  

Margo Downey will be reading her report from the Air Travel Conference from
Washington, DC that she attended September 2014 with other disability
organizations

Presentation by member Denise Brown on why she likes to travel and where she
likes to travel.

There will be a 5-10 minute Q&A, and it will be monitored.

Board Members: Jemal Powell and Steven Hastalis will be doing a presentation
on transportation boards that they sit on in their state and give some tips
about joining them where you live. 5-10 minute Q&A and it will be monitored.

Presentation by Lawrence Bock, Chairman of the company, Aira, that uses
smart glasses (like Google Glass) to provide personalized assistance to
blind users from a network of trained and accredited Agents. (Yes, Larry is
Blind)

5-10 minute presentation, 5-10 minute Q&A - this will be monitored

Opened Floor to Q&A, we will take a motion to end the meeting for 2015, but
can  stay in the room for more discussion should anyone like to do so, and
if there is no other meeting behind us.

Anything that is said monitored, means time only, we have a big agenda.

Thank you all

Sincerely,

Cheryl Echevarria, President

National Federation of the Blind's Travel and Tourism Division

A proud division of the 

NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND - "Live the life you want"

www.nfbtravel.org

To join the talk list

http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/travelandtourism_nfbnet.org

631-236-5138

cherylandmaxx at hotmail.com

The National Federation of the Blind knows that blindness is not the
characteristic that defines you or your future. Every day we raise the
expectations of blind people, because low expectations create obstacles
between blind people and our dreams. You can have the life you want;
blindness is not what holds you back.

Cheryl Echevarria 

Travel is our specialty and offering the best of meaningful travel for all
ages is our passion!

http://www.echevarriatravel.com

reservations at echevarriatravel.com

631-456-5394

Visit my website to get my FREE report, "Top 5 Good Reasons to Use a Travel
Professional"

I build my business on referrals. Please pass my details on to friends and

family members that deserve the best vacation that they can imagine

P.S. - Families of all sizes is my specialty. Whether you are just starting
out and looking for that romantic destination for your destination wedding
or honeymoon. Booking that planned family vacation to Walt Disney World or
that bucket list trip that Grandma  & Grandpa are planning for the family, I
would love to help you. 

We have partnered with Braille Smith. www.braillesmith.com for all her
braille needs.  Gail Smith is the Secretary of the NFB of Alabama