Volunteers Needed

Individuals, civic groups, youth groups, fraternities, sororities, employee organizations – we need your help.

1500 blind and visually impaired people will be in Columbus from July 4-12, 2013. We need volunteers at the airport and the Hyatt Regency Hotel.

Click on the Volunteer Tab above to register.

Discovering Columbus

The 52nd ACB conference and convention will take place from July 4-12, 2013 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in downtown Columbus, Ohio.

Plans are well under way for ACB's first visit to the Buckeye State. Several members of the convention committee have visited the hotel, met with the host committee, and begun the process of obtaining sponsorships, recruiting volunteers and visiting potential tour sites. The first tours will happen on Thursday, July 4, and we hope you will spend the holiday with ACB in the city named for the man who discovered America. The Ohio host committee invites everyone to their welcome party on Friday evening, July 5.

Traveling to Columbus

Port Columbus International Airport (code CMH) is located just 10 minutes east of downtown. Columbus is served by all major air carriers, including Air Canada, AirTran, American, Delta, Frontier, Southwest, United, and US Airways.

Columbus is served by Greyhound and Megabus, but not by Amtrak; the closest train stop is two hours away in Cincinnati.

Columbus is easy to access by car. The main east-west highway is I-70, and the two primary north-south freeways are I-71 and state route 315.

Food News

Each year there is a question as to whether individuals, affiliates and others may sell food items at the ACB conference and convention. The Hyatt Regency's convention services office has provided us with their policy, as follows: "All food and beverage arrangements must be made through the hotel. Only food and beverage purchased from the Hyatt may be served on hotel property. No food or beverage may be sold at any events, trade shows or any general events on hotel property."

So no, food sales will NOT be permitted in Columbus. When planning your fundraisers, exhibits, Marketplace tables, etc., think outside the box. For example, ACB Students had an innovative fund-raiser in Louisville, delivering food from the ACB Café or the hotel deli to attendees in general sessions.

Details

Room rates are $89 plus tax per night (single, double, triple, quad). Make telephone reservations by calling 1-888-421-1442, or online by visiting the ACB web site at www.acb.org and following the 2013 conference and convention link.

Approximately 1,500 blind and visually impaired people are expected to attend this conference from across the United States and from many foreign countries. Countless others will listen to selected broadcasts from the conference on ACB's Internet radio service. Still others will read the conference program and newspaper from the ACB website and on ACB email lists. Included among these participants will be blind entrepreneurs, students, teachers, rehabilitation professionals, attorneys, musicians, parents and grandparents. There will be people looking for work and people who use all kinds of adaptive technology; people who are interested in large print, recorded, digital and braille products; elderly people who are just learning to live with vision loss; and young people attending college and just starting new careers.

Exhibiting, advertising, and sponsoring events and programs at an ACB conference and convention are great ways to showcase your products and services to potential customers. Explore the Exhibitor, Advertising, and Sponsor links to learn how to exhibit in the busy exhibit hall, advertise in the official conference program and newspaper, sponsor events and services, and place product samples and literature in our registration bags. Use these opportunities to showcase your products and services to a broad cross-section of blind and visually impaired people across the nation and around the world.

For more information:

Exhibits - email Michael Smitherman at amduo@bellsouth.net or call him at (601) 331-7740.

Advertising and Sponsorship Opportunities - email Margarine Beaman at oleo50@hotmail.com or call her at (512) 921-1625.

Volunteers – email Sally Benjamin at volunteer@acb.org or call her at (877) 268-3664.