Important Update about the 2020 Conference and Convention
Due to the ever-changing restrictions involving the Coronavirus and The American Council of the Blind’s concern for everyone's health and safety, we have made the difficult decision to cancel the in-person 2020 Conference and Convention in Schaumburg, IL. This does not mean there won't be a convention. Our team has worked hard to develop an engaging and inspiring virtual agenda across a host of interactive and accessible platforms. We will still hold our general sessions, special-interest affiliate, committee and business partner programming. Vendors will be able to provide information to you about their products. There will even be a virtual walk, auction and banquet. To make sure you receive the most up to date information, subscribe to our convention announce list by sending a blank email to acbconvention-subscribe@acblists.org or contact Janet Dickelman, convention coordinator at janet.dickelman@gmail.com or by phone at (651) 428-5059.
Zoom Links
Many of you are asking how you will receive the Zoom links to access the various sessions to be held at the ACB Virtual Convention. Here is how it will work:
- To receive Zoom Links you have to be registered for the convention and have paid the $25 administrative fee. Originally, you would have only received the zoom links for the sessions you signed up for when you registered. ACB leadership later decided that zoom links for all sessions would be provided to all who registered and paid the administrative fee. So you will be able to join a zoom meeting for a session, whether or not you actually selected that session when you registered.
- Each evening you will receive an email from ACB providing session information and zoom links for the next day. The email address used will be the address you gave us when you registered for the convention.
- Session and Zoom link information is now available on this site. A tab/link labeled “Zoom Links” has been placed near the top of the each page. Selecting this link will take you to a login page, where you will need to provide your convention login and password. Upon logging in , a link to each day of the convention will appear. Select the date you want and all the sessions for that day along with the zoom links for each session will be listed.
- If you have forgotten your convention login and password, you can use the “forgot login/password” link on the login page, you can call the convention virtual information desk at 612-470-1947 (open 9:00 AM EDT to 7:30 PM EDT; 7/3/20 to 7/10/20), or you can call the Minneapolis office at 612-332-3242 (open 9:00 AM EDT to 5:00PM EDT; 7/3/20 through 7/10/20).
For general convention questions, call our convention information desk at 612-470-1947 (open 9:00 AM EDT to 5:00PM EDT; 7/3/20 through 7/10/20), or email them at acb.info.helpdesk@gmail.com.
If you want to listen to the convention on ACB Radio
The 2020 ACB Virtual Conference and Convention will be streamed on ACB radio using multiple streams. All general sessions, and much of our afternoon and evening programming will be live streamed on ACB Radio.
Other sessions will be recorded and replayed on ACB Radio. Sessions will be available as podcasts after the convention and archived for later listening on ACB Radio.
There are several options to listen to ACB Radio:
- Listen from your computer by going to acbradio.org and selecting the stream you want to hear.
- Follow the convention via ACB Link on your smart phone - Download ACB Link from the Apple app store for your iPhone or from the Google Play Store for your Android phone.
Follow the convention using Alexa. Seven Alexa skills exist for your use. The following phrases should be used to launch the streams:
- To play the ACB Radio Mainstream channel, say “Open ACB Radio Mainstream.”
- To play the ACB Radio Mainstream West channel, say “Open ACB Mainstream West.”
- To play the ACB Radio Cafe channel, say “Open ACB Radio Café.”
- To play the ACB Radio Community channel, say “Open ACB Radio Community.”
- To play the ACB Radio Live Event channel, say “Open ACB Radio Live.”
- To play the ACB Radio Special Event channel, say “Open ACB Radio Special.”
- To play the ACB Radio Treasure Trove channel, say “Open ACB Radio Treasures.”
- Listen on the telephone by calling (518) 906- 1820
Abbreviations Used on this site
- ACB - American Council of the Blind
- AABT - American Association of Blind Teachers
- AAVL - Alliance on Aging and Vision Loss
- AAVIA - American Association of Visually Impaired Attorneys
- ACBDA - ACB Diabetics in Action
- ACBF - ACB Families
- ACBGE - ACB Government Employees
- ACBNG – ACB Next Generation
- ACBL - ACB Lions
- ACBRA - ACB Radio Amateurs
- ACBS - ACB Students
- ADP - Audio Description Project
- AFB - American Foundation for the Blind
- APH - American Printing House for the Blind
- BITS - Blind Information Technology Specialists
- BOP - Board of Publications
- BPI - Blind LGBT Pride International
- BRL - Braille Revival League
- CCLVI - Council of Citizens with Low Vision International
- DKM - Durward K. McDaniel First Timer
- FIA - Friends-in-Art of ACB
- GDB – Guide Dogs for the Blind
- GDUI - Guide Dog Users, Inc.
- IRC - International Relations Committee
- IVIE - Independent Visually Impaired Entrepreneurs
- LUA - Library Users of America
- MCAC - Multicultural Affairs Committee
- NIB - National Industries for the Blind
- NLS - National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled
- RSVA - Randolph-Sheppard Vendors of America
- SASI - Sight and Sound Impaired Committee
- VIVA - Visually Impaired Veterans of America
Registration
Pre Registration for the 2020 Virtual Conference and Convention is now closed. If you have any questions about your pre-registration, please call our Minnesota office at 612-332-3242.
To register once the convention has started, you can call our Minnesota office at 612-332-3242. Convention registration hours are: Friday, July 3rd through Thursday, July 9th, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. EDT.
While most of the conference and convention will be live streamed on ACB Radio, registering will allow you to be eligible for the daily door prize drawings and to actively participate in each zoom meeting session you select. There is an administrative fee of $25 that gives you access to all zoom meetings.
Click here if you would like to browse through all the seminars, workshops, programs and social events being offerred.