This is being provided in a rough-draft format. Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) is provided in order to facilitate communication accessibility and may not be a totally verbatim record of the proceedings
MELISSA: Well, good morning, everybody! I am Melissa Riccobono, and I am here for this day 2 of the virtual experience and we are so excited that all of you have decided to join us and make us a part of your day. There are a couple of other people here with me and I'll let them introduce themselves.
DANIELLE: Here we are.
MELISSA: There they are! Yay!
DANIELLE: Sorry about that.
MELISSA: That's all right.
DANIELLE: Live broadcasting, right? This is Danielle McCannn. Hello. Thank you so much for being here with us. I'm very, very excited today, because I am being joined by one of our fantastic Federationists. What's your name?
MELISSA: We can't hear this fantastic Federationist. We're having just a little bit of trouble. We cannot hear you at all. Very, very faintly.
DANIELLE: What about now?
MELISSA: Now I can hear you.
DANIELLE: So come right here. Can you hear me now?
MELISSA: There she is! What is your name fantastic Federationist?
>> Candice Chapman.
MELISSA: I first met you in 2011 when you were an intern with the National Federation of the Blind of Maryland. That's a long time ago. How are you? You're fading in and out. There you go.
Candice: I've decided lately to stop thinking about how long it's been because it makes my brain hurt a little bit.
MELISSA: Mine a little bit, too.
Candice: It's good to be here with you both.
MELISSA: We're so excited to have you here and you're from the state of?
Candice: Mississippi.
MELISSA: Mississippi, fantastic. Is Danielle talking?
DANIELLE: So just to give the folks listening a little bit of a heads-up, yesterday, we were pretty on top of the Q&A, but today, it's harder to go back and forth between Q&A. We're going to do our best.
Also, because we're going to start preshow today, your shout-outs here on the virtual, on the webinars, might be mentioned on the preshow so if we don't get to you on the webinar, keep listening and we will do our best to get to everyone's shout-out.
MELISSA: Absolutely. Definitely. And I can start. I'm on my laptop today, Danielle, so I can also help a little bit with Q&A probably.
So hopefully, that will help a little bit. Do you want to do any Q&A or shout-outs now, or do you want to just move into our cool, exciting program for the day?
DANIELLE: Let's go to the program!
MELISSA: Fantastic. How do you want to start?
DANIELLE: So let's go ahead and set the stage for those who are joining us. Maybe you weren't here yesterday --
MELISSA: You're fading out.
DANIELLE: I'm switching to a headset. Can you give an overview of what we're doing, Melissa?
MELISSA: Sure, so we are going to do something that we've never done before on our virtual experience shows. We are going to bring you a little bit of the sounds from around Convention, and those sounds have been prerecorded, but we've tried to give you a taste of what it is the convention is like, people that we run across, places that we've been, the sounds of convention, and so we actually, Kandice and Danielle and I have been all been going around with our recorders and gathering various sounds. We have not really talked too much about what we have.
What I have done is when I try to interview a person, I asked them if they've already been interviewed, and if they said, yes, I didn't interview them. We should each have some different things, and, of course, we were all in different areas. This is going to be fun for everyone to hear what we've gathered and for all of you listening at home to hear what all of us have gathered.
And we know that it's not the same as being at the convention, but we really hope that this will give you just a little taste of the things that are going on, the energy, and the different experiences that one might have if they are at the national convention of the National Federation of the Blind here in Orlando in 2024.
And a lot of these experiences are sort of experiences that might sound very familiar if you've been to convention before. Some things never change, and so we're just happy to bring these sounds to you.
So Danielle, do you guys want to start? Do you want me to start with one? What do we want to do here? I think Danielle might be getting -- there she is.
DANIELLE: I'm here.
MELISSA: Much better.
DANIELLE: So I have some audio of a couple of marshals, and so when you first walk into the Rosen Center, the Rosen Center really does feel like coming home to us and so when you first walk in, the elevator bank is kind of straight ahead from the main entrances and so I got some good audio of marshals shouting the way to the elevator to the check-in desk, so do you want to go ahead and do that?
MELISSA: That sounds awesome.
DANIELLE: Bear with my technology. Just one second.
DANIELLE: Were you able to catch that?
MELISSA: I didn't hear what they were saying. I definitely heard the audio.
DANIELLE: And you heard the cane taps?
MELISSA: Oh, the cane taps were kind of hard to hear.
DANIELLE: Let's go ahead and I'll try to find a better one. I got quite a few snippets of cane taps.
MELISSA: So let me see what I have. I have something that I think everybody is going to be interested in. I was able to catch up with Bennett, and he was talking about door prizes. So I think that that's what I'm going to start with, and give me just a second, because I'm going to have to start to share my screen. Elyse, for some reason, it's not letting me share. It was letting me share before, but now it's not.
So if you could give me permission again, that would be great, and Danielle, if you have anything that you want to bring up.
Otherwise, I can certainly just talk. That's never a problem for me or we could do some shout-outs for folks. Thank you for bearing with us, everybody. This is the very first time that we've ever brought this event to you in this way. I do also want to shout out that 1Cap is available. Thank you so much to our captioner.
Are we doing interpretation, too, Danielle?
DANIELLE: We've got interpretation. Thank you so much to those who are helping behind the scenes. Thanks to Elyse and we got a shout-out from Holly McKnight in Texas.
MELISSA: Oh, my goodness. Start my video. Okay. It's not letting me.
DANIELLE: So Kendra from Oregon says happy Independence Day. The best way to celebrate our independence is to keep living the lives we want. What do you think about that, Candice? Is that a good way to celebrate Independence Day?
SPEAKER: I think it's the best way.
DANIELLE: When did you get to the convention?
SPEAKER: I got to convention on the 2nd, around the afternoon of the 2nd.
DANIELLE: And is this your first convention?
SPEAKER: This is my 16th convention.
DANIELLE: This is my eighth.
MELISSA: This is my -- goodness, gracious. I started going in 1999, and I've missed two. So I don't exactly know what that is, but it's over 20. (Laughs) I'll have to figure that out.
DANIELLE: We've got a couple more shout-outs from Texas. Texas is in the house! Howdy, Texas.
MELISSA: Excellent. I think I can do it. This is exciting. Share sound.
DANIELLE: And thank you, everyone, for bearing with us. We want to bring you the best experience we can and sometimes, it takes a little bit of navigation, so thank you. All right.
MELISSA: You're going to hear my sound for a second. And there we go.
SPEAKER: So I'm here with Benet. How are you?
SPEAKER: I'm doing quite well. This is a great convention.
MELISSA: You're the door prize guy.
SPEAKER: I'm one of them.
MELISSA: Who's the other? Who's your side kick?
SPEAKER: Kenya Flores is here with me this year. A team member as I am, and I have my daughter Elizabeth watching to see who will get a door prize.
MELISSA: What happens for virtual participants? They can get door prizes, too, right if they're registered?
SPEAKER: Absolutely. Their names will be called and most likely they'll be called at a similar time as the people that are getting them in the room, and when their name is called, all they need to do is to send a message to [email protected] with their name and everything in it, because you have to be listening in order to get the door prize.
MELISSA: You can't be getting a coffee or something. No. You have to be in the room where it happens. That's right. Excellent.
SPEAKER: All you've got to do is send that message to [email protected].
MELISSA: Perfect.
SPEAKER: And your information there, within a half-hour. Otherwise, you're out of luck.
MELISSA: Oh.
SPEAKER: Listen carefully.
MELISSA: Absolutely. And how many conventions has this been for you?
SPEAKER: Me, I think this is about my 48th convention.
MELISSA: In a row or have you missed any?
SPEAKER: Skipped a couple when I was studying for the bar. But mostly I've been at all of them.
MELISSA: And you're from Washington State. And what's Washington State selling at convention this year?
SPEAKER: We're selling the chocolate covered cherries with special coffee beans and a couple of other things, and we're also getting interested in people signing up for maybe a cruise coming up.
MELISSA: Oh, to Alaska. All right.
SPEAKER: There you go.
MELISSA: Do you have an Exhibit Hall table?
SPEAKER: So it's in person, but any time people want to contact us, give us a call and we'll be able to talk to you.
MELISSA: Fantastic. Thanks so much, Bennett. You heard from Bennett. That's a lot of conventions.
DANIELLE: A lot of conventions. And he and Kenya do such a great job with the door prizes. They bring that energy and I'm excited that we are able to do prizes for those who are listening virtually.
MELISSA: I am so excited about that, too, because who doesn't want to win a door prize? Just saying. We don't have any on this show, unfortunately.
DANIELLE: Not on this show, but we will during like the streamed event. Any of the events that are streamed for the quote/unquote general public are going to be the places to be to listen.
MELISSA: Except for the board meeting and resolutions. We don't do boor prizes. Any of the sessions from the July 6th on and including the banquet you can win door prizes.
DANIELLE: Yeah. Well, speaking of interviews, are you ready to hear an interview that I did with a very familiar voice to a lot of us? I actually -- so we were at the kickoff meeting yesterday morning, and I got to interview Karen Anderson for a second.
So if we're ready, I'll go ahead and play that snippet. And it was early. It was early in the morning now.
MELISSA: Was this Danielle and Karen pre-coffee?
DANIELLE: Karen sounded pretty good, but I was struggling.
MELISSA: It is convention.
DANIELLE: Hang on one second.
MELISSA: All right. We're going to have Danielle share her screen. And I hope that after you, Danielle, I hope we can get something that Candice has. This is exciting.
DANIELLE: I'm here with the lovely and talented Karen Anderson. We are actually standing in ballroom A and we are getting ready for the kickoff meeting. Hey, Karen, how's your morning been?
SPEAKER: It's been really good so far! Got some volunteers to help out with some things. Our convention runs on volunteers, so hoping to round some of those up throughout the week and it's been great.
DANIELLE: Are you excited for all the festivities to come?
SPEAKER: I'm so excited. The parents are meeting today. I get to talk to them, and I like getting to talk with parents of blind kids. I'm really looking forward to the presidential report that's always a favorite, and the banquet speech and just all of it.
DANIELLE: And if you could say one thing to the folks at home who are maybe like on the fence about coming to convention, what would that be?
SPEAKER: I would say coming to a convention in person is definitely scary and I totally get that, but there is absolutely nothing like it in the world. Being around other blind people who are there to help you and encourage you and give you advice and help you when you get lost and are in the same position is really empowering. It's one of those opportunities that only comes around really once a year, so please come.
We would love to have you. We would love to welcome you in. It's one of my favorite moments of the year.
DANIELLE: Awesome. Thank you so much, Karen!
SPEAKER: Absolutely. Happy convention.
DANIELLE: Happy convention.
MELISSA: Nice. Very, very nice. You didn't sound horrible, Danielle by any stretch of the imagination. You were putting coherent sentences together.
DANIELLE: I was struggling, man.
MELISSA: So Danielle shared hers from ballroom. Bennett's background noise was the noise of the Presidential Suite just so you guys know that's where that one was recorded, which is why it was just so gosh darn noisy in the background. But there you go.
DANIELLE: We're just making sure that the audio is good, so Candice is in process of getting ready to go, and then Candice can kind of give us context for her next recording. Do you have something ready to go, Melissa?
MELISSA: I have something ready to go if you want me to do something or we can go right to Candice.
DANIELLE: Let's go ahead and have you get yours ready, and that way we can get Candice good to go.
MELISSA: I am going to share. I don't think this person needs much of an introduction. So I'm going to just start to share, and you'll be excited to hear. I did have my sound. Sorry. Okay. Well, let's do the Hospitality Suite first because the other person is in my other recorder which I forgot that I hadn't copied everything over so while I get the ready for the next one, we'll do a little bit of a blurb from the floor of the Hospitality Suite.
So I am in the Hospitality Suite, suite 1456, and we have some great Florida affiliate members that are here working the suite, and so I'm just going to -- you guys pass this around and you can say your names and where you're from.
SPEAKER: I'm Peggy, I'm one of the Florida board affiliate members. And I'm from Palm Coast, Florida.
SPEAKER: And I'm Denise Valcama from Jacksonville, Florida. Also, an affiliate board member.
MELISSA: And you didn't tangle yourself trying to say that.
SPEAKER: I'm David, Peggy's husband.
MELISSA: And I bet you live in Palm Coast, too.
SPEAKER: And I'm just crashing here, my name is Daniel Garcia from Kansas City, Missouri, enjoying the hospitality here, the Florida hospitality. Thank you. Let me pass this on here.
SPEAKER: My name is Jim Graham, and I'm from the central Florida chapter in Orlando, and I'm from Kissimmee.
SPEAKER: Who else needs this?
MELISSA: Fantastic. So Danielle, are you doing any of the interpreting? No.
SPEAKER: I don't know enough. I would have to read a lot of NFB material in Spanish before I could do that. It's not as simple as you would think.
MELISSA: I'm sure it's not.
SPEAKER: We really commend those people that do that work.
MELISSA: So what do you all have to offer here in the Hospitality Suite for those that are able to come here in person?
SPEAKER: My goodness, we have coffee, a couple of different flavors. We have tea. All the things that go with it, different creamers, sweeteners. For snacks, we've got honey buns, all manner of Danish, coke, sprites with and we have on the healthier side, nuts and granola bars, chips, cookies, crackers. Everything to get your energy back up. The World’s Finest Chocolates.
MELISSA: World’s Finest Chocolates.
SPEAKER: And we're giving that away. We're not selling it.
MELISSA: Well, I better not tell Anil Lewis that. He might come this way. Thank you, but I think I am good. Anything else you want the virtual folks here at home to know about Florida hospitality? Or convention? Anything you guys are looking forward to?
SPEAKER: Welcome to Florida, even if you're virtual. Thank you!
MELISSA: Absolutely. Thank you all so much and keep giving out the hospitality.
SPEAKER: Thank you.
MELISSA: There you go. That's a little bit of something from the Hospitality Suite, suite 1456 if you happen to be in the hotel, because I know sometimes people in the hospitality do sit with us on the virtual experience.
DANIELLE: That's great. Thank you so much for that. It was good to hear all the plethora of snacks that they have.
MELISSA: Yes. They have a lot of snacks. Definitely.
DANIELLE: Catching up with a couple of shout-outs. You've got Jackie back from yesterday. Thank you for joining us and also a special shout-out for Candice, it's great to hear my mentor Candice joining the team. And Miriam, she's in Austria, formerly from San Diego. I'm not sure how she worded it example.
MELISSA: Thank you for joining us from around the world.
DANIELLE: If you want to give us a little context to your piece here.
CANDICE: Hi, Miriam, it's so good to know you're with us from afar. Mentoring is one of the fantastic things about this organization that I love and I'm so happy to be a part of. It really does make so much of a difference.
So the clip, I was in the Exhibit Hall earlier, and so it's just a snippet of myself and my friends, Kimberly and Kyle and we were taking a break, and we did a little bit of a recording. And just one thing I wanted to mention, because sometimes, you know, you miss out on the Exhibit Hall experience not being here in person but the table I went to, for Dot Shop, you can do that virtually. Everything that is sold at the convention is also sold online.
That's the one of those nice things you can have access to even if you're not here in person.
DANIELLE: All right. I'm going to go ahead and share screen, and then Candice, your audio will play.
CANDICE: Hi, everyone, I'm here in the Exhibit Hall with my friends Kyle and Kimberly and we're in line to buy a cane and we're looking for A-18 where Rosina Foster has our Dot Shop merchandise. She makes products with print and Braille. I wanted to check and in say a quick hello, so you get this Exhibit Hall experience. This is one of the things that you can experience at an in-person convention. Thanks!
DANIELLE: Thank you for that snippet on the audio. I did get a message from Melissa, her computer battery died. She will be back on with us as quickly as she can. If you have any questions that you have about convention, especially those who are on the fence, what are some other things we can anticipate? Feel free to put those in the Q&A. We did get a question in the Q&A.
And so we got a question in the Q&A but before we go to that, someone said love Dot Shot, got a shirt that says I drive a stick, which is amazing, so Rosina has so many cute designs. Candice bought one of those as well and so Candice here's a question you might be able to answer about mentoring. Someone says what are some resources or how does mentoring work for a blind person maybe living out of the country, but maybe also talk about in the country, as well.
CANDICE: I would love to do that. In the country, we have, within the National Federation of the Blind, some more structured mentoring kind of opportunities, such as with our National Scholarship Program. I'm a member of our committee, so I mentor the finalists who are here at convention with us this week and every year, we bring 30 finalists and so they get mentored by the different members of the committee who are in sometimes in related fields.
And sometimes, not, so that's one kind of example of a formal mentoring infrastructure of structure or program that we have in the organization. And we have others. We have our Teachers of Tomorrow Program. There's mentoring that happens through that. We have our summer youth programs. There's mentoring that happens that way, but a lot of times, there's informal mentoring that can happen just by coming to the events at convention or going to your state convention and finding blind people that you may have something in common with or just asking to be connected with somebody who can help get you more information, and so in that informal way, you can adopt a mentor, you can formally ask.
And different states and affiliates have their own mentoring programs. So there's a lot of ways to get involved with both formal and informal mentoring. I'm sure if you reached out to our national office staff, people would be happy to connect you with folks who are interested in being mentors in a formal/informal capacity. So and I think internationally, I think you could definitely reach out in similar ways. I don't think it would be that different. You would just probably need to get connected through our national office since finding a local affiliate would not be the easiest thing to do. You could get connected with someone via the national office.
DANIELLE: Thank you so much, Candice. Hopefully, that answered your question. The question did ask about other countries and so the World Blind Union and I believe their website is blindunion.org, and they would be able to answer questions that are more country specific and so just a little bit about the World Blind Union is they have members that are country-specific, so they have members like we, for example, the National Federation of the Blind is a member of the World Blind Union, but then there's also like the African Blind Union, and there's ONSE, which is out of Spain, and they work in Spain to do similar work like the Federation.
The World Blind Union would be a good resource to connect you in the area you're thinking about. Hopefully, that was helpful.
And we got another question asking if there are going to be any virtual events happening today or if this is it? And so the answer to that is that Resolutions will be streamed this afternoon. We have a preshow starting at 12:30, and then, at 1:00 sharp, the committee will be connecting to go over resolutions. I believe there are 22 resolutions this year. If you want to listen to that, you are welcome to do that. We will have captioning and interpreting available for those, as well.
MELISSA: I am back. That was a surprise. Just now, when I was plugged into an outlet on the desk, my computer was plugged in, but surprising to say there was actually a switch on the little outlet box that I had to flip, and so even though it was plugged in, it was not charging, which I didn't realize until it completely died so I'm very sorry to have left you so abruptly.
The second funny thing, yesterday, I was trying to get up to the hospital suite and the very tip of my cane got stuck. It didn't break, but it got stuck in an elevator door and the door closed and so I had to stand there for about 10 minutes until that door reopened so I could get my cane back out and go on my way.
Those are my two funny things. They say things always happen in threes so maybe I have a third coming. But I apologize for being gone and I'm happy to be back.
DANIELLE: Maybe you'll win a door prize and that will reverse things.
MELISSA: I don't know if I'm going to win a door prize, but the cane didn't break, and you guys I'm sure soldiered on without me just fine.
CANDICE: And the good thing about being here at convention with the Independence Market, even if it had, you've got a pretty easy way to replace it in a timely manner.
MELISSA: I wouldn't have had to wait for the mail or anything else. I do have the voice I was going to share before, but I don't know what you guys were doing so I don't want to interrupt you. What would you like to do next?
DANIELLE: Go for it. We played Candice's recording from the Exhibit Hall. You're up.
MELISSA: I'm going to start to green and make sure that my sounds are going to be shared. If you heard this JAWS is, you know who this person is.
SPEAKER: I'm here with a very familiar voice. Do you want to say your name?
MARY: Mary Ellen Jernigan.
MELISSA: How are you?
MARY: I'm first rate.
MELISSA: Fantastic. How many conventions in a row is it for you?
MARY: This is number 58. My first one was 1966 in Louisville, and it was the last convention that Dr. TenBroek attended before he learned of his illness. He was also at the next convention the following year, 1967, I think we were back in Los Angeles. They keep getting bigger and better every year. Fun to be back here in Orlando. This is a phenomenal hotel. We have so many first-time attendees that although we've had I think it's six conventions previously in Orlando at the Rosen properties, we've got a pile of people who have never been here to Orlando and the hotel.
MELISSA: They're very well staffed and a first-rate hotel. 58 conventions. For many of those conventions, you were the operations person. Do you miss that? Or are you very happy to -- I won't say back seat, because you always have your hands where they are needed, but do you miss being in charge or not?
MARY: It is a delight to tag around, being his shadow. For a number of years, I can't remember how many, he tagged around with me, and I love the reversal of roles.
MELISSA: Is there anything you want to tell people who aren't able to be at convention this year? Or say hello to anyone you know who has been at conventions before?
MARY: It's wonderful that we have the virtual experience, but virtual is what it is. It's virtual. Nothing like being here in person with thousands of others. I would like to say good morning to Sharon. She's dealing with some physical therapy with her knees and intends to be here next year but has to sit this one out.
MELISSA: Thank you so much, and I think we're going to be calling the meeting to order soon, so I will let you get back to it. You heard from Mary Ellen Jernigan, one of my favorite Federationists to talk to and get perspectives from.
If you ever have a chance to sit down and have a chat with Mary Ellen Jernigan, take it because she is a fascinating woman, and so fun to be with and will give perspective on things. 58 conventions in a row without missing one. She's got a lot to share for sure.
CANDICE: And one of the things that Mrs. Jernigan mentioned in the recording was there's nothing like being here in person, and I have to say, you don't get the opportunity to bump into people in the hallways and that's one of the treasures of being here in person is interacting with people you've met from previous conventions. You definitely don't get that virtually.
MELISSA: Definitely. We did used to have that virtual Presidential Suite and maybe that's something we have to think about how we can staff next year, because people did really seem to enjoy that and people from around the world were there and would sit and talk to each other and other people, and maybe that's something we should think about.
DANIELLE: That's a great idea. It is a way to interact. Being virtual, it's one thing but being in person is so valuable.
MELISSA: Where are we going to go now?
DANIELLE: So part of what I do at convention is I help with our interpretation. Our interpreters have such a big talent to be able to just keep up with the English, just so fast, and they're just so good with it.
And so I just really, really appreciate them. But that allows me to be in different meeting rooms, kind of making sure if they need anything, if there's any audio issues. And so I got a little snippet. I hope he doesn't kill me, but I got a little snippet of Ross Kirschner doing some mic checks.
MELISSA: He's one of the reasons that our sound sounds as good as it does and if it doesn't sound good, he and Rod are working diligently to make sure it works, and Ross is an all-around good human. I'm excited that you got some mic checks from him because people might never even know his voice otherwise. This is really cool.
DANIELLE: Were you able to hear that? That was really quiet.
MELISSA: Couldn't hear it. Can you turn it up?
DANIELLE: Bear with me, folks.
(Audio clip)
DANIELLE: That's as loud as it's going to let me go. We're at 100%. Well, what he's doing is he's going testing, testing, and then, he's going check, check, check, check, check. Maybe we'll be able to put that on the web as a convention highlight.
MELISSA: And we might be able to capture that again because when the general session starts, if you get down there early enough, that's exactly what Ross and Will are doing and so maybe I can get down there early enough for our first preshow or maybe for the board meeting tomorrow. And see if I can capture any of that. We'll see.
All is not lost. We'll see if we can get some check, check for you. That's the one thing about the recordings is you think they sound good, and then they're not quite loud enough so thank you all again for your patience with this. This is a new audio tour that we're trying this year so let us know of something that you want to work on for next year. Do you have another audio -- I'm going to go ahead and check the Q&A.
I do have more audio.
Can you hear my sound? What else do I have here? We were talking yesterday about Mark AI and interacting with Mark AI. For those that don't know, this is the personal AI that President Riccobono is creating, and he wants all of us in the National Federation of the Blind to be able to help him shape it.
And so I have a little blurb that I recorded today, which is my reading of the little Braille sheet in the Presidential Suite, and this gives us information about how to interact with President Riccobono's AI, the different ways that you can. And then, also some tips about if you're going to chat with Mark AI, how might you begin? And what might you want to do?
And so we're going to play this now. I promised this. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get anybody else to record this. I came into my room, the Presidential Suite was very noisy at the time, including a baby that wasn't happy to be in the Presidential Suite at that moment. I'm going to play this sound about Mark AI.
MELISSA: For conversation with President Riccobono's personal assistant, also known as Mark AI. Three ways to connect, there's a QR code that's only available in the Presidential Suite so if you're virtual that will be a little bit difficult, but no fear if you're virtual. You can visit Riccobono.personal.AI on a computer or mobile device and join the public device. Our you can text 833-564-2271.
Here are some tips for engaging with Mark AI. Ask one question at a time. Separate questions and memories. Start w equation, wait for Mark AI's response, and then share a memory. Respond to Mark AI's questions by sharing your perspective and introduce yourself at the time at the beginning of the discussion. As Paul Harvey would say, page 2.
Topics to discuss with Mark AI: Convention details, including the agenda, presidential report and banquet speeches; Presidential Releases, Federation history and leaders, your views on key Federation topics.
MELISSA: That is all about Mark AI, and hopefully, that helps you a little bit. Again, I'm going to give you the phone number just in case you were not able to write it down that quickly, if you want to text with Mark AI. It is 833-546-2271. And you can go to Riccobono.personal.AI and join the conversation.
DANIELLE: That was like a commercial. Candice, would you ever talk to Mark AI, Candice?
CANDICE: I will divulge a truth about myself and say I'm a little bit terrified by the whole AI thing, but I think this might be an exception I would make, because I was just thinking, you know, we have our different forms of literature about our history and our books and talking to Mark AI would be like doing all of that in one location and not having to go to all those different things and just getting all that different good knowledge about the federation.
So this would probably be an exception that I would make to talk to Mark AI.
MELISSA: I will say that the one thing that really creeps me out is when Mark AI answers in Mark's voice, AI-generated voice. That can only happen if you go to Riccobono.personal.AI. There should be a button there that says something about answer in voice or something like that, and then, he will actually, his AI-generated voice will read the answer. That's the one that truly creeps me out. I'm okay with the rest of it, but that one, I just have to shake my head every time he does that, and he knows that it freaks me out, so he'll do it once in a while around the house just to keep me on my toes, I guess.
CANDICE: The realisticness of it.
MELISSA: Absolutely. Hopefully, will have a chance to chat with Mark AI and I'm sure we'll have more information about that, and I don't know if those types of things are on the web, but I'm sure if they're not right now, they will be. If you missed anything from the pre-show or you have questions that don't get answered in the Q&A, I am happy to give out my e-mail.
Some people remembered my e-mail from last year, so I have already responded to a couple of questions that have come in so thank you to those people for reaching out because I really do like to help people and make sure they get connected so my e-mail is [email protected].
And so I can't promise that I can move mountains or anything like that, but if there's something that you're curious about or some feedback that you can't share in the chat for whatever reason, feel free to send me an e-mail and I'll see what I can do.
DANIELLE: Thank you so much for sharing your e-mail, and I think, was it Dice World?
MELISSA: Melissa 545. You can find me on Dice World. I always love to play. I was playing last night. That's one thing I do at the end of the day is just to play some mindless Dice World.
Though it's not mindless because you do have to have some strategy, so just because I say it's mindless doesn't mean that I'm not thinking about it.
DANIELLE: You're being strategic about it.
MELISSA: But it's not the same as like -- I don't know. Pivoting to do a virtual experience preshow or anything like that.
DANIELLE: I have a recording of the real Mark Riccobono.
MELISSA: I left it to the experts so there you go.
DANIELLE: It's just a snippet. It was actually in the Rookie Roundup. This is not something that's typically available to everybody. It's just a little tiny snippet, because he was talking about membership last night and I got really excited.
For those again, if you're on the fence about coming to convention or even becoming a member of the organization, I just wanted to share a couple of words from Presidential Suite on his thoughts on membership and he said a lot more, but I just took a little piece of it so I'll go ahead and play that if we're ready.
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: It's really the members that make the magic. Members make things happen in this organization, it's a membership organization. If you're here for the first time, I hope that you will decide to become a member of the National Federation of the Blind by joining your local affiliate, your local chapter, because we don't have a movement without members, and with the rest of determined for the last 84 years, as blind people, that we're going to own our dignity as blind people and we're going to design what our role in society is and we've decided we belong in society and we're going to make that a reality throughout society.
DANIELLE: And there you have it.
MELISSA: I loved that. And I don't know, did you have any recordings of the cheer from the first-time convention attendees? It was incredible. The room was just packed with people and I would say probably over half were new attendees, and then, the other half were veterans that were just happy and excited to help the new attendees make sure that their convention experience was as great as it could be, and the energy in the room was amazing, particularly for 8:00 night, which I have to be honest, I came back to my room and crashed very hard last night.
I was very tired, but there was really good energy in that room. I don't know if you have any recordings of that, because I wished I had had my recorder out so I could capture some of those cheers.
DANIELLE: I didn't have any recordings from the cheer, but man was it powerful.
MELISSA: And Pam Allen always does such a great job and I know the Jernigan Fund Committee and other people were giving convention tips. What I saw and heard last night; it seemed like the Rookie Roundup was a wonderful event.
CANDICE: Those cheers, that's one of the best parts about being at convention for me. I always feel like convention is a recharge to go back out. You don't encounter a lot of blind people in your day-to-day life, unless you're in a specific place and for me, when the gavel drops and the cheer happens, when we're closing things out, it's just adding to that recharge of my batteries.
And this sounds really silly, but I'm going to say it anyways, it makes me a little teary eyed. It's so powerful that it hits me in the heart. I'm not a person that cries at the drop of a hat or anything, but for whatever reason, that's one thing that does give me a little bit of a lump in my throat and just moves me to happy tears, which is pretty incredible. Happy tears are a really cool thing.
CANDICE: I'm with you and I think it gets to be emotional sometimes because it can take you back to when it was your first time and when you were experiencing this and getting to know and first getting involved, so I think it makes sense that it's connected to some strong emotions.
MELISSA: And that's a really good point and also sometimes, it gets me with the people that are no longer here at convention in person or in body anymore.
CANDICE: Absolutely.
MELISSA: Rachel Olivero, the first conventions without her last year. Oh, my goodness. I'm totally blanking. Scott Labarre.
And I think we lost a couple others. The Harrises, very close to convention and this year, Penny Duffy, a great leader in our parent organization lost her battle with cancer.
And so I think that's the other part of it, where I feel like, even though they're not physically here with us, they are here in spirit and I feel them at the convention and when we cheer like that, I feel like wherever they are, they hear the cheer, and they cheer along with us.
And you at home, too, because we have the ability to bring convention sessions to people that aren't able to be, for whatever reason, I always think about those at home and know that you're in your living rooms or your bedrooms or wherever you are, on your deck or your patio, listening and cheering and that's really exciting, too, because it really does connect us.
CANDICE: Absolutely.
DANIELLE: Yesterday, I was looking at Facebook memories and Penny posted last year Danielle McCann gave me a shout-out on the virtual experience and I had to take a minute, because she was just such a good person. Thinking of her and her family a lot this week.
MELISSA: Speaking of shout-outs, do we have anything in the Q&A? Any shout-outs that we need to give?
DANIELLE: Let me go ahead and check.
MELISSA: Just so people remember, we are stopping at 12:30, and I think at 12:30, we're bringing in Mr. Anil Lewis because we were going to have our actual resolutions preshow at that time, and it's the same link, right? Nobody has to move. They can just stay here. Is that the plan?
DANIELLE: That is am plan.
MELISSA: So you can just keep hearing, but you're not going to hear any more sounds from convention come 12:30, because we will have the resolutions. We'll be changing topics and changing our hats just a tiny bit.
DANIELLE: Sarah from Virginia says she misses, everyone. Thank you so much for being here, Sarah.
MELISSA: Hi, Sarah.
DANIELLE: Melissa, do you have another piece of audio to share?
MELISSA: I sure do. You know me, I love my audio. Let's see, before I start screen sharing, let me see what else I have.
DANIELLE: And while we wait for you, I'll give a little teaser of one of the last couples of audio pieces I have. I have a very special message from one of our younger members in Minnesota.
MELISSA: I have one, another little commercial, from a company called 64 Ounce Games and they have another organization called 64 Ounce Braille and I was able to do a little sit-down with Richard Gibbs, one of the owners and founders of this organization, and I think all of you are going to be really excited about what he has to share.
I am here in the Presidential Suite with Richard Gibbs. How are you?
RICHARD: I'm doing well.
MELISSA: And you're from the state of?
RICHARD: The great state of Texas. I'll be manning the Texas table at the Exhibit Hall this week.
MELISSA: And what is Texas donating? What's the donation you can get on your donation levels? What can you get from Texas?
RICHARD: Well, with Texas, what we're doing, with 64 Ounce Games, we're selling a variety of different board games and there's luggage tags that you can get that have Braille and print. You can design and they have tactile graphics. We have tote bags that have Braille on them. We have key chains and dog tags. Tactile puzzles, all sorts of different just materials for being a blind person. We've got Braille sharpies, Braille wrenches. All sorts of new products that we're showing off at the Texas table this year.
MELISSA: You are one of the founders and owners of 64 Ounce Games.
RICHARD: You say that like it's more than me and my wife.
MELISSA: There's two of you! For people that are not familiar with 64 Ounce Games, how would you describe your company and what you do?
RICHARD: Well, right now, we have two different organizations, because we're trying to shift towards a nonprofit. We have 64 Ounce Games and 64 Ounce Braille, which focus more on what a school district would want. Games is just games. I forgot what your question was.
MELISSA: That's exactly it. I was asking you how you explain the company. So your Braille stuff, you have all sorts of things for learning Braille, for Braille writers, for supplies, you do your own designing. So you do a lot of laser cutting and 3D printing and things?
RICHARD: We do laser cutting, 3D printing. For our board games, we have overlays for boards that are transparent. Our assumption with the games is that you're always going to be playing with at least one blind person, maybe all blind people, maybe only one blind person so we try to make sure that whatever we do, it's accessible for both the sighted and the blind.
And we can make sure that everybody has as close to the same experience as possible.
MELISSA: And the Riccobonos have some 64 Ounce Games in our house. Ticket to Ride is President Riccobono's very favorite. Not all of us share his passion for Ticket to Ride.
But anyway, 64 Ounce Games and 64 Ounce Braille, fantastic quality and games and things you can't find anywhere else, which to me is amazing, as a parent. You guys always do the games that are just a little bit different, that aren't out there everybody else and I appreciate that as a parent and a consumer.
If people want to order from you or look at what you have, how would they go about doing that?
RICHARD: You can come to the Texas table. We have a bunch of samples, but if you're just out in the open world, you can always go to www.64ouncegames.com or www.64ounceBraille.com. It does matter if you spell it O-Z or O-U-N-C-E, it will take you to the same website.
MELISSA: Anything else you want to tell our folks about 64 Ounce Games or Braille or about the convention?
RICHARD: If there's something that you want Brailled, we have been -- we're working really hard on getting things that have never been available in Braille, in Braille. Like we're doing Braille pucks. We're doing -- I just did a Braille ruler. I'm working on Braille wrenches. Just like common, everyday things. That's where we're really trying to expand our market right now.
And if there's something that you're like I wish I could just buy this with Braille on it, a hard Braille that doesn't break off with like a little sticker, let us know. We'll try to figure out how to make that a product that you can just purchase off the shelf from us.
MELISSA: I love that, and do you take game suggestions as well?
RICHARD: Yes. The fact is I don't have enough time to get everything done that I would love to get done. I have like a thousand different projects and I'm like that should really exist. Learning tools for Braille and I'm trying to do it as fast as I can while having a family of seven.
MELISSA: So you're just a little bit busy. My suggestion is 24, which is a set of math cards. It would be easy to Braille. And you have I think it's three or four numbers on the card and you use all the four operations to somehow get to 24. And once you figure out how you get there, you tap on the card, and then you tell everybody else how you got there.
Just a suggestion. I've wanted it for years and I've never Brailled it myself. Great talking to you. And can't wait to see you and Emily around the convention and how many children are with you?
RICHARD: At this convention, we have three out of the five. The other two have jobs.
MELISSA: Well, fantastic. That's taxpayer citizens, I love that.
RICHARD: I don't know if they filled out their tax forms right.
MELISSA: Thanks so much. Another commercial for 64 Ounce Games, but I think their company is amazing and really, they started it because Richard and Emily both are such fans of all different games, and it has just grown and grown and grown and is so exciting. If you have a chance to check out any of their products, they are seriously amazing. Just the quality -- there's nothing else like it, and they can just do so many things with all of their new printers and etch answers, but like plaques and name plates and all this stuff, which is crazy and amazing.
CANDICE: And I was going to, you know, head to their table, if I got a chance to go back to the Exhibit Hall, but I'm more motivated now. They've got so much more stuff than I realized! They're always coming out with something new.
MELISSA: And they really do want to hear from consumers and really get people what they want and need and as he was talking, some kind of a tactile syringe that would be markers on the plunger so you could dose medications really easily for infants and toddlers and those that can't swallow pills might be really cool. As a blind parent. Of course now my kids can all swallow pills so it's not a big deal. I'll make it better for those coming behind me.
CANDICE: We have to leave stuff for those who will come later.
DANIELLE: I just want a Braille crochet hook. That's all I want.
MELISSA: The different letters and stuff. If they're Brailling wrenches, I bet that would be super easy for them. You should tell them because I bet you are not alone. I bet you lots of people would really enjoy having those things in Braille. So -- and I think that would be pretty simple and pretty straightforward. Definitely give them that suggestion.
DANIELLE: I would be happy to test the prototypes.
MELISSA: I bet you would. That's so funny that you bring that up, because I was going to ask you, what project or crocheting are you working on at this convention? Do you have a specific project that you're doing? Or are you just sort of crocheting because you can?
DANIELLE: I have three projects. I'm making tiny hearts. I'm doing a presentation next month and I'm making hearts as like a leave-behind to the people presenting and then, I'm doing fidgets, mathematical Mobius. It's a digit and twists and twists. If anybody would like a fidget.
MELISSA: They're crocheted fidgets. I would love a crocheted fidget. I do mean that. I would love a heart. What's your third project?
DANIELLE: Am I muted? And then, I started making a bag, like a tote bag for Candice.
MELISSA: Oh, my goodness. That's great because I am going to -- I've been saying this for seriously over a year, but this is the year. I'm going to sit down at the convention in the sessions when I have to be sitting still anyway, I'm going to keep my hands busy, and I am going to create a red tote bag for one of my best friends and I'm actually going to be able to give it to her for her birthday in September.
I'm very, very excited.
So there you go. If anybody else is a crocheter or a knitter, let us know what you're working on this week at the convention. We would love to hear about your projects.
DANIELLE: Would love to get some -- it looks like we have a question in the Q&A. It's for Ada, a new member in Texas. And it looks like we're starting to get ready for Regulations. What time is it? It's 12:14.
MELISSA: I want to make sure we get your messages, from the younger member. We don't want to forget that. Ada is asking if we have a career fair session and how that works. We do have a career fair session, but it is in person. So there's not a virtual component to it. For our employment committee, there are virtual sessions you can join where people who are blind talk about their careers and I believe the next one is in August.
If you just search for NFB employment committee, you should be able to get all of that information. So yeah. Sorry that we don't have a virtual career fair, but then that's why you want to come in person next time, because we had a huge career fair yesterday with all sorts of employees.
The CIA was there, Rosen Hotels, Target, lots and lots of different places and Amtrak and United Airlines want to come next year. They said they weren't this year, but they saw how awesome the career fair was and they want to be there next year. We talk about how inspiring it is, but you can truly create connections that might lead to employment, which is super cool, as well.
DANIELLE: and Melissa, can you stop the screen share? We got so excited. Sorry, Jedi. All right. I'll give you one guess as to who this little Federationist is from Minnesota.
MELISSA: I'm not going to spoil it for everybody else. He's a very fun Federationist.
DANIELLE: Here he is. What's your name and where are you from?
SILAS: My name is Silas and I'm from Minnesota St. Paul.
DANIELLE: Do you like being at convention?
SILAS: Yeah. I like all the stuff.
DANIELLE: All the stuff. Well, awesome. Thank you. Can you say bye to everybody?
SILAS: Bye-bye!
MELISSA: I like all the stuff. That is perfect. I like all the stuff at convention myself, Silas.
DANIELLE: So shortly after that, he went to count all the chairs in the ballroom.
MELISSA: And what ballroom?
DANIELLE: This was right before the Rookie Round-up.
MELISSA: Did he give you a final number?
DANIELLE: 683.
MELISSA: Did he count the ones on the stage or just on the floor?
DANIELLE: That's a good question. I believe he just did the ones on the floor.
MELISSA: He must really like to count. Or like to do math, because that's a big number.
CANDICE: My attention span doesn't last that long most days, I don't think.
MELISSA: I would be like halfway there and I would be like was I on 287 or 288? And I would have to start over.
CANDICE: See, I'm not a numbers person. I shouldn't have started this endeavor.
MELISSA: Exactly. If I can count how many rows and how many chairs in each row, then I can do the multiplication, I might need a calculator. Anyways.
CANDICE: Gets to be a whole thing. It does get to be a whole thing.
MELISSA: we're counselors, Candice. We're not mathematicians.
CANDICE: I have several degrees in counseling and nothing else.
MELISSA: That is great. Danielle, do you have anything else that you want to share before our stop time at 12:30?
DANIELLE: I am all set.
MELISSA: Does Candice have anything else?
CANDICE: Similar to what Danielle shared, I tried to get a recording when I was checking in, I just thought it might be a nice sound, because you could hear the marshals and all the different people coming in and going and the people in line, but for some reason, the recording, it didn't record.
And also, I'm a counselor, not a tech anything. I'm usually the person that breaks the technology. That's probably what was at play here.
MELISSA: I have a very quick one by some people that were selling some chocolate, so you're going to hear the first part of this is me just kind of walking around, listening to the different sounds, and then I'll get to the chocolate people. The people selling chocolate. Hold on one second.
SPEAKER: Hello.
MELISSA: Are you at a registration table?
SPEAKER: We're making chocolates for the student division.
MELISSA: I'm Melissa Riccobono and I'm doing a little sounds of convention so I have a recorder on, is it okay if I record you?
SPEAKER: Uh-huh.
MELISSA: What's your name?
SPEAKER: Elizabeth.
MELISSA: Elizabeth, nice to meet you and where are you from?
Elizabeth: I'm from Nebraska.
MELISSA: Nebraskans all over the place. There were Nebraskans in the Presidential Suite. Is this your first convention?
Elizabeth: I went to the Texas one last year. We have milk chocolate, milk chocolate mint, dark chocolate orange, and then, we have three more which are milk chocolate raspberry, dark chocolate and chocolate espresso.
MELISSA: Oh, my goodness.
Elizabeth: And the chocolate espresso has coffee beans in it, we like to warn people about that.
MELISSA: A little caffeine for their morning. So do you take just cash, or do you have any electronic way to pay?
Elizabeth: We only take cash.
MELISSA: I will come back and give you cash but thank you so much. Is there anything special you're looking forward to at convention?
Elizabeth: Not really. I'm excited to learn about new things.
MELISSA: Great. Thank you so much for being on the convention, the virtual convention experience, and we will talk to you soon and I will definitely get some cash to get some great chocolates. Sounds delicious. Thanks for selling.
And I did not get back with cash to get chocolate and now that I'm hearing those flavors once again, I am very sad and so if anybody from Nebraska is out there, from the student division that can help me out and hook me up with some great chocolate, I will pay for it, but it all sounded delicious so there you go.
CANDICE: What a great variety of flavors, too.
MELISSA: Uh-huh. Amazing.
CANDICE: I'm sitting over here plotting about how to get some. That's just motivation, Melissa.
MELISSA: You walk, and you find them, and you can eat the chocolate, because you already exercised and did your exercise.
CANDICE: You can justify anything you want, if you try hard enough.
MELISSA: We are wrapping up this part of the show, but if you stay with us, definitely we are going to be talking about the resolutions soon.
But Danielle, do you have any thoughts for this part of our show? I hope everyone enjoyed the sounds of the convention.
DANIELLE: Chocolate. Bring me chocolate.
MELISSA: Danielle wants chocolate. Anil, I think you'll be here soon, Anil always wants chocolate. That's another person, and I always want dark chocolate. So good.
Candice, I have loved having you with us, and I don't know if you're going to stick around for the resolutions theme. I know you're always doing a million or three things at the convention. I'm happy you were able to take some time to be with us and thank you for recording sounds for us.
CANDICE: It's been a pleasure. Oh, my gosh, I hope I can do this again. This is so much fun. It seems like everybody's doing a podcast these days and maybe me, too. And so I will be in resolutions. I have to go down and meet my scholarship mentees. I am not on the committee, but I am helping out some of my fellow scholarship committee folks who are also on the Resolutions Committee by answering questions for their mentees for the day so I will be in the room. The room where it happens.
MELISSA: Fantastic. Thank you so much for being with us. We really loved having you.
CANDICE: Thank you all for having me for sure.
DANIELLE: We'll go ahead and stop here for this session and transition over to the preshow in just a few minutes.
Thanks, everyone, for being here.
MELISSA: Absolutely. Should we play a song or something, Danielle, or just be quiet? What are we going to do for those people who are here?
DANIELLE: I think at least for today, we're just going to be quiet, and then, just so that everyone knows, we are turning off Q&A because now it's a time that we're really focusing on listening and we're not going to necessarily be monitoring the Q&A.
So Elyse, if you can turn off Q&A, thank you again to Elyse for being here. And we will go ahead and just -- I know I have to run down to the interpretation table so Melissa, will you be around?
MELISSA: I'm going to be here, and communications joined so that might be Chris Danielsen or Steph or somebody, and I think someone else joined before, and so I'm going to be here, and so as you run, Danielle, I'm happy to take over and talk if you would like me to do that.
DANIELLE: Up to you, whatever you're comfortable with, but there won't be Q&A so it's you're a one-man show there, Melissa.
MELISSA: That is okay for now and if Chris or Steph are here and anybody else would like to say hello while Danielle is running down, you're going to come back on when you can? Or is it just me and Anil?
DANIELLE: I'm coming back just as soon as I get down there.
MELISSA: I'll let you go. Run, run. There she goes. So just for those that are just joining us, we are doing our preshow now for the Resolutions Committee. Resolutions will begin at 1:00 convention time. And right now, it's 12:30 convention time. We do not have Q&A anymore.
Thank you for those that had joined us for our sounds of convention show. We really appreciated you being with us, and if you do have questions or comments that you would like us to know, you can shoot me an e-mail. I won't be checking my e-mail during this meeting, but I will be checking it periodically throughout the week and I'm always happy if I can to help out people who need some help with various convention connectivity issues or questions that they have, if I can help I will.
[email protected]. And to those who have already reached out because they remembered my e-mail from last year, hello, and I hope that you were able to tune in, so there you go. But I do hear that Anil Lewis has joined. Anil, are you in a position where you can actually unmute and talk to us as well?
ANIL: I'm in the lotus position. I'm chanting and trying to find my third eye calm in the middle of all this wonderful energy of the committee.
MELISSA: That is amazing and where are you doing this lotus position?
ANIL: It would be amazing. No more lotus position for this 60-year-old man. I am in the resolutions meeting. I'm the first one to show up. There you go.
MELISSA: You're on the committee.
ANIL: Yes, I am on the committee. I'm looking forward to a stimulating debate of policies. I am at the table and wherever I am, it's the head of the table.
MELISSA: There you go. That's the energy that you have. Here on the side, I see. So Anil, did you know and maybe this is dangerous --
ANIL: Of course, I did.
MELISSA: Did you know that the Florida Hospitality Suite is giving away the world’s finest chocolate?
ANIL: (Laughs) Good for them. I'm a See's Chocolate fan and even more if you guys ever make it to Baltimore, the best chocolates in the world is Red's Chocolate.
MELISSA: Amazing, amazing. World's Finest is not the world's finest.
ANIL: I have another name for World's Finest, which I'm not allowed to say.
MELISSA: I remember that name and we'll leave it there. Let's talk about resolutions. For those that don't know or have forgotten or never really understood, what are resolutions? What's the Resolutions Committee and why should we care?
ANIL: I sure hope you're not asking me those questions.
MELISSA: I am asking you those questions, but I can take them if you don't want to answer them.
ANIL: I think this is one of the most powerful events that takes place at the national convention. The National Federation of the Blind is a membership organization of blind people. We come together and we make policies to help people live the lives we want. To do that, we come together to discuss issues that are inhibiting blind people from living the lives we want and also, it's an opportunity to validate those who are helping us to overcome those barriers.
So we establish the policy of the Federation. It's a process where any member can introduce resolutions. Our Resolutions Committee helps to make sure that it's drafted properly and then, it's submitted for consideration by the leaders throughout the country, and this committee is probably one of the most diverse and powerful committees, and we debate. We sit and openly discuss the issues, and then we make sure that they are ready for consideration by our membership.
And then, during the general session, I think it's going to be on day 7, so that will be the 7th.
MELISSA: Sunday afternoon.
ANIL: That's going to be day five. But we have the resolutions that get forwarded or passed or approved by the committee, deliberated over by the entire membership and the general session and anyone can go and speak for or against a resolution and we vote.
The thing I love about it is that everyone may not agree, they may not be unanimous votes and the majority vote takes the day and we do go and support the policies of the Federation.
MELISSA: And that's part of our pledge. That's where this policy comes from. These policies aren't just made by the board. They're not just made by President Riccobono. They're not just made by affiliate presidents. Affiliates do have their own resolutions often that they vote upon for their own affiliate and their own state, because there are state issues that sometimes are not happening as often or at all in other places, and so states often will have resolutions, too, but these are our national policies.
And the committee is appointed by President Riccobono. A lot of times people ask how can I get on a Resolutions Committee? If you are interested in any of the committees, we have a whole list of our committees in the agenda. They are all appointed by the president, but the president needs to know that people are interested, and so if they are interested, they should definitely --
ANIL: I believe there's a form.
MELISSA: You're exactly right.
ANIL: NFB.org and find the form.
MELISSA: NFB.org, there is a form that you can right click on about your committee interests. And that way, President Riccobono knows who's interested.
For those who are at convention, you can also leave your name at the information desk and let President Riccobono know that way what committees you might want to be on, the people that are at the desk will take a Braille message to give back to the president.
I think there are two things that are super powerful and important. One thing that's important and one thing that's powerful. I love what you said, Anil, and I'm sure going to talk about this again, because it's one of my favorite parts of the convention, when people can actually speak for or against resolutions on the convention floor.
And that is just the best thing. That's not -- people aren't planted there to do it. It is all authentic and it can be a person who's been at the convention for the first time that feels strongly and wants to speak, or it can be a very seasoned Federationist that wants to speak, and we always take for and against.
And it's just a really powerful time. And then, just to quote my friend Chris Danielsen, we did talk about this a lot, but I know new people are joining us. If we do not pass a resolution, it does not mean we are against the policy that it would have set. It just means that for this moment, that resolution did not pass so that is not part of our policy for this moment. Sometimes, people really get hung up on that and they say oh, my gosh, let's just go with guide dogs.
Let's say that there was a resolution about guide dogs that for some reason the committee and the convention felt and maybe it was just that the wording wasn't quite right. Maybe it was that a school had been doing something, and now wasn't doing that and so we didn't want to have a resolution condemning and deploring them when it was a problem anymore, but for whatever reason, if that resolution didn't pass, it's been because we don't care about guide dogs and we're not against guide dogs.
It's just because that particular resolution for many reasons did not pass and that's really why people should listen to this meeting, because this is when the members of the committee debate and this is how you understand and get to know why resolutions that were presented to the committee sometimes don't make the floor of the convention.
ANIL: There's checks and balances on the committee, as well. If a committee doesn't pass a resolution, they can come back and resurrect that resolution and have it debated on the floor.
MELISSA: That's really good, too. It's not completely gone if it's out of the committee. So thank you all for being with us. This is really where the sausage gets made, I guess. I always feel like I'm Hamilton referencing because I talk about being in the room where it happens. This is where it starts. This is an important meeting.
ANIL: I'm glad that it's sausage, though. Once the resolutions are passed, a lot of the responsibility for ensuring the organization follows up is divided among the staff. So it's an advocacy resolution that requires us to work with members of Congress or has us trying to introduce policy or correct a resolution, then John over in our policy department and his staff will take the lead and making sure we move forward on that. I think the policy around relationships with the categories or dealing with an educational issue, anything like that, that comes to me and my staff to help work to implement, but the beauty of it is it's not just the staff.
Our members are the ones that really help us get things on the road, because that's what a lot of people don't see. When you come and visit, how many people do you have working here? We have 73. And they're wondering how on other do you guys get all of this done? It's our members. With vigor and compassion and love, that's why we're able to transform it into reality.
MELISSA: It's also the members that bring the resolutions. You have a proponent speak for each resolution. Chris Danielsen said he would be a proponent today, but I'm guessing that when a staff person promotes a resolution, they're often speaking as themselves personally.
ANIL: Or from a position of expertise, as well. LuAnn is always a proponent of our voting policies, because she's very acknowledgeable. I think people are yelling at me, thinking I'm ignoring them, they don't know I'm on the air.
MELISSA: Tell us who they are.
ANIL: They're across the room.
MELISSA: I see. They're across the room where it happens.
ANIL: I'm sorry, I'm on the podcast precon. Introduce yourself to everybody.
SPEAKER: I didn't say anything.
ANIL: Who is this? Debbie. You can say something.
DEBBIE: Hello, everyone.
MELISSA: Hi, Debbie Wonder.
ANIL: She's the president of our Diabetes Action Network.
SPEAKER: We'll catch up with you.
ANIL: You didn't bother me. You added flavor to the podcast.
MELISSA: Right there at the table.
ANIL: I am not going to be overlooked.
MELISSA: Has the table started filling up? Or are you still there by yourself?
ANIL: I muted for a while. John Burton came over for me with the logistics. Federation work at convention is never done and god bless John, he's there from beginning to end.
MELISSA: And he is the most calm, nicest person as he does it. So he's a great person to know for sure. That's the coolest part about resolutions is members bring a resolutions and you don't have to be a staff member to be a proponent, you just have to be a member and if you have something that you feel very strongly about that should be a resolution, you should definitely bring it to the attention of Donald Porterfield, the chair of the committee.
It's too late now and, of course, I'm not sure if Donald will be the chair of the committee next year or not, but that's always announced early enough that you can definitely get your ideas to that chairperson, and they will help you write the resolutions. And I need to practice what I preach, because I have two different resolutions that have been floating around in my mind for a while and have not done anything about them, so shame, shame, shame on me!
And I should definitely get those put into practice next convention for sure. Anil and John are talking logistics again. I don't know if Danielle has joined us yet. She's probably still fighting elevator crowds I'm guessing. I will say that the walk from the guest rooms to the ballrooms is a pretty long walk and resolutions -- it is a long walk.
And so when you're starting out, if you're in the hotel, leave a lot of time, because it does take time, on either floor. You can go to two and walk across that way, or you can go all the way down to one, but there are escalators down from two and so that's kind of the way I usually prefer to go, just because it seems like it's a little bit less hectic up there.
But it is quite a walk and so just keep in that mind when you're leaving your rooms if you are here with us in person and if you're not in person, you don't have a walk at all, just log in on time. That's the great part about being virtual. So are you able to speak Anil? Or are you still doing logistics there?
ANIL: I'm sitting over here; committee members are joining us. I'm joined by Jim Marks over here. And we're on the less popular side of the table. Jim got pushed over here to the better side of the table. You're in a good place. This is where the power is on this side. The president of our Montana affiliate. It's nice that he's on the committee.
MELISSA: Can you ask Jim Marks a question?
ANIL: I'm on this podcast, I'm going to come to you, Melissa Riccobono wants me to ask you a question.
MELISSA: Do you remember if you were the person that called me to tell me that I won my national scholarship?
ANIL: Were you the one that called her to tell her she won her national scholarship?
SPEAKER: I believe it was me.
MELISSA: I thought it was you.
ANIL: I don't think Jim got his percentage.
SPEAKER: I tried, but it doesn't work that way.
MELISSA: Thank you for making that phone call, because that was amazing. You told me I could screen after you hung up with me and I did. So there you go.
ANIL: It was his honor.
MELISSA: Jim is going to be right from resolutions to the Presidential Suite. Going to be a greeter in the Presidential Suite for us right after the committee is over. He's a busy man.
ANIL: Everybody checks their mics and everything. We're about to kick this thing off. We're being joined by a celebrity. Emily Harrison came by. I'm on the podcast. Do you want to say hello?
SPEAKER: Hello!
MELISSA: Loud and clear.
ANIL: So many other places. Another long-time Federationist, affiliate president. She started when she was only two years old. (Laughs)
MELISSA: Absolutely.
ANIL: And Sharon! I am surrounded!
MELISSA: Get Sharon Minecky on the phone.
ANIL: Also, a really powerful way, influential throughout the organization. One of the presidents of the affiliate.
MELISSA: And what is it about these powerhouse ladies? Both Them are super powerful and also put together in small packages. They are not tall women, but they can work me, I don't know, under a table.
Anyway, I always laugh. Diane McGeorge is another one, we've got lots of really powerful, really energetic women who are great small packages. There you go.
ANIL: I'm going to agree with you, because I'm not going to get in any type of trouble describing women. It's building and building, and people start testing their mics, you get more and more people talking. It's wonderful. I regret that you guys aren't here, but I'm hoping that eventually circumstances will allow you to be here in person, at the national convention.
MELISSA: Definitely. I completely agree, because there's nothing like sitting in that room and hearing it build and build and seeing there's so many people in here.
ANIL: It bears repeating. Most people walk into a room full of blind people and they say oh, my, what are we going to do? And the Federation says, oh, my, a room full of blind people? What is it we shall do? And I love that.
MELISSA: It's a great one. Is he there on the committee?
ANIL: He's on the committee. He is on the committee.
MELISSA: Resolutions makes me think of Scott Labarre and after resolutions is going to be the mock trial and I believe Elizabeth and I are going to check out the mock trial. I usually don't get there, but Elizabeth wants to go, and I think that this is my year and we're going to get to the mock trial.
I think Anil might have muted.
ANIL: They're making the opening announcement.
MELISSA: You can mute if you need to. That's fine. It is about 10 minutes until resolutions kick off. And so I'm sure they're making announcements, because there's going to be a lot of things to announce, because they're going to be working busily. I'm guessing we're going to be with you pretty much right up until the time it starts. I don't think there's a song or anything that is going to interrupt us.
ANIL: Hopefully, they'll play it on both the virtual and live in the room. I'll have to mute so I don't distract you guys.
MELISSA: That makes complete sense, but I don't think there's going to be a song, but I could be wrong.
ANIL: You could sing us a song, Melissa.
MELISSA: I could definitely. Definitely, I'm only a bill sitting here on Capitol Hill, it's a long way from the little city. A long, long, way and I'm sitting in committee, I want to be a law. I hope and pray, but today, I'm still just a bill. A bill.
ANIL: He signed the bill, now you're a law! Melissa, you are crazy. You went right into character, too.
MELISSA: I love Schoolhouse Rock; you don't even know how much I love Schoolhouse Rock. Oh, my goodness. So amazing, such a great show. If anybody does not have any idea what Anil and I are talking about, go check out Schoolhouse Rock.
ANIL: I'm being bombarded by all these Maryland affiliate presidents. I had Sharon, Melissa on my ear, and Casey Robinson. Out of Louisiana. This teacher here. If I could clone her, we could change education for blind students around the country.
SPEAKER: Good to see you.
MELISSA: And Casey is a winner of the TWIG Award.
ANIL: What is that?
SPEAKER: It's an award that we give that says that the work that I've done in the field has changed the trajectory of blind kids for the future.
ANIL: Outstanding! That's very well deserved. I'm just surrounded by all of this talent.
MELISSA: Is Casey on the committee this year?
ANIL: Yes.
MELISSA: That is so exciting.
SPEAKER: Another Mississippi girl.
SPEAKER: That's a pleasure you should be grateful for.
ANIL: Candice Chapman, soon to be Dr. Chapman. We're on the podcast so people are hearing you.
CANDICE: I did not get scared, but I do need to change some things. I was actually on the podcast about 20 minutes ago with Melissa and Danielle.
ANIL: She's stalking you. The mutual admiration society.
MELISSA: You do have a lot of people up there at the table.
ANIL: Jim is on the other side.
MELISSA: I love that. I love it when the roll is called for the committee, because I always love hearing who's on it because it does change a bit year to year.
ANIL: That's true.
MELISSA: And you know, that was one of my very favorite convention memories. I was on the Resolutions Committee in, I want to say maybe 2013?
ANIL: Okay.
MELISSA: And that was a huge honor. I asked Dr. Mauer if I could be on, and he appointed me, and that was amazing.
ANIL: Nice.
MELISSA: Can't be on any more for a variety of reasons, but, you know -- (Laughs) But that's okay. I'll leave it to others.
ANIL: Our first lady saying oh, my goodness. So limited.
MELISSA: I know, I know. It is okay, but I love the work.
ANIL: It's an awesome responsibility, of this committee.
MELISSA: It is. It's not for the faint of heart, and when you have an argument, you really do need to debate. You need to be able to debate well, and powerfully and passionately.
And the best part is you debate as well as you do and then, you're still friends. That's the great part, what I love about the NFB that we are really truly able to have conversations that are hard conversations and listen to each other and even if we don't agree, somehow we figure out how to come to the middle, which is really good.
ANIL: And it's important to have all these diverse perspectives, too, because that's the only way we really get to the truth of what we need to be trying to do. I love when we're debating an issue, that's the obvious that from various perspectives, that whole debate, the back-and-forth, educating one another and coming to a consensus understanding as to what the best path is moving forward, I think that's really one of the keys to our success, because we don't get isolated in one perspective.
We do represent all blind people. We try to make sure that the voices are reflective of the diversity of all blind people.
MELISSA: Very well said.
ANIL: Listening to all the nice conversations, committee members catching up with each other, we haven't seen each other, many since last year. That's another piece of it, you know.
MELISSA: Absolutely. That's the friendship part of it. That's the family part of it. It's about five minutes until the start of the Resolutions Committee, so if you are just joining us, you're not in the wrong place. This is the preshow, but right before the Resolutions Committee is going to start up here, and Donald Porterfield is the chair so I'm guessing he's the one that will call the committee to order.
Usually, we hear a little bit from President Riccobono, a little bit of a welcome and a little bit of a charge, charge of the committee.
ANIL: He's like the referee. He comes in, no punches, hey, President Riccobono! There he is. Do you want to say hello to the pre-con group? We were just talking about you. We were saying how you're going to start and lay the ground rules.
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: The ground rules. No controversies.
MELISSA: None. No controversies.
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: I asked Mark AI, he said he couldn't talk about it until the committee decides.
ANIL: He's pulling his weight. Mark AI has already learned the Federation way. This is awesome.
Are you up for it?
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: That's right. I get to sit back. I brought snacks for entertainment.
ANIL: Danielle would like to know where the snacks are.
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: I didn't actually bring any snacks.
ANIL: I'm sure someone will come around and sell some.
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: I'm glad the virtual folks are here.
MELISSA: There's President Riccobono. It's funny, that Mark AI is also becoming the master of the reveal much like the real President Mark Riccobono.
ANIL: Mark wouldn't want me to tell you.
MELISSA: Exactly.
ANIL: Once President Riccobono makes the announcement at the board meeting, I'm going to reach out to Mark AI and see if they'll let me know. Have a seat. This is Anil. I'm on the pre-con podcast. So say hello, Tracy!
TRACY: It is my pleasure to say hello to the virtual attendees. It is a treat to be able to talk with our virtual attendees, but also to recognize that we hope, in 2025, you're able to join us in person for the convention, because the heartbeat of our movement is happening here and we're glad you're a part of it and able to participate and get to enjoy, as we debate where we go as a movement, the resolutions that define our policies.
What questions can I answer for you?
ANIL: You answered the primary ones.
MELISSA: That was perfect. That was perfect.
ANIL: You see, he carries around pocket speeches.
MELISSA: He just pulls it out. That was really good.
ANIL: Melissa is marveling how you pulled that out and just nailed it. 10, 10, 10.
TRACY: I'll go find my seat, so I don't get called out.
ANIL: You don't want to sit next to me? This is the committee. Tracy didn't want to sit next to me.
MELISSA: Aww! Why wouldn't you want to sit next to Anil?
ANIL: I don't know why. I made him stay.
MELISSA: Oh, good. Okay. That's good. I don't want you to be lonely.
ANIL: Hard to be lonely in this room. There are people selling stuff in the back of the room. Everything is going on at once.
SPEAKER: Anil.
ANIL: I'm on the podcast. Do you want to say hello?
SPEAKER: Hello, everyone. I'm interrupting your podcast. Welcome, welcome. Thank you for having me.
ANIL: Catherine is our former president of the national association of blind students, and she decided to go on and become famous in the finance world.
CATHERNE: So glad you all are tuning in. Thank you so much for coming to Resolutions.
ANIL: Good to be here. I'm glad that everybody virtually is here.
SPEAKER: Absolutely, absolutely.
MELISSA: Fantastic! Wow, you really are having all the who's-who on the committee, coming up. We will be getting started very, very shortly. It is about 12:59, and convention and Federation meetings generally start on time. So I'm guessing we're going to be getting started very, very soon here, which is really exciting.
ANIL: There will be a gavel coming down.
MELISSA: And I'm guessing that it will change over from Anil and me, I think the sound will sound a little different, too.