Convention Bulletin 2025
Join us Tuesday, July 8 through Sunday, July 13, 2025, at the New Orleans Marriot for our annual National Convention!
Thousands of white canes tapping. The sweet smell of pralines cooking. And the soulful music playing. We are going back to The Big Easy.
The National Federation of the Blind and the city of New Orleans share a storied history. The Federation was still a teenager when we first held our national convention in New Orleans in 1957. The blind people’s movement has returned to the Crescent City another four times across the decades, including our 1997 convention when we set our in-person attendance record. In the summer of 2025, our Louisiana affiliate will welcome us once again to New Orleans for the National Federation of the Blind’s eighty-fifth annual convention. Join us as we add to this rich storied history.
Book Your Hotel
The Marriott New Orleans will serve as our headquarters hotel while right across the street is the Sheraton New Orleans providing the balance of our sleeping rooms and activity space. The hotels sit astride the storied Canal Street at 555 and 500 Canal Street respectively, only blocks from the mighty Mississippi River and even closer to the historic French Quarter. Both hotels offer a range of dining options as well as fitness centers. You’ll find a rooftop pool at the Marriott while the Sheraton features a Starbucks in its atrium lobby.
The nightly rate for both the Marriott and the Sheraton is $119 for singles and doubles. Triples and quads can be booked for $129 per night. In addition, the combined sales tax and tourism support rate is 16.2 percent and there is a hotel occupancy fee of $3.00 per night.
To book your room for the 2025 Convention, call 888-236-2427 for the Marriott or 855-516-1090 for the Sheraton after January 1. For each room, the hotel will take a deposit of the first night’s room rate, taxes, and fees and will require a credit card or a personal check. If you use a credit card, the deposit will be charged against your card immediately. If a reservation is cancelled before Sunday, June 1, 2025, half of the deposit will be returned. Refunds will not be issued for cancellations made beyond that date.
Convention Schedule
The 2025 Convention of the National Federation of the Blind will be a truly exciting and memorable event, with an unparalleled program and rededication to the goals and work of our movement.
- A wide range of seminars for parents of blind children, technology enthusiasts, job seekers, and other groups will kick the week off on Tuesday, July 8. Convention registration and registration packet pick-up will also open on Tuesday.
- Breakout sessions continue on Wednesday, July 9, along with committee meetings.
- Thursday, July 10, will kick off with the annual meeting, open to all, of the Board of Directors of the National Federation of the Blind. National division meetings will follow the board meeting that afternoon and evening.
- General convention sessions will begin on Friday, July 11, and continue through the afternoon of Sunday, July 13.
- Convention ends on a high note with the banquet Sunday evening, so be sure to pack your fancy clothes. The fall of the gavel at the close of banquet will signal convention’s adjournment. Make plans now to be a part of it.
To assure yourself a room in the headquarters hotel at convention rates, you should make reservations early. The hotels will be ready to take your call beginning January 1.
Schedule Tip: Attend the Opening General Session to learn about our Host affiliate.
Request for Door Prizes
Remember that as usual we need door prizes from state affiliates, local chapters, and individuals. Prizes should be small in size but large in value. Cash, of course, is always appropriate and welcome. As a general rule we ask that prizes of all kinds have a value of at least $25 and not include alcohol. Drawings will occur steadily throughout the convention sessions, and you can anticipate a grand prize of truly impressive proportions to be drawn at the banquet. If you have a prize that must be shipped in advance of the convention, please email affiliate President Pam Allen at [email protected] to make arrangements.
Important note for attendees: You have to be registered to win a door prize during convention! Registration opens in March.
First-Time Attendees
If you or members in your chapter will be first-time attendees, please learn all about convention in the First-Timer’s Guide available at nfb.org/convention.
Fun fact about convention: Usually 25 to 30 percent of attendees are first-timers.
Countdown to New Orleans
The best collection of exhibits featuring new technology; meetings of our special interest groups, committees, and divisions; the most stimulating and provocative program items of any meeting of the blind in the world; the chance to renew friendships in our Federation family; and the unparalleled opportunity to be where the real action is and where decisions are being made—all of these mean you will not want to miss being a part of the 2025 National Convention. To assure yourself a room in the headquarters hotel at convention rates, make your reservations early. We plan to see you in New Orleans in July.