State Convention

State Convention 2024

Please check back here as additional information is added to fully prepare you for the NFB of Virginia State Convention. Alternatively, please consider signing up for the Virginia Announcement List to have updates delivered straight to your inbox.

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The Agenda is Now Available!

Please continue reading below for important information you won't find in the agenda, in order to keep the agenda a little slimmer, but for a complete schedule of activities, please download the agenda using one of these links:

Table of Contents

Thank You!

The Peninsula and Tide Water chapters have agreed to take on hosting responsibilities for State Convention. Please thank Peninsula President Uricka Harrison and Tide Water President Stewart Prost and their chapter members for making 2024 the success we anticipate!

Appreciating Our 2024 VIP Sponsors!

No convention would be possible without the generous support of our sponsors, and this year, we'd like to extend a huge thanks to:

Convention Highlights

The clock is counting down to the largest gathering of blind and low vision people in the great commonwealth of Virginia!

Here is just a small sample of what you can expect:

Sports and Recreation Labs

Blind tennis? Who knew that was a thing! Hold your hats, because we’re also featuring an interactive session on blind gaming on mainstream consoles. So take your best swing in one activity, and then jump over to the other room to take a shot at some popular games. We’re redefining entertainment at the largest gathering of blind and low vision people in Virginia.

Design Your Literal Future

Since we’re already pushing the envelope on activities previously thought unthinkable for the blind and low vision community, let’s go all the way and show you innovative ways to plan, design, and build your own models. In partnership with a professor from Virginia Tech’s School of Architecture, the NFB of Virginia brings you a blind design experience you won’t want to miss. Participants of all ages will find this a rare opportunity to use a mix of physical tools and artificial intelligence to design something neat and provide you the starting point for creating your next masterpiece!

Next Level Career Readiness

Resume critiques? Check. Mock interviews? Got that too! Actually, we’ve got a surprising blend of career readiness activities at one of a handful of stations for the new job seeker and the seasoned professional. It’s all in person, on site, with plenty of instant feedback to make sure you are pursuing your professional goals with polished presence, with guidance from some of the best business relations professionals in the region.

Silver BELLS Reunion and Open House

Silver BELLS is now more than 200 alumni strong, and we’re bringing you all together in an unforgettable evening of celebration, fellowship, and empowerment the likes of which can only be conjured by the most distinguished group of seniors in the country.

Reconnect with your class, reengage with your instructors, and remember why you left our program feeling like the impossible suddenly seemed doable.

And if you’re here to learn how to join a future session, we can’t wait to tell you all about it and welcome you into the fold. There is truly no better way to jumpstart your convention experience! Learn more about Silver BELLS here.

Other Items of Interest

That’s just a small sample of highlights, but just in case you’re still not sold, consider:

  • An evening of letting your hair down at our hospitality dance party
  • Introduction to investment accounts you can use to grow your savings without penalizing government benefits
  • Demystifying that gray area between high functioning sight, total blindness, and finding your place in the community
  • Powerful talks from rock stars mobilizing change in the blindness movement
  • Exhibits from well-known companies and services benefiting the blindness community
  • Tight-knit networks of parents, high school and college students, merchants, and other special interests able to become part of your support circle long after the convention adjourns

And amidst all the planning that goes into putting this large event together, the most important highlight is of course you. You’re the key ingredient necessary to making the best convention ever.

Essential Details

The 66th State Convention of the National Federation of the Blind of Virginia will be held Thursday, October 31 through Sunday, November 3, 2024, at the:

General Driving Directions:

1) From Richmond and west part of Va: From 1-64, take the Monitor Merrimac tunnel to exit 9 to Portsmouth.
2) From Norfolk, Va Beach, Chesapeake: From 1-64, take Interstate 464 into the Portsmouth area.

The group rate is $92. Room rates are currently 14% Virginia state and local taxes, subject to change. In addition, a $3.00 occupancy fee, per room, per night, subject to change, will apply. The group rate is valid 3 days before and 3 days after the meeting dates, based on hotel availability.

Attached garage self-parking of $10.00 per day, per car for overnight and day guests. Valet parking is $19.00 per day.

For reservations, please call: 888-839-1775, or click here to make your reservation online.

Convention Registration

We can't wait to see you! Please register for convention here.

Questions about registration? Please contact Jacki Bruce: membership@nfbv.org.

Sponsorship Opportunities

Our state convention brings together the largest gathering of blind and low-vision students, working adults, seniors and caretakers from across Virginia, making it a prime venue to showcase your organization's service or product. We have four sponsorship and exhibit packages to choose from with varying levels of benefits to fit your needs. Learn more about the different tiers, including perks, pricing and registration.

Special Announcements

Following is a series of special announcements relevant to the convention program. For additional details, please connect with the listed point of contact or follow the links to the related page.

Door Prizes

Local chapters and state divisions are encouraged to submit financial contributions to the state treasurer for the purpose of door prizes. Please connect with Mark Roane for details. Door prizes that are not cash value should take the shape of electronic gift certificates that are not tied to specific local businesses. Where necessary, the door prize committee will ensure prizes are disseminated to winners no later than one week after the convention.

Winners will be drawn from the online in person and virtual registration lists.

To submit a door prize, or for further information, please contact Debbie Prost of the Tide Water Chapter: 757-373-7271.

Auctions

Jacki Brown from the Winchester Chapter will serve as this year’s auctioneer. For details on acceptable prizes and logistics, click here for all the auction details.


 

Orientation to the Hotel

If I could break down the layout of the Renaissance into one thought, it would be this: Everything you will need will be found along a hallway running East to West.

You will come into the hotel through two sets of automatic doors at the west end of the first floor hallway. There is no immediate lobby area upon entering the property. Move east down the corridor until the corridor makes a slight jog to the right and welcomes you into what is referred to as the rotunda. Don’t worry, the space is very navigation friendly.

The front desk will be on your right. In addition to checking you in, the front desk sells soft drinks, Pepsi products, and snacks.

To your left will be a door that takes you out to the board walk and dog relief area. The grass will be on your left. There is a sidewalk beyond the grass, and then? Well, there’s water. As in, don’t fall into the river unless you want to be featured bedraggled in our social media channels. There is a trash can near one of the three entrances for proper disposal. At the time of this writing, two of the three entrances are locked between 7 PM and 7 AM. If you get locked out, jump up and down and wave your arms wildly. Then again, the hotel staff might get scared, so maybe don’t.

As you continue east on the main concourse, the tile will give way to carpeting. The carpeting will be interrupted by a wide strip of hardwood, and this landmark is important, because as you’re standing on the hardwood, the entrance to the bar portion of Foggy Point will be on your left. If you move forward and get off the hardwood and back onto the carpeting, you will be level with the entrance to the grill portion of Foggy Point, also on your left.

In case that did not make sense, the items of interest along the left will be first the board walk and dog relief exits, the bar, and then the grill.

The Grill serves breakfast and lunch. At 3 PM the Grill closes, and the Bar takes over for dinner.

Now, if you were to move off that strip of hardwood and were to turn right, away from the grill, you would find yourself looking at the first floor cluster of meeting rooms. Walk into the short corridor. Restrooms will be on your right and can also be accessed via a shortcut from near the front desk. Continue walking past the restrooms until you come to a T intersection. Take a right turn to head down a short corridor parallel to the main concourse, and the only meeting room on your left is Latitude, formerly Jefferson.

Okay, now I need you to virtually position yourself back on that strip of hardwood. Remember the bar and grill are on your left. The restrooms and Jefferson are on your right.

Now move forward. You’re going to continue east until you come to the elevator bank. There will be one elevator on your left and two on your right. You’ll know you went too far if you hit a dead end wall. Remember what I told you about this property being easy?

The Renaissance has seventeen floors. The guest rooms are comfortable and do feature small refrigerators beneath the flat screen televisions.

With the exception of the Latitude room on the 1st floor, the NFB of Virginia state convention agenda is invading the second floor of the property. Let’s assume we’re back at the elevator bank on the second floor. Because there are elevators on both sides, let’s use cardinal directions to stay on the same page regardless of which side you come out on. If you come out of the elevators and turn east, you are going to encounter the Commodore Room just around a slight corner from the elevator bank. The Commodore Room is going to serve as our hospitality suite for the weekend and will replace the traditional presidential suite. This is the only meeting space we are using east of the elevators.

Now, if we were to come out of the elevators and turn west, you would be facing a long corridor with meeting rooms on your left and a bank of windows on your right. The windows along the northern wall look out on a terrace which are accessible from doors along the right. You may use this area for smoking. Please do, not, use this area for dog relief.

If you were to continue down the long corridor past the bank of windows on your right and ballroom on your left, you would come to something of an intersection. On your right would be a door giving onto the Admiral’s Board Room, which we will be using for affiliate office space and is off limits to the general membership.

If you were to continue forward, you would hit a set of doors that give onto a stairwell. These stairs only service the first and second floors. When you come out on the first floor, you would find yourself at the rotunda with the front desk on your right.

Now, let’s go back to the elevator bank and explore the space along the left or southern wall of the second floor.

When you come out of the elevator bank, you will find yourself at an L intersection. This general area is called the Portsmouth Foyer. It is here that box lunches will be distributed on Friday and Saturday at noon. If you turn left, you will find yourself facing a corridor running south that makes up the short end of the L. The first thing you will find on the left side of this corridor will be the built-in registration desk. Past the registration desk will be first the men’s restroom tucked away in an alcove, and then the women’s restroom tucked away in its own alcove. There is no drinking fountain, but there will be water stations for your convenience.

Alright, now we get to the bulk of the layout description for the meeting rooms. Cardinal directions are key here, so stay with me.

The Portsmouth Ballroom is divided into eight sections. The meeting space is literally divided into Portsmouth 1, Portsmouth 2, Portsmouth 3, etc. I want you to imagine a large square. Take this square and divide it into four strips running north to south. I want you to take the east most strip, the strip closest to the registration desk, and divide that strip into three sections. So, if you were back in the short length of the L corridor, and if you were to follow along the right wall, you would hit entrances to Portsmouth 6, Portsmouth 7, and Portsmouth 8. You with me so far?

Okay, now come back out into the main east/west corridor. Put your back to the elevators and start heading west. Remember, along the right you are going to start walking past a bank of windows, but along your left, you are going to hit the entrance to first Portsmouth 5 and then Portsmouth 4. What you need to remember is that the two center strips of your large square, 5 and 4, are your long strips. General Session will be held in Portsmouth 5. Now you remember the intersection at the end of the east/west corridor? This is the intersection where making a right would take you into the forbidden office space and moving forward would take you past a set of doors into the stairwell. If you were to make a left, you would be moving down a corridor with meeting space along your left. Along this left wall you would find entrances to Portsmouth 3, Portsmouth 2, and Portsmouth 1.

So, from the top, Portsmouth 1, 2, and 3 are on the west side of the square. Portsmouth 4 and 5 are in the center and make up the longer strips, and Portsmouth 6, 7, and 8 are on the eastern side of the square.

For you brave souls who are really working hard at nailing all this down in your brains, here’s one more fun fact: Portsmouth 7 and 8 are currently one combined block, and so is Portsmouth 1 and 2.

Whew! Okay, next to sitting down with the hotel and assigning meeting spaces for Tracy’s agenda, writing out the hotel description is probably the second most daunting task. I’m always worried no one will actually read the damn thing, and if people do, I’m worried I will get one detail wrong and make you question the rest of my mental map.

For anyone interested, the gym and indoor pool are located on the third floor.

It’s a nice hotel. Even if my directions made zero sense, I promise you’re going to be zipping along the place without any issue.

The only other thing I would mention of my trip is that the Uber availability in the area can feel a little slow. If you’re taking Amtrak down there, the station is only about a 12-minute drive, but you might be waiting just as long to get picked up. Of course this could depend on the time of day, etc. The station is a small one, so just be prepared. The airport is about a 20 minute drive.

I’m looking forward to seeing y’all soon!

Joe Orozco, Convention Operations

Transportation Options

Our 2024 State Convention will take place from October 31-November 3, 2024 at the Renaissance Portsmouth-Norfolk Waterfront Hotel, 425 Water Street, Portsmouth, VA 23704.

Getting There

By Air--The closest airport to the Renaissance Hotel is the Norfolk International Airport, 2200 Norview Ave., Norfolk, VA 23518. It is 9.3 miles and about 21 minutes travel time to the hotel.

By Rail--Amtrak offers 3 departures and arrivals daily to the Norfolk Train station, 280 Park Avenue, Norfolk, VA 23510. It is 3.8 miles and 9 minutes travel time to the hotel. Additionally, Amtrak offers 2 daily departures and arrivals to the Newport News station, 500 Bland Boulevard, Newport News, VA 23602. It is 34miles and about 40 minutes travel time to the hotel

By Bus--Greyhound/Flix offers service from Richmond, Fredericksburg, and parts of Northern Virginia to/from Norfolk. The bus drop off point is located at 410 Briar Hill Road, Suite 103, Norfolk, VA 23502. It is 7.1 miles and about 11minutes travel time to the hotel.

Taxi Service--Call Coastal Ride at 757-853-7777.

Paratransit Service--Those wishing to use paratransit service while attending our convention should arrange with their local paratransit provider to obtain visitor status with Hampton Roads Transit (HRT). Additionally, HRT operates the Elizabeth River Ferry, which provides every 30-minute service between Portsmouth (right next to the hotel) to downtown Norfolk.

Uber and Lyft are available from the airport, train stations, and bus drop off point to/from the Renaissance Hotel in Portsmouth