by Janet Dickelman
Whether you will be reading this article as you are arriving in Schaumburg or getting ready to join us via Zoom or on ACB Media, read on for information for convention attendees and those of you who will be staying connected from home.
Attending Tours
All tours will depart from the west entrance of the hotel.
If you arrive Thursday evening, June 30, after registration closes at 9 p.m. and are on the Friday morning tour, don’t worry. Your name will be on the tour list. If you are on a waiting list for a tour, please go to the bus loading area in case your name is called to get on the tour. If you are not able to join the tour due to your spot on the waiting list, stop by registration and you will receive a refund.
Conference and Convention Program
The program is available in large print, braille, NLS cartridge (deposit required), or emailed directly to you. You can also download the program from our website, www.acbconvention.org.
You can also listen to the program on NFB-Newsline (subscription required). The program will be available for download during the convention at the ACB information desk, located in the Hilton in what is called the registration room, located just off the sky bridge to the convention center.
If you plan to join us in Schaumburg and have not registered, there’s still time! On-site convention registration is just $45, or $60 for non-ACB members. Registration will be located in Schaumburg A.
Joining the Conference from Home
If you have registered for the convention, you will receive Zoom invitations for all sessions that are hybrid or Zoom only. In-person sessions such as mixers and other sessions noted in the program as in-person only will not have Zoom capabilities.
The easiest way to access the Zoom links is to login to your account at members.acb.org. For screen readers, go to the top of page, arrow down to the navigation region where you will find various links, one of which is labeled “Zoom links.” That link will take you to a page where you select the date of the session(s) you are looking for. You will then access a listing in chronological order of all sessions for that day. For each session there are two buttons. If you are listening with your computer, choose the button labeled “Zoom.” If you are listening on your phone, choose the button labeled “phone.” You don’t need to know any access links or passcodes.
Much of the conference will be streamed on ACB Media using multiple streams. All general sessions, and some of our afternoon and evening programming, will be live streamed on ACB Media.
Other sessions will be recorded and replayed on ACB Media. Sessions will be available as podcasts after the convention and archived for later listening on ACB Media.
Ways to Connect to ACB Media Programming
Amazon Alexa-enabled device (Recommended)
“Alexa, ask ACB Media to play Media n.” (n = stream number). For example, to listen to general session during national convention, say, “Alexa, ask ACB Media to play 1.”
Please note that some Alexa devices may not switch from one stream to another when requested, i.e. you are listening to Media 1 and then ask Alexa to play Media 6, and although Alexa says it is playing 6, it continues to play 1. When this behavior occurs, unplug your Alexa device, wait a minute, and then plug your device back in. Allow the device to reboot itself and then ask Alexa to play the requested stream. If you have multiple Alexa devices, this issue may happen on some devices but not others.
PC/browser access (Recommended)
Visit acbmedia.org at http://www.acbmedia.org/n (n= stream number). The site has a built-in media player; there is no need to install or use a media player on your device. Hit the play button and the stream will begin playing immediately.
Smart Device Access (Recommended)
Download “ACB Link” from your app store. Find “Radio” along the bottom of the screen, then “Menu” in the top left corner. Select “Streams” and then choose the stream you wish to listen to. Double tap the play button.
Victor Reader Stream Access
Navigate to “Internet radio library” in the “online bookshelf.” Locate the HumanWare North American English playlist. From the playlist, use the 6 key to locate the ACB Media stream you wish (ACB Media 1 through 10) and hit play. Should you wish to use the “Go To” button, please note that the ACB Media streams are currently selections 2 through 11, where ACB Media 1 = 2 and so on, with ACB Media 10 = 11.
Dial-In Access for Programming Originating in Zoom
Dial the Zoom access number provided with the schedule information for the session. When prompted, enter the meeting/webinar ID followed by #. You will hear the exact same program that is being streamed on ACB Media.
Alternate Dial-In Access (not recommended)
Dial (518) 906-1820. Listen to the menu prompts and press the number for the stream you want. Please note that this is a free service provided by Zeno Media. This service is limited in terms of simultaneous listeners, and ACB does not warrant this service. If dial-in is your only option and the program originates in Zoom, we recommend that you dial into the Zoom meeting/webinar directly (see above).
If you connect to Zeno Media using the above number and receive a message after your menu selection that the stream is offline, please select the stream again and it should then play. Once you select your stream via the voice menu, it often takes several seconds before you hear the stream. If you receive an “unable to connect” message or a fast busy when you dial the above number, your only dial-in option is to access the Zoom meeting directly via Zoom’s dial-in access.
Important Note
The ACB Radio Tuner is no longer supported. If you used the tuner in the past, you may access all ACB Media streams from acbmedia.org (see above).
If you are using alternate ways to access ACB Media streams than those above (such as TuneIn or Winamp) using acbradio.org URLs, we ask that you use one of the methods above.
For any other convention-related questions, please contact Janet Dickelman, convention chair, at (651) 428-5059 or via email, [email protected].