by Janet Dickelman
I hope you all had a wonderful convention experience whether you joined us virtually or were in-person in Dallas. We had 676 attendees joining us in Dallas and 541 who attended virtually, for a total of 1,148 conference registrants. We were thrilled to have the Blinded Veterans Association join us again this year, adding over 160 attendees.
You may be wondering how the attendance figures for the 2025 convention compare to previous years.
2025 – Dallas, TX – 1,217; 676 onsite, 541 virtual attendees
2024 – Jacksonville, FL – 1,182; 651 onsite attendees, 531 virtual attendees
2023 – Schaumburg, IL – 1,208; 579 onsite, 629 virtual
2022 – Omaha, NE – 1,185; 449 onsite, 736 virtual
2021 – Virtual – 1,531
2020 – Virtual – 1,573
2019 – Rochester, NY – 863
2018 – St. Louis – 1,020
2017 – Reno – 780
2016 – Minneapolis – 839
As always, it gives me great pleasure to acknowledge the hard work and dedication of so many who made the convention a success!
Convention Committee
Each of you handle your duties independently and efficiently; you make my life so much easier! Our committee is made up of volunteers and you each work so hard to ensure that our conference and convention runs smoothly.
Margarine Beaman, who so ably handles our accessibility at the hotel as well as meeting everyone as they arrive and depart from the airport, you are amazing! When we arrive at the hotel, everything is labeled and contrast tape is up, and all this is done by our own Energizer bunny!
Speaking of volunteers, Sally Benjamin spends hours recruiting volunteers prior to the convention and then is always on call to greet our volunteers, provide them with orientation and make sure they have the information they need to assist everyone at the hotel! Sally always worries that we don't have enough volunteers, but the ones we had this year were wonderful!
What a great exhibit hall we had with Michael Smitherman at the helm! We had 87 exhibit booths — the most we've had since 2003! From working with the exhibitors, setting up the exhibitor open house, and cataloging the recordings for the exhibitor loop, this is a tremendous effort. Keep in mind both will be available as podcasts later this month.
Once again Rhonda Trott outdid herself in arranging our excellent lineup of tours. From a lake cruise to the George Bush Museum, there was something for everyone! Did you enjoy customizing your caramel apple at Rocky Mountain Candy and sitting in a rocking chair at Circle R Ranch?
Cecily Nipper presided over the information desk and was responsible for creating and sending out all the Zoom links to our virtual presenters and determining which sessions qualified for continuing education credits. Our newest member, Cachet Wells, coordinated our blood drive with Carter Blood Care and ran around the hotel providing CEU codes for our sessions.
Our countless Zoom hosts and streamers kept things going remotely. Rick Morin and his cadre handled our A/V needs. This is a herculean effort keeping the ballroom, hybrid rooms, and other session rooms up and running!
The host committee, chaired by Ted Harper and comprised of Hilda, Sheila, Jan, Neva, Linda, Ana, Rick, Tim and Mary, thank you so much for all your help and dedication as the Dallas host committee. You did a great job with the welcome party, procuring local exhibitors, and getting numerous items for the goodie bags.
Our wonderful staff does so much to make the convention a success. The Minneapolis staff comprised of Nancy Becker, Nancy Christine Feela, Chris Sawyer, Sayuree Naik and Yuqing Xia, who have been doing all things convention for months along with their other duties!
Hannah Park was busy sending out convention communications to in-person and virtual attendees. Thanks to Scott and Dan for all their advice, and to Deb Lewis for her leadership. The three of you support the convention in so many ways, thank you for trusting me with the role of convention coordinator.
Thank you to the convention steering committee, the convention program committee (who plans our general session agenda), and the convention planning committee (comprised of the convention planner from each ACB committee and special-interest affiliate). Plus, everyone else who played a part in the convention, please know although you aren't acknowledged in this article, you were a huge help!
Thanks to all of you for your convention feedback and suggestions. They will definitely be considered.
Now our thoughts turn to Saint Louis, Missouri and the 2026 convention at the Hyatt Arch located at 315 Chestnut Street; conference and convention dates are Friday, July 24 through Friday, July 31, 2026.
Hotel information and travel details to Saint Louis will be provided in the October ACB Braille Forum.
Staying in Touch
The conference and convention announce list will be filled with convention-related information. If you received updates for the 2025 convention, you do not need to re-subscribe to the list.
To subscribe to the list, send a blank e-mail to acbconvention+subscribe@acblists.org.
For any convention-related questions, please contact Janet Dickelman, convention chair, (651) 428-5059 or via e-mail, janet.dickelman@gmail.com.