It is our pleasure to invite you to the Bay State Council of the Blind (BSCB) Fall Conference, which will be held on Saturday, November 23 in hybrid fashion: In-person at the Perkins School for the Blind’s Grousbeck Center for Students and Technology, and remotely via Zoom. The address for the Grousbeck Center is 55 Beechwood Avenue, Watertown. In-person registration will begin at 9:00 AM. The conference will start at 9:45 AM and end at 4:15 PM.
In-person participants will pay a $25 registration fee to defray lunch costs. There is no registration fee for remote participants.
The Grousbeck Center has a maximum capacity of 52 persons. If and when we reach that limit, in-person registration will be closed and you will receive an announcement to that effect. Therefore, be sure to register early to assure your place at Perkins.
Morning refreshments, including coffee and pastries, will be provided prior to the 9:45 kick-off. Cold beverages will also be provided during lunch. Box lunches (sandwich or salad, plus chips and a cookie) will be ordered from Panera Breads for in-person attendees, who are required to make their choice on the registration form.
Lunch Choices for In-Person Participants
These choices are:
- Toasted Steak & White Cheddar: Grass fed beef, aged white cheddar, pickled red onions and horseradish sauce on Artisan Ciabatta.
- Bacon Turkey Bravo: Oven-roasted turkey breast raised without antibiotics, Applewood-smoked bacon, smoked Gouda, emerald greens, vine-ripened tomatoes, signature sauce, salt and pepper on Tomato Basil Bread.
- Smokehouse BBQ Chicken: Smoked, pulled chicken raised without antibiotics, BBQ sauce, red onions, aged white cheddar, and frizzled onions on Classic White Miche.
- Tuna Salad: Special recipe tuna salad, emerald greens, vine-ripened tomatoes, red onions, salt and pepper on Black Pepper Foccacia.
- Greek Salad: Romaine, grape tomatoes, feta, red onions, kalamata olives, salt and pepper tossed in Greek dressing with a pepperoncini.
- Mediterranean Veggie: Zesty sweet Peppadew™ peppers, feta, cucumbers, emerald greens, vine-ripened tomatoes, red onions, hummus, salt, and pepper on Tomato Basil Bread.
If you have a dietary restriction that precludes you from making one of the above choices, please indicate this at the appropriate place on the registration form and I will get back to you to explore other choices.
Assisted Listening Devices
Please also note that assistive listening devices will be available. Email BSCB President David Kingsbury at davidkingsbury77@gmail.com if you would like to reserve one. We will have somebody available to show you how to operate it on the day of the conference.
How to Register
There are several ways for you to register. You can register electronically by filling out the form at the following link:
Register for the BSCB 2024 Fall Conference
After submitting your completed form, a message will pop up with a link to a PayPal page for paying your $25 registration fee. In-person attendees should open the link and pay the fee. Remote participants should ignore this pop up.
You can also leave a voice mail on our Philmore line (773 572 6312) indicating that you would like to give your information over the phone. You will receive a call back within 48 hours and you can give your payment and lunch choice information then.
If you wish to pay by cash or check on the day of the conference, you can also indicate this by leaving a voice mail on the Philmore line. Please leave your name and phone number so we can confirm to you that we received your message. We prefer you prepay because it makes our administrative job easier.
You can also register in-person the day of the conference. However, the registration fee will still be $25 and there is no guarantee that you will receive lunch.
Remote registrants will be emailed Zoom information a few days before the conference.
There are two fields in the registration form of relevance to in-person participants, one for requesting a free pair of Sony LinkBuds, and another for signing up to participate in small breakout sessions to explore the Democracy Live accessible in-person voting technology.
ACB has received a large number of these earbuds, and BSCB requested and received 75 pairs for free distribution to our members. In-person participants who are fully paid-up BSCB members as of the date of this announcement who want to receive a pair should check the appropriate checkbox. They will receive their pair at the registration desk. Shortly after the fall conference, an email will go out to members only. Those members wishing a pair who were unable to attend the fall conference in-person can request a pair of the remaining LinkBuds. On a first respond, first approved basis, the remaining pairs will be mailed out until all are gone. To learn more about them, visit:
Democracy Live will demo their new accessible in-person voting technology at the conference. They will briefly describe the technology in the plenary session during the morning. Small groups of participants will then be able to proceed to another room at the Grousbeck Center for hands-on breakout sessions. Checking the appropriate checkbox on the registration form will allow us to better organize these breakout sessions.
Optional Donations
If you would like to make an optional donation to BSCB, please open the PayPal link below:
Door Prizes
Throughout the day of the conference, we will be awarding door prizes to both in-person and remote registrants, provided that they are BSCB members. For the most part, these will be small gift certificates. If you would like to donate a door prize, please contact ElizabethAnn Johnson at: elizabethannjohnson53@gmail.com
Availability of a BSCB Transportation Subsidy
In recognition of the difficulty that BSCB members have in traveling across regional transit authority zones to attend BSCB events, the Board has established a transportation subsidy policy. If you are coming to the Fall Conference from outside the MBTA zone, you may be reimbursed up to $100 for this cost. It will be reimbursed only after you have participated in the Fall Conference.
Elements of the policy are:
- Only BSCB members in good standing are eligible for the subsidy.
- Reimbursement is limited to travel to BSCB statewide events: the Spring convention, the Fall conference, and Social Committee-organized events. Chapter-sponsored events are not included.
- A member may request up to $100 per event and must submit their reimbursement through this Transportation Subsidy Request Google Form. Reimbursement is for actual travel costs. It is not a flat rate.
- The $100 per event limit does not mean that the subsidy covers two $100 fares of a roundtrip, but a maximum of up to $100 per event.
Pooled travel among members is encouraged in order to minimize costs. If an individual member pays for a pooled trip for themselves as well as for several other members, reimbursement may be requested up to the maximum of $100 per member.
Conference Program
Registration will begin at 9:00 AM, followed by the general session, beginning promptly at 9:45 AM. The conference will conclude at approximately 4:15 PM.
The conference will feature speakers on a variety of topics, including MCB Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner John Oliveira and Justine Muir, respectively, who will provide an update on MCB activities. We will also have sessions on accessible in-person voting technology, cooking while blind, , accessible wearable technology, accessing BARD books on Alexa, accessible games, and much more. The final agenda will be mailed out shortly.
We look forward to seeing you on November 23, either in Watertown or over Zoom.