NFB Convention 2009

The July 4th holiday marked this year's National Federation of the Blind's (NFB) convention. Almost 3,000 people attended this year, which was a great turnout. Mike Sivill, one of our marketing representatives attended the conference and also represented us at our booth in the exhibit hall. I had a chance to sit down with him and ask him about what his experience was like.

Mike worked long and hard for us at the booth, nearly 4 days of exhibiting. According to him, there was never a dull moment. The people who visited our booth were really interested in our products and how they worked. Parents in particular were really happy about how easy it is to use the Tiger Software Suite (TSS), and braille transcribers were impressed with how easy it is to make tactile graphics with the Tiger Embossers. Mike said that he really enjoyed talking with visitors about the different ways to make tactile graphics and how our technology is different and easier to use.

Mike is one of our blind employees. He really enjoyed representing us at the conference because he feels that going to NFB is very valuable for our company. The NFB conference in particular brings out more parents and students who are often the end users of our embossers and translation software. He hopes that by representing our company at the conference that he was able to connect with our end users on a more personal level.

Some of the highlights of his experience included making braille examples for visitors, showing off the Emprint SpotDot (our ink and braille printer), connecting with old friends and new people, and talking with a Doctor of Linguistics since that was his major in college.

If you attended NFB, what was your favorite part? If you visited our booth, what did you learn?

Entering the World of Social Media

Here at ViewPlus we are embarking on a new journey. As many of you know, in the digital age that we're living in, people are connecting in ways that were never thought to be possible. No longer are we limited by where we live or where we can go. We now have the chance to meet people throughout the world by focusing on our passions. This is what social media is all about, and that's why we want to join in. We feel that our products and our commitment to accessibility can bring together a community of people who are passionate about braille, tactile graphics, and learning.

One of the things that we want to be sure of is that we're reaching out to all generations. Social media started off being popular amongst the younger generation, but it is now spreading to all generations. Since we are aware that the web can be an unfriendly place to those with disabilities, our community will have access to information and the ability to connect with others in multiple places.

You can already find us on Twitter, where you can read our tweets and join in the discussion. We also plan to make our blog posts more frequent, informative, and engaging. We even want you to get involved in the blog since you are who we care about.

As ViewPlus continues it’s journey into social media we hope that you’ll come along for the ride. What social media sites would you like to see ViewPlus on? Who do you hope to be able to connect with in our community?