PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT CONFERENCE

Professional Development Conferences are held in the fall of each year in various cities in the United States. These conferences are the sites for workshops which enable participants to improve their skills and learn more about braille code revisions, new techniques, software, hardware, and production equipment. Social functions offer the additional stimulation of informal visits with NBA members, members of other organizations, and agencies.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT CONFERENCE 2024

Join the National Braille Association and other braille transcribers, teachers of the visually impaired, prison braille program managers and other producers of braille from around North America. In 2024 our annual Professional Development Conference will be located at The Antlers hotel in scenic Colorado Springs.

October 23, 24, and 25, 2024

This year the main conference will consist of three strands each lasting two-and-a-half days. Attendees will select one topic and learn throughout the duration of the conference on that topic. The result will be an intense deep-dive that will leave attendees with a deeper understanding of the topic than we can normally offer in half-day workshops.

Attendees can select from:

Braille Formats Review
Dots Academy: Braille in the Classroom
Tactile Graphics: A Close Look at GSTG 2022

Additionally, the day before the conference we're offering an optional full day of training to review the new Nemeth Code update.

The combined offerings amount to the most training we've packed into one conference in a very long time!

PRICING

Full Day Nemeth Code Update - $100.00

Full Conference - $345.00 now until August 31, 2024. $370.00 for registration between September 1, 2024 and September 30, 2024. $395.00 for any registration made from October 1, 2024 or later. (Note: non-NBA members pay an additional $25.00 registration fee.)

Strand Only- $225.00 now until August 31, 2024. $250.00 for registration between September 1, 2024 and September 30, 2024. $275.00 for any registration made from October 1, 2024 or later. (Note: non-NBA members pay an additional $25.00 registration fee.)

Hard Copy Materials Fee - $50.00 (for print or braille)

Optional Half-Day Tour - $85.00

TRIP PLANNER

The National Braille Association recognizes that individuals who work for certain institutions/organizations need advance approval to attend our conferences. Sometimes this approval needs to be obtained long before the actual event is scheduled to occur. To get this approval, individuals need to have information on the event’s location and the associated costs for attending. This presents a challenge for the National Braille Association, and other organizations like us that host events, because the launch of conference registration can often fall after the deadline to receive approval has passed. And there are often aspects of the registration process that prevent it from being able to launch sooner. This results in individuals not being able to attend our conference, and more importantly, not being able to access the educational opportunities it offers.

To help solve the problem described above, the National Braille Association has created a ‘Trip Planner’ that can help individuals to estimate the cost of attending our conference. The content of the ‘Trip Planner’ provides the information needed so that an individual can seek approval to attend the conference in advance of registration opening.

If you have any questions about the ‘Trip Planner’ or our upcoming conference in Colorado Springs, Colorado, please don’t hesitate to contact our National Office. We look forward to having many of you join us!

Click here to view the entire trip planner in a Google document that is easily printed.

Dates of Event

10/22/24: On Tuesday the 22nd there will be an optional pre-conference workshop on the Nemeth Code for Mathematics and Science Notation, 2022. This pre-conference session begins at 9:00 a.m. and goes until 4:00 p.m.

10/23/24 - 10/25/24: The conference begins Wednesday the 23rd and ends on Friday the 25th. On the 23rd and 24th, workshops begin at 9:00 a.m. and end at 4:00 p.m. On the 25th, workshops begin at 9:00 a.m. and end at 11:30 a.m.

Location

Lodging

Parking

Travel by Air

Ground Transportation to and from Airport

Conference Registration

Pre-Conference Workshop on the Nemeth Code = $100.00
Early Conference Registration = $225.00
On Time Conference Registration = $250.00
Late Conference Registration = $275.00
Luncheons= $120.00 (Includes a luncheon on Wednesday and a luncheon on Thursday)
Non-Member Fee = $25.00 (If you’re interested in avoiding this fee, become a member today. For only $25.00 more, you will receive a year’s worth of membership benefits. A summary of what that includes can be found here.)

Meals and Incidentals

The Government Services Administration sets the daily meals and incidentals rate for federal employee travel. This information can be used as a guide to estimate these expenses. The rate at the time of this writing for Colorado Springs, Colorado, is:

$51.75 for the first and last day of travel, and
$69.00 for all other days.

[Note: If you purchase the luncheons (and we hope you do!), that should be factored into your total meals and incidentals expense.]

Special Tour

READY TO REGISTER?

If you've got all the information you need and you're ready to book your seat at the conference. Use this link to go to the registration tool, hosted by Cvent.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT CONFERENCE