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.

JOIN US IN 2023!!

We'd love for you to join us for the 2023 Professional Development Conference hosted in Knoxville, Tennessee!

Registration for board members, presenters, and attendees is now live. Please visit this page built using Cvent event registration software (you'll be taken to a different website with that link) to get you and your group registered today.

Couple points of note:

If you'd like to pay by Purchase Order, we're happy to accept one. You can register yourself so the seat in the workshops you want is held. At the end of your registration select "pay offline" and then contact our offices with the P.O. We'll take it from there!
You can absolutely register a group all at once! Because everyone will have individual agendas, you will need to enter each person, but you can choose to add them as a group so you can just make one single payment. On the payment screen select "Add another person" and you'll be asked to enter the next person in your party. You can do this as many times as needed.
To see the agenda or workshops list, visit that homepage linked above and look for the "agenda" tab in the upper right hand corner.

Knoxville, Tennessee

October 18, 19, and 20, 2023

Workshops begin at 9:00 a.m. on the 18th, and end at 4:00 p.m. on the 20th

PLAN YOUR TRIP

If you're looking to estimate travel costs, we've put together a Trip Planner to help you gauge how much you'll need to plan for this year.

Use the tabs in the Trip Planner below to get costs and links for many different services to help get you to this year's conference in Knoxville.

Hotel Parking By Air Ground Transportation Registration Meals and Incidentals

Hotel

Hilton Knoxville

501 W. Church Ave.

Knoxville, Tennessee 37902

Lodging:

$161.00 per night for 1 to 4 people

State and local taxes at the time of this writing are 17.25%

Cost per night including tax = $188.77

To book a room online at our special conference rate, please click here. If you would prefer to reserve a room by calling the hotel, they can be reached at 1-800-445-8667. Please make sure to mention that you are coming for the National Braille Association conference so that our special rate can be applied. If asked for a Group Code, please use: NBRA.

Parking

By Air

Ground Transportation

Registration

Early Registration

[Register before August 31, 2023]

Tier One - $175.00 (Includes materials for the workshops you select to attend.)

Tier Two - $300.00 (Includes materials for all of the workshops being presented, whether you attend them or not.)

On Time Registration

[Register between September 1, 2023 and September 30, 2023]

Tier One - $200.00 (Includes materials for the workshops you select to attend.)

Tier Two - $325.00 (Includes materials for all of the workshops being presented, whether you attend them or not.)

Late Registration

[Register October 1, 2023 or later]

Tier One - $225.00 (Includes materials for the workshops you select to attend.)

Tier Two - $350.00 (Includes materials for all of the workshops being presented, whether you attend them or not.)

Meal Package - $100.00 (Includes two luncheons and a banquet.)

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.)

(All prices listed in U.S. Dollars.)

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 Knoxville, Tennessee, is:

$48.00 for the first and last day of travel, and
$64.00 for all other days.

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

MARY ARCHER SCHOLARSHIP AWARD

The Mary Archer Scholarship Fund is used to provide scholarships equal to the amount of the cost of registration to those attending an NBA conference for the first time. Only current NBA members qualify to receive the grant.

There will be a maximum of two scholarships offered for any one conference and scholarships will be awarded on a first come, first served basis. We ask that those of you who already have the benefit of your employer or other resource paying for your conference registration forego applying. This will leave the scholarship funds available for those who pay registration with personal funds.

To help fund this process, please send checks to the National Braille Association and mark them for the Mary Archer Scholarship Fund.

To apply for this scholarship, please find an application in your most current Bulletin and submit to our office.