Blind Information Technology Specialists

2007 Convention program Schedule
Minneapolis, Minnesota
June 30 - July 7, 2007

For more information regarding the BITS Convention Program contact one of the following individuals:

• President: Earlene Hughes, Lafayette, IN
  E-mail: Earlene Hughes
• Program Chair: John Farina, Albany, NY
  E-mail: John Farina

Saturday, June 30, 2007

• 4:30 p.m. - 6:00 p.m., BITS Pre-convention Board Meeting

Sunday, July 1, 2007

• 10:00 a.m. - 10:10 a.m., Opening Remarks and announcements, Earlene Hughes, BITS President
• 10:10 a.m. - 10:30 a.m., Introduce yourself, and share brief remarks with fellow BITS members
• 10:30 a.m. - 11:45 a.m., PDA's, the features we have today, how we use them, and what features we would like in the future:
  PacMate, Ron Miller, Product Manager, Blindness Hardware, Freedom Scientific, St. Petersburg, FL;
  BrailleNote, Matthew Janusauskas, Technical Support and Training Manager, HumanWare USA Inc., Concord, CA;
  Braille Sense, SenseView, and Small-Talk Ultra, Clarence Whaley, Training Division Manager, GW Micro, Fort Wayne, IN.
  
  ** Panel moderated by Lynne Koral, Anchorage, AK.
  ** Each speaker will give comments about their product and its features.
  ** Questions will be asked by the moderator as well as from the audience.
  ** Co-Sponsored by the Braille Revival League, and the Sight and Sound Impaired committee.
  
  
• 11:45 a.m. - 12:00 p.m., Announcements and Closing Remarks
• 1:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m., BITS Technology Vendor Showcase
  Get the latest news from more than a dozen leading producers of blindness products.
  
  ** Hosted by Richard Villa, Austin, TX.
  
  

Monday, July 2, 2007

• 1:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m., Making the transition to Windows Vista:
  Jaws and Magic, Dusty Voorhees, Senior Product Manager, Freedom Scientific, St. Petersburg, FL;
  WindowEyes, Clarence Whaley, Training Division Manager, GW Micro, Fort Wayne, IN;
  Matt Campbell, Lead Developer, Serotek Corporation, Russell KS.
  
  ** Panel moderated by richard Villa, Austin, TX.
  
  
• 8:00 p.m. - 11:00 p.m., Hospitality: Bytes with BITS
  Come meet and greet BITS members in a friendly casual atmosphere. Lite snacks, and other beverages will be provided with the price of admission. We will also be selling raffle tickets to benefit the BITS Memorial fund.

Tuesday, July 3, 2007

• 12:30 p.m. - 2:00 p.m., BITS luncheon
  Speaker: Michael McCarty, Fred's Head Database Coordinator, American Printing House for the Blind, Louisville, KY.
• 2:00 p.m. - 2:15 p.m., break
• 2:15 p.m. - 4:30 p.m., BITS business meeting
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Wednesday, July 4, 2007

• 1:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m., Alternative opperating systems:
  MAC Operating System, Richie Gardenhire, Anchorage, AK;
  Linux Operating System, Richard Villa, Austin, TX;
  Washington DC.
  
  ** Panel moderated by Richard Villa, Austin, TX.
  
  
• 3:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m., BITS Post-convention Board Meeting

You can find out about reservations and other convention plans on the convention information page.