NAD eBlast
Monday, July 28, 2014
25 Fantastic Experiences of #NAD2014
1. In a historic first, the NAD Conference theme was only in ASL
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2. More than 1,500 attendees were at the NAD’s Biennial National Conference in Atlanta, Georgia during July 1-5.
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3. Over 100 volunteers were instrumental in its success.
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4. 90 presenters in 50 workshops provided attendees with important information, tips, updates, and news.
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5. There were 10 workshop tracks
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6. The NAD and RID Region II partnered together to make a joint successful conference!
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7. Conference attendees had the option of saving trees and going mobile by downloading the program book via guidebook, and seeing real-time updates.
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8. Over 30 kids participated in the Kids Camp and enjoyed three full days of activities and field trips while making new friends.
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9. With over 70 exhibitors, people were able to enjoy the Exhibit Hall for three days.
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10. From June 29th to July 6th, you would see many attendees socializing in the main hotel lobby on the first floor and in front of the hotel.
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11. Awards (http://www.nad.org/sites/all/
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12. The first NAD@Night event was the Opening Ceremony at the Martin Luther King Jr. Center, which was truly a symbolic representation of history and a celebration of America’s 50th Anniversary of the Civil Rights Movement.
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13. The Opening Ceremony emcees, Stephanie & Tim Albert, created an inspirational program to kick off the conference for a great week ahead!
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14. As another NAD@Night event, NAD hosted its first ever Community Forum during the Conference, which allowed attendees to have dialogue with each other on many issues affecting our community. After the forum finished, attendees left feeling inspired to make real change with deep understanding of core and current issues in the deaf and hard of hearing community.
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15. Community Forum hosts Juniper Sussman and Janis Cole did a great job of working with over 70 facilitators and several panelists to ensure a successful dialogue that evening.
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16. The third NAD@Night event was the College Bowl Finals, which are a major favorite of the attendees. The six teams that started the competition were the Southwest Collegiate Institute for the Deaf (SWCID), University of Texas, University of Minnesota, National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID), Gallaudet University, and California State University – Northridge (CSUN). Three teams made it into the finals and the final score was NTID/RIT 79, Gallaudet University 77, and CSUN 75, respectively. It was a very close competition and all the teams did a phenomenal job!
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17. As the emcee for the College Bowl Finals, CJ Jones was hilarious and kept everyone’s attention throughout the competition.
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18. The Council of Representatives (COR) had over 150 delegates representing the deaf and hard of hearing community and voted on the top 5 priorities: Preservation and Advocacy of Relay Services (PARS); FEMA Communication to Deaf and Hard of Hearing; Preservation of Mental Health Services that Meet the Needs of Deaf People; Defining and Supporting the Education Strategy Team’s Focus for 2014-2016; Outreach to Deaf Youth including Mainstream School Students, and voted for the new NAD Board of Directors. http://www.nad.org/sites/all/
19. On the 4th of July, the Panoramic Firework Bash & Live Auction, another NAD@Night event, was sold out, thanks to a wonderfully entertaining line up including Austin Andrews, Wawa Snipe, and the auctioneering Benedicts!
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20. During this Fourth of July event, we celebrated RID’s 50th Birthday!
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21. Miss Deaf America put her the crown down to end the forty-year NAD legacy of the Miss Deaf America Ambassador Program (MDAAP).
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22. As MDAAP came to a close, we welcomed in a new NAD@Night legacy, the Youth Ambassador Program (YAP). The YAP had six finalists: Keith Delk, Allison Friedman, Ryan Hait-Campbell, Elena Mayer, Danah Richter, and Satish Thapa. After an evening of great “battles” and presentations, Ryan Hait-Campbell and Elena Mayer were chosen as the newly selected NAD Youth Ambassadors for 2014-2016.
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23. During the YAP Finals, the two emcees, Tyrone Giordano and Rosa Lee Timm, captivated the audience with their extraordinary stage presence and encouraged audience to tweet/Instagram/Facebook #nadyap, #teamTY, and #teamRL.
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24. Once #NAD2014 finished, people were ready to sign up for #NAD2016 in Phoenix, Arizona!
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25. None of the above would have been possible if not for our partners (http://www.nad.org/sites/all/
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Want to see the rest of the photos? You can! Kids Camp [http://www.nad.org/sites/all/
#NAD2014 [http://www.nad.org/sites/all/