SayWhatClub Conventions
Each Issue of Online Voices a column features one of the highlights of the SayWhatClub, the annual conventions.
It is anticipated that SWCers who have attended one or more SWC Cons will share their anecdotes and memories of the grand affair. (Editor)
In this issue of SWC Online Voices, Kate Johnston, Chair of the SeaCon, initiates this final section of the March 2003 SWC Newsletter:
Why would one want to come to Seattle, from July 23 through July 27? Imagine this:
You arrive in Seattle on Wednesday, July 23, and check in at the hotel. At 6 PM, you find the SayWhatClub registration area, where you receive your registration packet, and a name badge. You turn around, name badge on, and the hugs begin! You are finally meeting the people behind the names!
Don't stay up too late, meeting old friends and making new ones, though! The fun is just beginning...
Thursday, Friday, and Saturday mornings, the registration table is set up for those who come later. The convention room will be set up with an audio loop for those with t-switches in their hearing aids, CART (Computer-Aided Real-Time Transcription), and ASL interpreters, so everyone gets the best chance possible to enjoy the workshops.
What workshops? How will you decide which to go to? Not to worry! SWC Conventions are set up so there are no overlapping or simultaneous workshops. Planning is still in progress, but workshops which have been confirmed are:
a) Managing your communication environment for success
b) The left-hand column
c) Traveling with hearing loss
d) Self-defense for people with hearing loss
Thursday, Friday, and Saturday afternoons, lunch is on your own. You can stay in the hotel and chat with friends, or explore Seattle with them. The Convention Hospitality committee has filled your tote bags with brochures of places to go in Seattle. And perhaps an escorted trip has been planned by then.
Thursday and Friday nights are on your own. You can stay out late exploring more of Seattle, or you can come back to the hotel, and participate in an SWC social event, such as "Pie in the Sky" or "Sing-a-long" (None of us can hear, so no one cares what you sound like, and you can sing to your heart's delight!)
Saturday night is the SWC Banquet. This is included in your registration fee, so you don't want to miss it! Good food, good friends, and a good speaker, with all the same accommodations as for the workshops -- what more can you ask?
Sunday morning, we get together one last time, for the annual Town Hall meeting. And then it's time to say goodbye.
How can you leave? You're having too much fun to leave!
But now you have faces to match some of the names you see on your computer every day. Now you have some new friends you know you'll want to meet again. There's another convention next year? You'll have to come!
REMEMBER: It's cheaper if you register by April 1! Go to SWC Conventions then click on the 2003 SWC Convention in Seattle. Click on the "reservations" link on that page.
Looking forward to meeting you in Seattle this summer!
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