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Technology Seminars

Starting in March 2017, the New Jersey Association of Blind Technology Users (NJABTU) proudly sponsors quarterly conference calls on a variety of topics with moderators presiding over each call. We hope these calls provide information and thoughtful discussions in your local chapter meetings throughout the year.

To attend the calls, dial 515-604-9570, then use access code 612068 pound. You will hear the code you entered repeated. Press 1 if it is correct. Press 2 to re-enter it. If you press 1, you then announce yourself by stating your name and you will then be entered into the conference call.

In order to obtain the best possible sound for these calls, the host will put all callers into mute mode until the Q and A portion of the call. You will be able to hear everything during the call but background noise from your location will not disturb others listening in on the conversation. During the Q and A portion of the call, you can unmute yourself by pressing star 6. Before giving a comment or asking a question, please announce your name and what state you are from, and then wait for the moderator to recognize you before speaking. We can have too many people trying to seek the floor at one time and chaos can occur. The moderators will do their very best to recognize as many callers as possible however, they will determine the order in which speakers proceed. When finished with your comments or questions, press star 6 again to go back into “mute” mode to facilitate better, uncluttered communication for everyone. Star 6 also works when you have your phone on speaker.

The times for the calls are

  • 8:00pm Eastern
  • 7:00pm Central
  • 6:00pm Mountain
  • 5:00pm Pacific

Please determine for yourself the time to enter the call if you live in a time zone other than those listed above.

Because our conference calls contain information that’s helpful and interesting to blind techies, we archive all of them within hours of their completion. You can listen to our most recent archives by calling 515-604-9651, and entering the access code 612068 pound followed by the call reference code. While listening, 4 will rewind one minute, 6 will forward one minute, and 5 will pause the recording which is a toggle. We hope you enjoy and learn from them.

Calls for 2019

  • Monday, June 17, 2019: Access Link Online
    Linda Melendez, member of the Access Link Citizens Advisory Council and chair of the NFBNJ Transit Committee, will share what’s new with Access Link Online. She will answer any questions after her presentation.
  • Monday, April 15, 2019: NEWSLINE with Alexa
    Scott White, Director of NFB-NEWSLINE at the National Federation of the Blind, will perform a demo of Alexa and NEWSLINE. He will answer any questions after the demo.
  • Monday, January 28, 2019: NFBNet Listservs
    David Andrews will share with our division all about the nfb net list serves and answer questions as well.

Archived Calls

2019

  • June 17, 2019: Access Link Online
    Moderator: Linda Melendez
    Host: Jane Degenshein, NJABTU President
    Reference Code: 14
    Audio Archive:
  • April 15, 2019: NEWSLINE with Alexa
    Moderator: Scott White
    Host: Jane Degenshein, NJABTU President
    Reference Code: 12
    Audio Archive:
  • January 28, 2019: NFBNet
    Moderator: David Andrews
    Host: Jane Degenshein, NJABTU President
    Reference Code: 10
    Audio Archive:

2018

  • September 24, 2018: The Tech Juggernaut
    Moderator: Matt Vollbrecht
    Host: Jane Degenshein, NJABTU President
    Reference Code: 7 pound
    Audio Archive:
  • June 18, 2018: Gateway for the Blind
    Moderator: Denny Huff
    Host: Jane Degenshein, NJABTU President
    Reference Code: 5 pound
    Audio Archive:
  • May 21, 2018: Narrator with Windows 10
    Moderator: Rick Fox
    Host: Jane Degenshein, NJABTU President
    Audio Archive:

2017

  • December 18, 2017: Blindfold Games & More
    Moderator: Marty Schultz, Developer of Blindfold Games
    Hosts: Jane Degenshein, NJABTU President, and Jerry Moreno, National Federation of the Blind of North Carolina
    Reference Code: 4 pound
    Audio Archive:
  • September 26, 2017: AIRA
    Moderator: Eric Duffy, Director of Assistive Technology at the NFB Jernigan Institute
    Host: Jane Degenshein, President, NJABTU
    Reference Code: 3 pound
    Audio Archive:
  • June 29, 2017: An evening with Anil Lewis
    Moderator: Anil Lewis, Executive Director , NFB Jernigan Institute
    Host: Jane Degenshein, president of NJABTU
    Reference Code: 2 pound
    Audio Archive:
  • March 20, 2017: NEWSLINE® and KNFB Reader
    Moderator: Scott White, NFB Director of Sponsored Technology Programs
    Host: Jane Degenshein, president of NJABTU
    Reference Code: 1 pound
    Audio Archive:

Audio recordings from State Convention Technology Seminar

2019:

2018:

2017:

Additional Information

For more information regarding the NJABTU, please visit www.nfbnj.org/chapters-and-divisions/tech-division. You can also contact Jane Degenshein, president of the NJABTU, at 973-736-5785 or jdegen16@comcast.net.

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