ATIA Chicago 2009

The last week in October several of our employees flew to Chicago for ATIA's assistive technology conference.

When: October 29-31

Where: Renaissance Schaumburg Hotel and Convention Center, Schaumburg (Chicago), IL

The Assistive Technology Industry Association (ATIA) is a non-profit organization that’s mission is "to serve as the collective voice of the assistive technology industry so that the best products and services are delivered to people with disabilities." For this reason, their shows have exhibitors demonstrating all sorts of assistive technologies, not just those dealing with blindness.

Overall the show was a great success. In our booth we had an Elite and Emprint embosser on display, as well as one of our desktop units. We also had drawings to give away a Tiger stuffed animal and an AGC as a part of our social media promotions.

At the show we had a chance to meet with several of our distributors and speak with many teachers and school districts interested in our products. There was also an opportunity for us to give a presentation about bringing IVEO and Daisy Books together and to demonstrate a potential new pen input device that would allow for IVEO to be easily portable. Daisy Books are unique digital audio books that allow the user to easily navigate pages. Combining IVEO with this technology would allow for tactile graphics to be added to Daisy Books, creating a more interactive experience.

This was ATIA's first year ever doing a show in Chicago. We had a great time and are planning on attending their Chicago show again next year. ATIA's next event is ATIA Orlando on January 28-30. Hope to see you there!

The Fun Times at Sight Village 2009

Each year, QAC hosts Sight Village in Birmingham, England. This is one of the premier events in Europe for the blind, visually impaired, and the people who work with them. The event features vendors from around the world showcasing products and services important to this population. This year's new venue at the New Bingley Hall provided more space for exhibitors and brought in a larger group of attendees.

This year's ViewPlus team included Kayleen Hagen, Jeff Gardner, Emily Axelsson, Alex Axelsson, and Dorine in 't Veld. Some highlights for the team this year included: showing teachers and other professionals how easy it is to use IVEO Hands-on-Learning System, showing how high-resolution tactile graphics can be brought to life for the blind with the Tiger embossers, reconnecting with customers, and handing out our signature stuffed baby tigers.

As a co-sponsor of the conference, ViewPlus helps vendors have fun. The exhibitor reception and infamous Sight Village party are great ways for members of the assistive technology industry to get to know each other and spend time together. This year the party was Hawaiian themed, complete with leis, island decorations, and of course plenty of stickers!

To see photos and participate in the discussion about Sight Village, please visit our Facebook
What was your favorite experience at Sight Village?

NFB Convention 2009

The July 4th holiday marked this year's National Federation of the Blind's (NFB) convention. Almost 3,000 people attended this year, which was a great turnout. Mike Sivill, one of our marketing representatives attended the conference and also represented us at our booth in the exhibit hall. I had a chance to sit down with him and ask him about what his experience was like.

Mike worked long and hard for us at the booth, nearly 4 days of exhibiting. According to him, there was never a dull moment. The people who visited our booth were really interested in our products and how they worked. Parents in particular were really happy about how easy it is to use the Tiger Software Suite (TSS), and braille transcribers were impressed with how easy it is to make tactile graphics with the Tiger Embossers. Mike said that he really enjoyed talking with visitors about the different ways to make tactile graphics and how our technology is different and easier to use.

Mike is one of our blind employees. He really enjoyed representing us at the conference because he feels that going to NFB is very valuable for our company. The NFB conference in particular brings out more parents and students who are often the end users of our embossers and translation software. He hopes that by representing our company at the conference that he was able to connect with our end users on a more personal level.

Some of the highlights of his experience included making braille examples for visitors, showing off the Emprint SpotDot (our ink and braille printer), connecting with old friends and new people, and talking with a Doctor of Linguistics since that was his major in college.

If you attended NFB, what was your favorite part? If you visited our booth, what did you learn?

Announcing Everyday Braille Solutions

We have recently introduced our Everyday Braille Solutions. These braille packages include everything from the printer, paper, translation software, and even customized on-site training! The on-site trainings are perfect for any organization because a ViewPlus expert visits your site and custom-tailors the workshop to teach your organization how to make braille graphics and documents fast and easy.

There are four different packages. The first is the "Beginning Braille Aid," and is specific for teachers or employers who have a new blind employee or student. The next package, "Math Made Simple," is for math teachers who need to produce materials in an accessible format. The third package, "Inclusive Tactile Learning," includes the IVEO Hands-on Learning System to make any tactile graphic accessible through touch, sound, and sight. Finally, "Office Production Assistant," provides options for any production job - whether you need double-sided braille, ink and braille only, or both!

The variety of packages offered by ViewPlus will ensure that every braille need is met. To find out everything that is included in each package visit the ViewPlus website!

CSUN 2009

We recently attended CSUN at the LAX Marriot this March. Crowds swarmed the booth to see what new and exciting products we had this year. Our "Make it a Double" campaign continued to promote the new line of Elite and Premier embossers capable of double-sided printing in one pass.
In addition we were showing the prototype for the re-designed desktop series. With a new sleek design, USB connection, and new braille dot, the new model was a huge hit! While this new design has not been officially released yet, it will be in the very near future.

Lastly, the prominent Emprint SpotDot was on display. This embosser, capable of both ink and braille, makes using the IVEO Hands on Learning System a breeze! If you attended CSUN and were not able to stop by the booth, check out the ViewPlus website for all the latest information; you did however miss out on our great new tradeshow bags – they are reusable.

Ziezo 2009

We recently attended Ziezo in Houten, Netherlands February 5th – 7th. Jeff Gardner and Kayleen Hagan, from the US office, as well as Dorine in 't Veld and Christian Herden, from the EU office, represented the company. This year the show was a combined effort between ViewPlus and our Dutch dealers Babbage and Thinkable.


In attendance were many end-users of low vision or blindness equipment, as well as educators and other professionals. The show was a great success for ViewPlus as the Dutch market continues to be very fond of the ink and braille technology made possible with Tiger embossers.

ATIA 2009: Make It A Double

We recently attended the 2009 ATIA conference at the Caribe Royal All Suites Hotel and Convention Center in Orlando, Florida. The Accessible Technology Industry Association's goal is to serve as the collective voice of the assistive technology industry so that the best products and services are delivered to people with disabilities. ViewPlus was a proud sponsor and delighted to assist in working toward a common goal. This year we featured the new Elite and Premier braille embossers with our "Make It A Double" campaign and party. These embossers produce perfectly spaced interpoint (double-sided) braille on one page and are great for high-volume production style jobs. To find out more about this product line visit theViewPlus products webpage.

Not only did we show the new Elite and Premier embossers, we made our first public appearance with our new sleek and appealing logo. We have a different look, but still the same great products to go along with it! Overall, ATIA was a huge success and we look forward to attending next year!

Tifloinnova 2008

We recently attended Tifloinnova 2008 in Madrid, Spain. The show had a great turnout and was sponsored by ONCE. For those of you who are not familiar with ONCE, they are a non-profit corporate organization that focuses its activities on the improvement of the quality of life of people with blindness or severe visual impairment from all over Spain.

Dorine in 'T Veld and Steve Young were the representatives that attended the show. There was a large turnout at the booth and many were impressed with the Emprint SpotDot braille embosser Powered by Tiger. In addition the IVEO Hands-On Learning System impressed students of all age levels. According to Dorine and Steve, Madrid is a beautiful city with great nightlife and they hope to return soon!

School Is Well Under Way

Now that the school year is up and going in full force it is time to brush the dust of your braille embossers and let the braille dots roll! Here at ViewPlus, we understand that after a fun filled summer of vacations, you may return to your embosser and realize you may need a little refresher course. No worries though. we still have all of our tutorials available online. They can be found here. If you feel you may need a little extra assistance quit teaching yourself! Let us help you! Don't hesitate to take advantage of a free online training while they are still offered! To all the teachers out there, we would like to wish you all a great school year!

Sight Village 2008

We recently co-sponsored Sight Village 2008 with Sight and Sound Technology. This yearly exhibition is held in Birmingham, England every July and is hosted by Queen Alexandria College. The show this year went well and we demonstrated our new Elite 200 braille embosser. Not only does this embosser have the same superior tactile graphics as the rest of the ViewPlus line, but it does interpoint in a single pass and has our new, slightly more rounded and finger friendly braille dot.

Along with co-sponsoring the show, we hosted a reception for visitors and a themed party, which we do every year. Force Ten joined us for the Mardi Gras themed party. The party was a huge success! It was a fun-filled and relaxing evening that created a great opportunity to meet and share ideas about issues concerning the blindness and accessibility market