IMPORTANT COMMUNICATION AND UPDATES RE GENERAL ASSEMBLY

To: WBU Members From: Penny Hartin, Chief Executive Officer IMPORTANT COMMUNICATION AND UPDATES RE GENERAL ASSEMBLY The following is a brief summary of important information related to the WBU General Assembly. Please review it carefully as this answers many questions that I have been receiving. There is specific information at the end of the document that is important for supported delegates. For your information, I was in Thailand last week to meet with the local hosts. Their planning is progressing very well and I know that they are looking forward to welcoming our members to Thailand in November. Important dates Please note the following important deadline dates: September 7th - deadline for receiving nominations for Honorary Life Memberships or for the Louis Braille Medal September 11th - confirmation of member voting delegates September 30th – Submission of Resolutions for review by the Resolutions Committee. Resolutions can however still be considered up until the beginning of the General Assembly. September 30th – Registration deadline for General Assembly Please note that the deadline has now passed for the submission of Constitutional amendments. Nominations are still open for the Table Officer Positions. However, the deadline has now passed for the circulation of materials from Officer candidates. Registration Registration is open until September 30th. You may either register online through the website at www.wbu-icevi2012.org or request a manual registration form. The registration process also allows you to book hotel accommodation. The WBU office is making the arrangements for those that are supported. General Assembly Program The General Assembly program has now been completed and will go for translation shortly. The preparation of the program took a little longer than usual since, as you know, we are planning some joint program days with ICEVI. As soon as the program is translated it will be forwarded to you. It is an excellent program and we are confident that you will find it worthwhile. General Assembly Documents The documents related to the WBU General Assembly and Diversity Forum will be placed on the World Blind Union website at www.worldblindunion.org. they will not be on the GA website. A number of documents have already been forwarded to you. These include: • Proposed revised constitution, constitution committee report and notes to the revised constitution • Information about the Resolutions process • Information about the nominations process for Table Officers and Nomination Form • Information about the confirmation of member delegates and the Proxy form • Nomination form for Honorary Life Membership and Louis Braille medal You may also find these documents and forms on the WBU website or you may request them from the WBU office. These materials are all available in English, French and Spanish. You will be receiving several more documents from us over the coming months. We will do my very best to provide them to you as early as possible so as to give you sufficient time to review prior to the Assembly. A document regarding Assembly logistics, transportation from the airport and so forth will be sent to you closer to the date – in October and once these arrangements are finalized. Visa Application Process We have attached a separate document that provides you with information about visa application process and the requirements for yellow fever vaccination certificates. Official airline The local hosts have arranged for discounts through Star Alliance. You must book directly through the Star Alliance website and the link is accessed from the GA website page: www.wbu-icevi2012.org You will need to provide a Convention code which is: TG04S12. Information for Supported Delegates If you applied for support from the WBU to attend the General Assembly, you should have heard back from us by now. We sent out first notifications at the end of May. If you did not hear, please let us know immediately. While those that applied on time were given top priority, we have been fortunate to receive some additional funds and so have been able to fund one delegate from many of the wait list countries as well. We generally have not funded guides, only a few interpreters as our priority was to fund as many delegates as possible from as many countries as possible. We have no more funding support available. New participants can only be considered if we receive cancellations. For those that are supported, we are handling your registrations, accommodations and flight bookings unless we have approved different arrangements. Please ensure that you have a working email address and that you are checking your messages frequently.