HLAA Florida Empowers Chapters to Hold Online Meetings

The HLAA Florida State Association is providing their 13 chapters in Florida with both the meeting venue and all the expertise needed to conduct online meetings more easily and affordably. The state’s leader, Debbe Hagner, is offering to run all the online meeting details for chapters to include the speaker and audience logistics, so the chapter can focus at getting speakers and delivering the session’s content. Debbe also runs these chapter meetings on the state’s Zoom account so the chapter does not need maintain an account or pay ongoing fees.

The HLAA Sun City Center Chapter meeting on May 19 drew 28 people to their Ask the Audiologist session.

HLAA Sun City Center was the first chapter to take advantage of the program by hosting an online meeting featuring Dr. Kristin DesErmia of Ascent Audiology in an Ask The Audiologist session in which she addressed a wide range of questions from those attending. HLAA Lakeland was next having Debbe host a planning meeting for their board of trustees to discuss how the chapter could best do online meetings via the state’s help.

HLAA Sarasota/Manatee is starting monthly chapter meetings for the remainder of 2020 starting in July with HLAA Florida’s help. In addition, the online meeting format will allow the Sarasota chapter to continue their popular annual Between The Covers Book Club on November 18 to discuss Life After Deaf by Nolan Holston. Ed Ogiba who is running this chapter’s online program said. ”Debbe and HLAA Florida have eliminated all the learning, most of the cost and the start-up mistakes that we would have had to deal with in doing online meetings alone. They have a proven program for us.”

HLAA Florida has been running online meetings for HLAA members in the state since May 6 when their first meeting focused at Beating Covid-19 Together and offered all attendees a Hospital Kit they created from the national office’s material. Their June meeting featured an audiologist speaker focused at What’s New in Hearing Aids & Supporting Technologies and in July they will have an ADA lawyer discussing Your ADA Rights During Covid-19.