Hotel, Ground Transportation, Arrival to the hotel, and Conference Registration

Hotel Information:
A reservation has been made in your name at the New Orleans Marriott, home of the RESNA 2023 Annual Conference. You should have received an email from RESNA staff with your hotel confirmation number. If you did not, please email Danielle Callen at dcallen@resna.org.

Hotel address:
New Orleans Marriott
555 Canal Street
New Orleans, LA 70130

Ground Transportation:
You are welcome to use Uber, Lyft, taxis, or local public transportation upon arrival to get from the New Orleans International Airport to the New Orleans Marriott hotel and back on your day of departure. It should be about a 20 minute car ride from the airport to the New Orleans Marriott. Consideration for the cost of this transit has been included in your daily per diem cash that you will receive as part of your SDC finalist status.

Arrival to the New Orleans Marriott:
Proceed to the check-in desk at the hotel upon arrival, as it is possible they may be able to accommodate your check-in earlier than the standard 4pm check-in time. You are invited to get your conference ID badge from the registration desk and set up your tabletop display in the Experience Hall on Sunday prior to 5pm.

Please contact Danielle Callen upon your arrival at the hotel via text message or phone call prior to 4:45pm so we can get arrange to give you the cash for your per diem, which is designed to cover your daily meals not available through the conference and round trip ground transportation to the hotel. This total amount is $189, based on government per diem Meals & Incidentals (M&IE) costs. For your reference, meals that will be provided during the conference are:

• Monday, July 24: breakfast, lunch, snacks at the welcome reception
• Tuesday, July 25: breakfast, lunch
• Wednesday, July 25: breakfast

Conference Registration:
You are registered for the RESNA 2023 Conference. If you have any accessibility needs or dietary needs for conference, please let us know.

Primary Conference Responsibilities (more details below):

1. Attend the private, live SDC judging on Monday, July 24 from 12:10pm – 1:45pm Central Time in Salon F-H. This is where you will share your 6 – 8 minute presentation about your product – the overall idea is to cover the contents of your submitted Design Brief.
2. Be present at your Tabletop Display – these are the unopposed, dedicated hours where the Experience Hall will be open. 
3. Attend conference sessions, create new connections with other conference attendees, and have fun! The SDC is a long-standing event in conjunction with the conference, and we are so excited for its return to in-person this year.

Presentation Information:

The SDC live judging will take place on Monday, July 24 at 12pm Central in Salon F-H. The presentation order will be:

1. 1. 
2. 2. 
3. 3. 
4. 4. 
5. 5. 
6. 6. 

After giving your presentation, you are welcome to head to the Experience Hall where you can enjoy lunch, meet other conference attendees, attend Innovation Stage sessions, and more!

Helpful information for your presentation at the live SDC judging:

• Presentation should be 6 - 8 minutes in length, and the overall idea is to cover the contents of your submitted Design Brief and focus on areas that may highlight why your design is: innovative, adaptive, accessible, beneficial, and unlike available designs.
• You are encouraged to share any updates you have made to your project since the original submission.  
• You are encouraged to bring your product or prototype to the conference if you are able to do so. It is always beneficial to have a physical product or device to demo at the live judging.
• Historically, judges like to know that market research has been done by the team and that the team is able to defend why the submitted design is different from the current products on the market. It is also beneficial to show any user testing done – the judges always love seeing that the team is remembering to design for the people they are serving each step of the way.
• Think ahead: you may be asked about future plans for your project.
• Judges like to know that market research has been done, so please be prepare to defend why the submitted design is different from the current products on the market.
• It is always beneficial to show any user testing: it is crucial that you, as the design team, is remembering to design for the people you are serving each step of the way.

Tabletop Display:
As a SDC finalist, you will host a tabletop display of your design in the Experience Hall. During the following times in the Experienc Hall it is highly recommended that you be present at your tabletop display to meet with conference attendees to discuss and showcase your product. As a participant in the SDC, you are also a participant in the Developers’ Showcase, meaning you are eligible to be voted on by conference attendees to win the highly coveted Audience Favorite award! Your tabletop display will be clearly marked with a sign with your team name on it.

Your tabletop area in the Experience Hall comes with a 6’ table, two chairs, and a tabletop sign for your project name. Please note that there is not a power source at the tabletop display. Most teams do not need power or anything additional, but on the off-chance that you do, please let us know ASAP. As an SDC finalist, RESNA will cover this cost for you.

Experience Hall Hours:

You should have at least one representative from your team at your tabletop display during the Experience Hall times listed below on Monday, July 24 - Wednesday, July 26. These times do not conflict with any conference sessions or other conference-related activities, and are dedicated to attendees exploring the Experience Hall meeting Solution Providers, Student Design Challenge teams, Developers' Showcase teams, attending Innovation Stage sessions, and more.

RESNA Conference Schedule
Preview conference sessions and plan on what you will attend during your conference experience. 

Have any questions? Reach out to RESNA staff Danielle Callen at dcallen@resna.org and Abby Sodie at asodie@resna.org. See you in New Orleans!