Yesterday I received a Tweet from a court reporting student, “As a student, what is more important?  Speed or accuracy?”

My friend @stenoknight believes in accuracy.  She wrote an excellent, detailed article about how she got out of school.  I highly recommend it to court reporting students and young court reporters who want to improve their writing.  http://bit.ly/7rOL8a

I have a different philosophy about getting out of school.  I lean on the side of speed.

Both Stenoknight and I got out of school in less than two years, and I don’t believe either one of us is right or wrong.  I would suggest court reporting students choose the method that makes sense to you.  Take a bit of both philosophies if you wish.

I was intense in court reporting school.  I would go to class every day, never missed school.  During breaks or lunchtime, I would sit in the classroom with my machine and be constantly writing.  At night I would write the news, which was way too fast for me, or Frank Sinatra songs.  (I love singing along with Frank, and I could with all of the words in front of me on my paper notes.)  That may sound silly, but I believe all of the writing, writing, writing kept me focused. 

Learn briefs.  They will save you so many strokes and make your writing more accurate. 

I still push for speed.  I want to write super fast.  I have clients who talk up to 350 words per minute.  I love the crazy spurts, because it gives me a chance to clear my mind and really write and to be in the proverbial “zone.” 

I believe practicing with speeds that are too fast teaches you not to think.  You are forced to clear your mind, let go, and just write. 

In focusing on accuracy, you are constantly thinking.  Of course, accuracy is the name of the game in the long run. 

My advice:  Learn briefs, practice all of the time, and constantly push yourself with speeds faster than you can write.  If you are in a 90-120 class, write at 130-140, 150 speeds, and then slow down again to 90-120.  Your brain is going to get tired.  At some point, your brain is going to stop thinking, and that is when you will be in the zone and writing effortlessly. 

In answering the question, speed or accuracy in school, I vote for speed.  I love to write fast!  It is exciting to me.  Learn your briefs and then GO FOR IT!!!!!!!!!!!!

rosalie@kramm.com

@rosaliekramm (Twitter)

(By guest blogger Linda Pool, CSR, CCRR – @lindakpool (Twitter)

          This morning I accompanied my parents to the hospital where my father had a fairly routine surgical

procedure.  He was checked in, through pre-op, out of surgery, out of recovery, and into his own room by

 10:00 a.m.

          Shortly after arriving in his private room — complete with a breathtaking view of Torrey Pines Golf

Course and the beautiful, glistening Pacific Ocean — his nurse arrived and began charting.

                 “How old are you, Norman?”

                 “81.”    

                 “Can you walk on your own?”

          I snickered out loud, eliciting a look from the nurse.

                 “Yes, I can.”

                 “Can you feed yourself?”

                 Now I laughed out loud. 

                “Yes, I can feed myself.”

                “Are you incontinent?”

 I groaned.

                 “No, I am not.”

            It occurred to me these are routine questions asked every patient of a certain age.  While my father’s

physical age is easily 20 years younger than his biological age, the nurse could not make any assumptions and had

 to ask every question on her list.

           I began to think of my dad and his fitness.  He goes to yoga twice a week, works out at the gym three

mornings a week, and never misses an opportunity to go for a walk or quick bike ride through his neighborhood in

the afternoons. 

             The light bulb went on, and I made the connection between our physical fitness and our professional

fitness.  You may work on your physical fitness regularly to keep in shape, but how often do you work on your

professional fitness? 

            If you had to answer a list of questions regarding your professional fitness, how would you score? 

Would you be able to answer “yes” to the following questions?

           Do you attend seminars regularly?  Do you surround yourself with smart, forward-thinking colleagues

who support you and keep pushing the envelope towards greatness?  Do you understand how your office works and

 the job of each person on staff?  Do you keep apprised technology and what is new and exciting?  Have you mastered

your CAT software?  If there is something you don’t know, do you know the resource to give you an answer or point

you in the right direction?

                               Clearly, my dad would win a presidential level fitness award, deservedly so.  At the age of 81, he

understands physical fitness is something to be maintained, and he doesn’t take his excellent health for granted.  He

has worked hard to get where he is today.

           What would your PROFESSIONAL fitness level be?   Would you score in the presidential level, or would you fall

 short? 

            I hope you aspire to hold a presidential level of professional fitness, feeling the hunger to be a

 better court reporter, never satisfied, always looking for areas of improvement.

            Let’s make 2010 the year we improve our professional fitness.  What will your professional workouts

 consist of to get you to the next level?  Is this the year you will write realtime?  Master medical malpractice? 

 Patent law?  Technology cases?  Is this the year you learn the Windows device manager settings so YOU are in

control of a successful realtime connection rather than crossing your fingers and holding your breath, praying that it

works?  Is this the year you replace those old realtime cables for a StenoCast wireless system?  Is this the year you

finally resolve those same conflicts you edit through in each and every job?  Is this the year you test for a particular

certification you wish you had?  RPR?  CRR?  CCRR?  RMR? 

                              I could go on forever, but I think I’ve made my point.  Let’s reinvent ourselves in 2010.  Let’s begin

our workouts to take our professional fitness to the PRESIDENTIAL level.  There will be challenges.  It will be

hard.  But as Tom Hanks’ character, Jimmy Dugan, says in one of my all-time favorite movies, A League Of Their Own,

“It’s supposed to be hard.  If it wasn’t hard, everyone would do it.  The hard is what makes it great.”

Everyone would agree that court reporters are fascinating people.  Ask anyone on the street.  If you tell a person that you are a court reporter, right away their eyebrows go up, their eyes get big, and the inevitable question comes out, “How do you do it?”  People want to hear our stories and try to figure out how we can write so fast.

The question becomes, how can we be even more interesting than we already are?  I believe stepping outside of one’s comfort zone and shifting is the key.  I wrote a blog last year about change.  “Do people want an interesting, exciting life?”  I know I do.  Here are the steps I plan to take to have the most interesting life ever.

Step #1:  Meet more people.  People give energy.  I can’t wait to see who I get to meet in 2010 and look forward to meeting people who have nothing to do with court reporting.   One of the best parts of our jobs is hearing stories from all walks of life and meeting people from all professions.   I love meeting Rotarians, athletes, business people, and “who knows”?  Sit at a new table the next time you go to a meeting, not with the same people.  (Caution:  Stay away from energy sucks.)

Step #2:  Be spontaneous.  This is one of my favorite steps.  If someone calls and asks you to do something “right now” that sounds fun, go for it. 

Step #3:  Get out of your safety zone.  Try things that you might be a little shy to do.  Take baby steps and keep moving forward.  Don’t beat yourself up if things don’t go as well as you thought they might.  You never know where you might end up – it could be something spectacular.

Step #4:  Help other people.  Doing charity work, talking to a lonely person, or playing with a child shifts my energy.  I tend to be a worrywart.  One of the reasons I chose joy to be my goal in 2010, giving joy to others, is because if I concentrate on helping someone else, I forget about my worries and fears, and things seem to be much better than I ever realized.

Step #5:  Try something new.  I like to play “change your fate.”  If I go to a Chinese restaurant and am presented with fortune cookies along with the people I am dining with, I will grab a cookie that is in front of someone else and “change my fate” getting someone else’s fortune.  I know that is a silly example, but I use this mindset for all kinds of choices.  Instead of doing the same thing over and over because it is safe and familiar, do something different.  Make an unusual choice.

Step #6:  Have fun and don’t take yourself too seriously.  Linda Pool, a reporter in my office, decided to start skipping while she walks her dog in the park.  She is a grown woman skipping around.  Her dog, Walter, was a little confused at first, but decided to go with it.  Linda is one of the most interesting people I have ever met.

As court reporters, sometimes we work, work, work or practice, practice, practice, and forget to look up.  Treat yourself to some fun.  It will make you a better court reporter and ensure a more interesting, exciting life.

rosalie@kramm.com

twitter:  @rosaliekramm

I have been asked by a couple of my Twitter friends to opine on the future of court reporting, particularly as it relates to technology and voice recognition, tape recorders, electronic recording, et cetera.

In my opinion, stenographic reporters have an amazing future, BUT only if the reporters are willing to step up to the plate ready to hit home runs.    

In ’79, ’80 many people were worried about tape recorders taking over our industry.  When I decided to drop out of SDSU after my second semester to go to court reporting school, quite a few relatives and friends were worried for me.  They had heard that tape recorders were becoming very sophisticated and would be replacing court reporters in court.  They heard about this new science of voice recognition that IBM was going to push.    I was a little worried, but decided to gamble anyway because I was so attracted to the field of court reporting.  My single goal at that time was mastering the stenograph machine and passing the California CSR examination.

Now it is 2010, 30 years later.  I still hear the same rumblings from people.  It has been proven over and over again that having a live court reporter taking down any proceeding will win out over a machine when it comes to accuracy, efficiency, and dependability.  So why has ER (electronic recording) taken over in different states around the country?  I believe it is part of the “commoditization” of our industry and the “it’s good enough” attitude that is prevalent in our society. 

Standards have been set lower by administrators and legislators. 

To survive as an industry, I believe that court reporters unequivocally must not let their standards go down and must continue to strive to be better, faster, and cleaner writers. 

As an agency owner, I have seen some of the mediocrity that is out there in our field.  I have written in past blogs about broken-down steno machines, reporters who refuse to join state associations, national, who never take even one continuing education class after they get their license.  These reporters, in my opinion, don’t care about their future or court reporting.

I have also worked with court reporters that I am in awe of, so proud of, who blow me away with their greatness.  These reporters have solid writers, the latest version of their CAT systems, are able to get out a “clean” rough draft hours after a deposition, hearing, or arbitration.  The most talented CART providers, captioners, and realtime reporters will never lose their jobs.    

If someone is worried about the future and court reporting, I would suggest that person meet a talented realtime reporter, CART provider and/or captioner.  I know of no technology on earth that can compete with us and create a written record of any proceedings at 225 – 350 words per minute, a record with punctuation and speaker identification, a record of people who speak in all kinds of accents, and this record is created SIMULTANEOUS TO WHEN THE WORDS ARE SPOKEN.   

If you are a talented writer, scared of realtime, you are going to need to get over yourself.  For those who are in court reporting school, never settle for being “good enough to get out.”  Be great.  Support your court reporting associations.  They are on your team and will help you obtain goals with continuing education and testing.    You are our future.

Court reporters that are ready and able to hit a home run will always be in demand.  Bench warmers are going to be going home.

rosalie@kramm.com

Twitter:  @rosaliekramm