A young court reporter sent me a tweet this week saying she is in the 80s, and concentration skills are holding her back.  She is taking an online court reporting class.

First, I would like to congratulate and offer my utmost respect to anyone going through court reporting school online.  I can only imagine how tough it would be to be super self-disciplined and focused without having a physical place to go to every day for a set amount of time, surrounded by fellow students, and having teachers stand in front of you watching over your progress.   When I went to court reporting school, I used the other students and teachers to get energy. 

I am a super competitive person.  I love, love, love competing.  Back in high school when I took typing and Gregg shorthand, I wanted to be the fastest and the best.  I enjoyed going to class, getting there early, taking off my typewriter cover, and practicing.  To me it is akin to playing Brick Breaker on my BlackBerry or Tetras.  How far could I get?  How fast could I go?  Would I beat the rest of the class?  It was so EXCITING.

I took the same competitive attitude with me to court reporting school.  Going to class every day was like going into a competition, playing my sport.  I was secretly competing against the other students in the class.  Having this feeling of being in a game kept me focused and forced me to concentrate.  I really wanted to win (even if it was all in my mind). 

So I wonder, how can a student who is studying to be a court reporter online have the same sense of competition to help spur them on?  I truly want to help my Twitter friend who is in the 80s and having a tough time.  Concentration skills require discipline.  Discipline equals time and energy.  I’d say at least four – five hours a day MUST be spent writing on the machine to build speed and accuracy.  There is no way around it.  (How about write for 2 hours, a 15-minute break, 2 more hours, a half-hour break, and then two more hours.) 

If a person is lethargic or bored with the process, it is never going to work.   Sometimes we need a kickstart to move forward.  Maybe schools can create an online competition at different speeds.  Maybe schools can create speed teams and compete against each other like the Big 10 college football or NCAA tournaments.    Online students might have to compete with themselves – pushing to be better.

The ultimate prize for the competition is GETTING OUT OF SCHOOL AND BEING A COURT REPORTER!  Being a court reporter is FANTASTIC, WONDERFUL, FUN, INTERESTING, and LUCRATIVE.  So I suggest students find a way to get rid of their lethargy and start competing.  Your future is waiting for you.

rosalie@kramm.com

@rosaliekramm (Twitter)

Because stenotype machines, realtime cables and realtime software run on serial technology, finding the device manager is essential for the modern day court reporter.  It is difficult to buy a laptop with a serial port, yet a serial port is what we need to work.   This weekend I attended Mike Miller’s Realtime System Administrator class at the NCRA annual convention and learned six ways to get to the device manager wherein the magical com port number can be found. 

I am going to give out four ways to reach the device manager, because the fifth, sixth and seventh ways are top secret, and you can only learn them by taking Mike’s class.  Sorry.

Methods:

1. Go to START.  Choose SETTINGS.  Choose CONTROL PANEL.  Choose SYSTEM.  Choose HARDWARE.  And there you will find the button for the DEVICE MANAGER.
2. Go to MY COMPUTER.  Right click on MY COMPUTER.  Choose MANAGE.  Then you will see the tree with DEVICE MANAGER
3. On your computer keyboard press simultaneously the WINDOW key and PAUSE key.  Choose HARDWARE, and there you will see the DEVICE MANAGER button.
4. Hit the Windows key and the Pause key at the same time.  Choose HARDWARE and then DEVICE MANAGER.

Finding the device manager can be incredibly exciting and empowering for a court reporter. 

I remember long ago, (circa 1994 – era of DOS) I took my $6K computer in for repairs one day (when laptops cost $6K).  The tech was known around San Diego as someone who worked on court reporters’ computers.  He commented, “You court reporters use more applications on a laptop than anyone who ever comes in here.  It is tough to figure out what’s wrong because it could be so many things.” 

I believe that statement is true today.  Our laptops/netbooks are the key to our success.  We are not only brilliant, fast writers, but we are sophisticated IT technicians.  I am proud of the young reporters who took Mike Miller’s class (have never hooked anyone up ever) and became Realtime System Administrators.        

As court reporters, we can be proud of not only our tremendous skill, but also, just as importantly, we can be proud of our knowledge of technology.   Court Reporters ROCK. 

Rosalie@kramm.com

@rosaliekramm

COURT REPORTERS ARE NOT MACHINES

This post is in answer to Governor Schwarzenegger’s comments regarding court reporters being machines and easily replaceable.  Lisa Michaels, President of the Deposition Reporters Association of California, did a fantastic rebuttal to our Governor’s remarks about the record and how “court reporters are typists and old fashioned.”

I am proud of Chris Jordan who runs our legal video department (and my dear husband) for the production of the video. 

Check out the video: 

http://bit.ly/bs1tUG

rosalie@kramm.com

@rosaliekramm (Twitter)