Speakers

Alan H. Brock, RDR, CRR, champion of the 2003 National Court Reporters Association Speed Contest and a founder of the reporting firm Farmer Arsenault Brock LLC, has been a judicial reporter since 1981. He is a 1979 graduate of Oberlin College, with a B.A. in government, and Oberlin Conservatory, with a B.Mus. in piano performance. He reports a wide variety of complex technical testimony concerning occupational lung diseases, biotechnology and electronics patent disputes, and utility regulation.

More Speed and Better Realtime:

How to Get ‘Em – and How to Pass the Tests
to Prove You’ve Got ‘Em!
(.15 CEUs - Session 1)
(.15 CEUs - Session 2)

Would you like to increase your income? Would you like to spend less time working and more time with your family? Would you like to minimize transcript-production drudgery and increase job satisfaction?

Join Alan for an inspirational seminar that will give you the tools you need to jump-start your career. Reporters at all levels, from beginners to veterans, will gain an understanding of basic principles that can rapidly translate to more money and more free time. Alan will give nuts-and-bolts examples that reporters using any writing theories can put to immediate use. And you will learn some basic test-taking techniques that will enable you to pass the tests that prove to the world just how far you’ve come!

Heidi C. Thomas, FAPR, FDR, RMR, CRR, CBC, has been a court reporter for 30 years, and a CART provider/captioner for almost 20 years. She has worked as a national broadcast captioner with VITAC Corp., and has also performed on-site and remote CART in the classroom, as well as captioning and CART for local, regional, national, and international conferences, conventions, and seminars. She was also part of the captioning team for the 2000 Summer Olympics on MSNBC, and was part of a team of CART providers who provided services at the Disabled Peoples’ International 6th World Assembly in Sapporo, Japan, in October of 2002. She is currently Operations/Special Projects Director for EduCaption, Inc., in Atlanta, Georgia.

Real Events, Real Locations
How to Deal with Vicarious Traumatization
(.15 CEUs)

How do you do it? How do you cope with the pain and suffering of others day in and day out? How do you "turn off" your work when you go home? Isn't it hard to let go of the terrible things you see and hear on the job? Whether you are a Judicial Reporter, CART Provider or Broadcast Captioner, you're constantly filtering disturbing information about trauma of incest, rape, domestic violence, alcoholic families or memories of childhood abuse. You bear witness to people's victimization. This seminar will explain what vicarious traumatization is, how it affects you, and how you can recognize the signs. It will also include information on how to assess your level of self-care.

WORLD TRADE CENTER:
The Moussaoui Trial
(.15 CEUs - Session 1)
(.15 CEUs - Session 2)

Have you ever wondered what it's like to report a high-profile case? Learn the pros and cons of reporting a high-profile case from the reporters who covered the trial of Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person to be tried for the 9/11 attacks in a civilian court

Presented by:
Karen Brynteson, FAPR, RMR, CRR
Norman Linnell, RMR
Anneliese Thomson, RDR, CRR

Lillian Morson taught English to court reporting students for many years in New Jersey. She has conducted English seminars at NCRA conventions and for more than 30 state associations, as well as many court reporting schools throughout the country.

She is the author of MORSON'S ENGLISH GUIDE FOR COURT REPORTERS, 1997

Morson's Menu for Making Punctuation Connections
(.15 CEUs - Session 1)
(.15 CEUs - Session 2)

Lillian will use her popular newsletter handouts in her presentations to make the connection between punctuation accuracy and transcription clarity. Bring all your punctuation skills as we examine crumbling sentence structures and perform extreme makeovers, as necessary - all in pursuit of clarity

Lillian taught English to court reporting students for many years in New Jersey. She has conducted English seminars at NCRA conventions and for more than 30 state associations, as well as many court reporting schools throughout the countr

Pam Szczecinski
All Stenograph CAT software programs, Realtime and CaseView
Intro, intermediate and advance training on CAT systems to freelance, official reporters, scopists, firm owners, Stenograph support staff, sales staff, and other training agents.
Curriculum development and implementation to Court Reporting schools, private agencies, state and federal courts, and private organizations.
VISTA , XP, 2000, Windows operating system
Presentations at State and National court reporting events
High Court of Botswana, software setup and training (2008)
Software upgrades to NSW, Government Reporters, Sydney Australia (2008).
United Nations International Criminal Tribunal, War Crimes Trial, Rwanda, Africa.
United Nations International Criminal Tribunal, War Crimes Trial, Sierra Leone, Africa.
Realtime setup and litigation software training for attorneys and reporters for the DOW

Stenograph Software Training

Session 1
(.15 CEUs)
Don't Panic! - Managing Your Mistakes
Undo
Redo
Undo Global options
Undo vs. Delete Global
Realtime mistake management (Oops, using Bench Mode to cover up, Query Realtime Translation)
Litter box settings
Read warning messages
AutoRecover and how to use an AutoRecovered file
Auto Archive - saving files when you forget to
How to successfully communicate with Tech Support

Session 2
(.15 CEUs)
Create Comfortable Navigation - Keyboard Maps
Command vs. Default Keyboard
Keyboard map concept, switch between two keyboards vs. using one keyboard how to create new assignments, modify existing assignments, recommendations for additional shortcut assignments

Jenny Ebner is a Registered Professional Reporter, and a Licensed Shorthand Reporter in the state of Connecticut. She has been reporting since 1973. She began using StenoCat very shortly after it came on the market, and is a Charter member of the StenoCat Users Network (formerly Users Group). She is a past president of the StenoCat Users Group and serves as a beta tester for their software.

She has served as a speaker on many aspects of realtime reporting as well as “technological know-how” at StenoCat’s biannual seminars and has been a featured presenter for several State Court Reporters Associations.

StenoCat Software Training

I EDITING ON THE FLY

II SMARTKEYS

III STENOCAT 5.8 UPDATE

IV USE OF TIME CODES

V AUTOMATIC INDEXING

VI PRINTING

JENNY’S FAVORITE SMARTKEYS

Add Name (add name2, etc)

Delete Last Untranslate

Dollar Sign

Fix Last Untranslate

CapThreeWords

CapTwoWords

Kelly Siska

I am what you would call a "seasoned" court reporter. I've been at this for 25 years and
have never considered it a job. It's always been a career to me. Loved it from day one and still enjoy it today. Although I do have some courtroom experience, the bulk of my work is as a freelance reporter. My involvement with Cheetah started about 17 years ago when I became an instant diehard customer, and in the past couple years I've gone from customer to trainer to owner. Traveling around the country training has been awesome, but the best part about it has been the interaction with other reporters. Even though that's been enough to keep me busy, outside of court reporting I enjoy working out as an aerobics instructor and spending time with my grandson.

Description of seminar:

The Cheetah presentation will feature the latest upgrades that have
been added to SmartCAT over the past year. Another emphasis of the presentation
will be given to the simplicity and ease of using the advanced functions of the program.

Cathy Logan

Instructor, Court Reporting Division – September 1988 to 1998

Assistant to the Academic Dean – September 1979 to April 1982
Chairman, Court Reporting Division – September 1973 to August 1979
Software Trainer, January 1991 to 1998
Responsible for locating and training all software trainers for the Mid-Atlantic Region.

Schedule and plan all advanced training seminars and personally conduct seminars when needed throughout the United States. Personally conduct all training of large accounts within the United States as directed by the National Sales Manager.

Responsible for creating full training of software on CD for client use.

WINNERxp VERSION 10 TRAINING

New Features:

New Features in Version 10
Case Management

Caption Box (Help them create one)
Lookup Tokens/Data Base Creation
EScript
Morphing words
Auto Playback during Global (explain and show where to turn on)
Recover
Page Setup – change current/apply new
Drag/Drop
Misstroke Dictionary
Realtime Change Speakers on Fly (Tokens
Changing dictionaries and preferences during realtime

Julie Samford

Julie Samford somehow passed the Texas CSR exam back in the late ’80s (third time’s a charm) and got her license to become a court reporter. Little did she know that was only the beginning of a wonderful and crazy journey. After reporting for 14 years, she found a new passion, and now she works with reporters instead of attorneys. Not a bad swap!

After all those years of sitting and listening intently, she finally gets to talk, and now they can’t seem to shut her up! Julie has a knack for taking complex technology and breaking it down to a level so that anyone can learn. She loves her career in what she calls “humanizing technology for court reporters.” In many states, Julie is known at as the Eclipse lady, and you may have seen her at conventions promoting the latest in gadgets and goodies. You can find Julie online at www.realtimeready.com.

TOTAL ECLIPSE CAT SOFTWARE TRAINING:

Learn everything you need to know about the most amazing features that Advantage Software has ever come out with, Auto Brief and Translation Magic.

Did you know that now you can just write words phonetically, and they will come out, even if you've never heard of them before and they're not in your dictionary? Yowza! This is not your grandma's phonetic untranslates... it's RIGHT ON! You won't even believe it!

Then there's Auto Brief, which ever-so-politely suggests job dictionary entries while you're in realtime. You know that if they say "herniated nucleus pulposus" once, they're going to say it all day long, right? Might as well go ahead and just write that brief that Total Eclipse suggested for you, and it automatically goes in your job dictionary!

Julie will show you all the new Eclipse features and make sure you understand how to implement them for maximum benefit, as well as some cool tips for backup and audio synchronization.

DigitalCAT certified trainer Carmen Santone is the current National Director of Sales with Stenovations. Prior to full-time employment with Stenovations, Mr. Santone worked as a freelance reporter in the Philadelphia market with both S. Bette Ferguson Reporting and James DeCrescenzo Reporting.

Carmen has vast experience with digitalCAT software, utilizing the software in his employment for three years prior to representing and conducting trainings for the company. In conjunction with the staff at Stenovations, Carmen has retooled the training curriculum/itinerary and conducts both Level I and Level II intensive trainings commensurate with his sales activities.

As of February of 2005, Carmen was appointed Director of Sales but continues to develop and conduct trainings on both a one-on-one and group basis.

TRAINING OUTLINE

Editing Macros

a. Creating Editing Macros

i. Discover the power of stringing together combinations of commands while editing to unlock macros, a powerful, time-saving tool.

b. Recording Editing Macros

i. If you’re having difficulty writing a macro, allow digitalCAT to write it for you. Just hit Record and execute your commands while digitalCAT watches and records every move you make!!

Realtime Macros

a. Understanding Functions of Realtime Macros

i. Now that you’re utilizing macros in the editing phase of transcript production, learn to utilize those same powerful tools while writing a job and save even greater time while editing.

b. Writing Realtime Macros as Dictionary Entries

i. An explanation of writing macros as dictionary entries and the usefulness of doing so.

For a complete description, click here.

Melanie Humphrey-Sonntag has been reporting forever, as an official, freelancer, and firm owner in Wyoming, Colorado, and Illinois -- so far -- and is a principal at Sonntag Reporting Service, Ltd., in Chicagoland.

She started competing in speed contests, where she met her husband, in 1988 and has placed 3rd in NCRA's contest three times and won Colorado and Illinois. Melanie and Alan Brock have entered every NCRA Realtime Contest in history, and she finally qualified on her 7th attempt.

She is constantly on a quest to write faster, shorter, and easier for maximum transcript production. In her spare time, she likes hiking and picnicking, especially in the Black Hills, and spending time with her three grandsons.

Steno Swap

Learn experience-tested shortcuts from your peers in the fabulously interactive and fun seminar to increase your productivity, accuracy and income. Bring your problems, solutions, and notepads

Dave Wynne joined Stenograph in 1986 and has held a variety of senior sales and marketing positions. Dave is currently Senior Vice President of Sales and Education. He has conducted FISH! and other interactive training seminars at NCRA Conventions, STAR conferences, and numerous state conventions. Dave serves on the Angels Committee of the NCR Foundation, served on the NCRA Member Value Proposition Team, is on the 2008 NCRA Convention Committee and the Strategic Advisory Board of Victoria Court Reporting Service

Survival in a Changed Environment
(.15 CEUs)

This is a fun, engaging and highly interactive session built around individual and group decision-making following the crash of your plane in the Sonora Desert. You will choose the items most critical to your survival and then work with other survivors to come to a group decision. It is an excellent metaphor for decision-making in our changing reporting and technological environment.

Kathy DiLorenzo, RDR, CRR, CBC, is Vice President of National Reporter Relations for VITAC Corporation and Merrill Legal Solutions, divisions of Merrill Corporation. Kathy began her reporting career in 1981 as a freelance reporter. After five years, she entered the field of realtime broadcast captioning. She was an active captioner from 1986 to 2001. She also co-authored “Realtime Captioning…The VITAC Way.”

Kathy has presented numerous seminars and workshops on such topics as realtime writing, closed captioning and reporter professionalism for many state court reporting associations, as well as the National Court Reporters Association. In 2002, the Community College of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, recognized Kathy’s educational contributions by naming its state-of-the-art captioning lab in her honor, the DiLorenzo/Weber Captioning Lab.

Kathy was elected to the NCRA Board of Directors in 2002. She is currently serving as President of NCRA.

Marketing: It's Everything BUT an Advertisement
(.15 CEUs)

Court reporters, take note: If you're not marketing yourself, you stand to lose a lot! In today's competitive court reporting industry, and in all environments, the way you market yourself is just as important as the work that you produce. Solidify your position in the marketplace by learning how best to showcase your knowledge, your skills, your dedication, and your professionalism.

Town Hall Session with Kathy DiLorenzo
(.15 CEUs)