Embassy Suites by Hilton Raleigh Durham Airport Brier Creek
8001 Arco Corporate Drive, Raleigh, NC 27617
Total Credits: 1.05 (pending)
Conference Registration Downloadable PDF
2023-2024 Membership Application
7:30 — 8:00 a.m.
8:00 — 9:30 a.m.
(0.15 credits)
Brenda Rogers-Fiscus of the Perfect Partners Transcript Brigade will present a fabulous seminar on punctuation, common sense and clarity, which will include a Jeopardy-type game.
Brenda, a former Oregon CSR, began her reporting career in Portland, Oregon, in 1987. Over the course of her 25-year reporting career, she covered depositions, trials, arbitrations, field Senate hearings, and more. Since relocating to the Midwest in late 2012, Brenda has turned her hand to scoping exclusively in Connection Magic and has presented seminars in Eclipse training and punctuation at various reporting association conferences for the past ten years.
9:30—10:00 a.m.
(Please visit our silent auction!)
10:00 —11:30 a.m.
(0.15 credits)
For this session, Brenda will go into details on how to make your relationships with your scopists and proofreaders work for you.
11:30 a.m. — 12:00 p.m.
12:00 — 1:00 p.m.
(provided at hotel)
1:00 — 2:00 p.m.
(0.10 credits)
Motivation is one of the strong components of success, and knowing how to keep yourself inspired is vital to ensuring the health of your career. Learn how to measure the impact motivation has on your business. Also, learn how to rekindle the spark to deliver the best service possible to your clients as well as potential clients.
Kristin Anderson is the official court reporter for the 481st Judicial District Court, Denton County, Texas. She graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Management and Human Relations in 2012 and with her Master of Arts degree in Organizational Leadership in 2022. Kristin is a Certified Shorthand Reporter in Illinois, Missouri, and Texas and holds the nationally recognized professional certification of Registered Professional Reporter.
Kristin has been a stenographer for 23 years. She is a past chair and vice chair of the National Congress of State Associations (NCSA) and served on that committee in various capacities from 2006 – 2014. She has also served other committees and task forces during her 17 years of volunteer service for the profession at both the national and state level, including two terms as president of the Kansas Court Reporters Association. During her NCRA board service, Anderson has chaired the Board Policy & Procedures Committee as the Association’s Vice President and the Finance and Audit committees during her two years as the Secretary-Treasurer. Prior to becoming President, Kristin served as NCRA’s President-elect.
2:00 — 2:15 p.m.
2:15 — 3:45 p.m.
(0.15 credits)
Court reporters can only capture an accurate record if they know or recognize the words being said. This is particularly difficult in North Carolina where so many different dialects are spoken, each with its own particular words and pronunciations. Professor Wolfram literally wrote the book on how to recognize the various dialects spoken in our state and understand what is said by the individuals who speak them.
Walt Wolfram is William C. Friday Distinguished University Professor at North Carolina State University, where he also directs the North Carolina Language and Life Project. He has pioneered research on social and ethnic dialects since the 1960s and published 24 books, 8 edited collections, and more than 300 articles. Over the last two decades, he and his students have conducted more than 3,500 sociolinguistic interviews with residents of North Carolina and beyond, primarily under funding from the National Science Foundation. In addition to his research interests, Professor Wolfram is particularly interested in the application of sociolinguistic information to the public, as executive producer of 15 television documentaries, the construction of 6 museum exhibits, and the development of innovative formal and informal materials related to language diversity. He has received two Emmy awards for documentaries and numerous other awards.
3:45 — 4:00 p.m.
4:00 — 5:00 p.m.
(0.10 credits)
Have you ever been in the middle of a testimony and found your anxiety rising? Has testimony left you either annoyed or emotional? What about struggling to find a balance between work and family? In this workshop we will discuss ways to tap into our inner peace while in the middle of contentious and sometimes distressing testimony or dealing with a hectic schedule. Renee will share simple methods to take yourself out of the fray and become an observer and not a participant in the chaos, releasing tension and bringing peace back into your life.
Renee is a working, freelance reporter who has over 30 years in the field. As a previous agency owner, she’s seen both sides of the profession. Over the last six years, she began seeking ways to release the tension and bring more peace into her life. She’s trained with Deepack Chopra and is certified in yoga, meditation, and ayurvedic education. She’s also in a pranic healing apprenticeship through Master Stephen Co. Renee is passionate about bringing peace, wellness, and healing to others.
5:15 — 6:00 p.m.
(provided at hotel)
6:00 p.m.
6:45 — 8:30 p.m.
(0.10 credits)
(Tipping tour guide is appreciated – cash only)
This tour will take you on a journey back in time to Raleigh’s most interesting true crime stories and other quirky tales! The stories on the True Crime tour are historical stories that involve crimes, so they are meant to be unique and entertaining stories rather than stories involving crime solving or forensic science.
About Tricia: I love the city of Raleigh, and I especially love the charm of its historic Oakwood neighborhood! I grew up in east central Pennsylvania. As an adult, I lived in Boston for a while, and then moved to Raleigh in February 2001. I have lived just a block outside of the historic Oakwood district for the past 20 years. I have loved walking around Oakwood ever since I moved here, and in 2015, I got the idea that I should share my love for the history and architecture of the neighborhood with others. Two years later, my idea became a reality, and Raleigh Walking Tours was born!
8:30 — 10:00 a.m.
(0.10 credits)
Have you ever wanted to participate in a national and/or international competition? Traci will be joining us to share with us her experience and how to prepare to participate in a speed competition.
Traci Mertens has been a U.S. House of Representatives Court Reporter for the last six years and is an NCRA speed and realtime contest participant and winner. Traci has more than 30 years of experience as a court reporter and has a wealth of knowledge to share with her fellow court reporters..
10:00 — 10:30 a.m.
(Silent auction will end at 10:25 a.m.)
10:30 — 12:00 p.m.
(0.10 credits)
Michele Eddy will present real-time tips for using macros to edit from your steno machine for both Eclipse and CaseCatalyst, tips on using Brief-It/Suggest a Brief, and tips about Boost/AI Live, with a mock demonstration in a deposition setting. Please bring your laptops and steno machines.
Michele has been a freelance court reporter for over 30 years, beginning her career in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1989, after graduation from the Academy of Court Reporting in Cleveland, Ohio. In August 2009, she moved to the D.C./Northern Virginia area. She has been a Certified Realtime Reporter since 2000 and earned the Realtime Systems Administrator Certificate in 2012.
Michele has served in all Board positions of the Ohio Court Reporters Association and is currently the President of the Virginia Court Reporters Association, having previously served as Secretary and Director over the last six years. She chaired the Education Committee and the Lawyers and Paralegals Liaison Committee of VCRA, having conducted A to Z classes and participated in school counsellor and school career day events. She received the Frank G. Tayloe Award by VCRA in March 2015 and the Outstanding Performance and Special Achievement awards in 2003 and 2007, respectively, by OCRA.
Up to June 2020, Michele worked as a high-volume freelance reporter in depositions, trials, or arbitration settings on almost a daily basis, providing interactive real-time, rough drafts, daily copy, or rush transcripts. In 2019, Michele had the privilege of serving as a temporary Reporter of Debates for the U.S. Senate for several weeks, having a part in creating the Congressional Record on a daily basis.
From June 2020 forward, Michele has been working for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as a Verbatim Reporting Officer, covering Board and Committee Meetings remotely and in person, providing real-time, rough drafts and final transcripts that are a part of the final Minutes.
Michele has been using the Eclipse software during her freelance years and CaseCatalyst during her years at the IMF and the Senate. She has taken several training courses from certified trainers and is proficient in using both software programs.