Week 1 Progress

"The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short but in setting our aim too low and achieving our mark." Michelangelo

Brief/phrase progress so far: I've been working my way through the Magnum Steno book, shoveling briefs and phrases into my AnkiDroid flashcard app, and reviewing them daily.  On the job, the phrase enders "these," "those," and "them" are finally starting to come out of my fingers.  (e.g. "for these" = TPORPG, "could those" = KAOFBL)  Saved me a TON of strokes on my last job, an all-day class with a very speedy instructor.  I used a LOT of two-word phrases, which helped me keep up nicely.  And about halfway through the day I realized her voice sounded just like Betty White, and then that's all I could hear.

Speed progress -- actually has been pleasantly surprising.  I've been speeding up the takes to approximately 300 on literary and 350 on testimony, and I'm getting more used to the SOUND of such speedy language.  In fact, there's been a few times where I wondered if I'd forgotten to speed up the dictation, and I did in fact do so.

I'm not GETTING the 300/350 by any means.   HOWEVER, the last part of the daily Magnum Steno video usually includes a 200-word slowdown, where Mark K dictates 200 words a bit slower, times it, and gives you the EXACT speed of the slowdown.  One such testimony slowdown I took did not suck.  Were it an actual test, I didn't "pass" it, but I would have at least turned it in for grading.

I had already sped up the slowdown.  Did the math.  Therefore, the slowdown was 340 wpm.

Holy crap.

It's surprising how much has happened in a single week of ramping up the speed.  Remember, I'm NOT a serial speed contest winner.  I'm NOT amazingly gifted.  I'm a regular Jo Steno foot soldier, and if I can make progress this quickly by just practicing high speeds in bursts of at least three 10-minute sessions a day,* YOU HAVE NO EXCUSE :o)

Will I probably plateau soon?  Maybe. Probably. We'll see.  If I do, I do.  If I don't, COOL!

*I did not practice Saturday because we had a graduation to go to in the early morning and a wedding reception in the evening with a 3.5 hour drive in between.  I also didn't practice this last Friday because I wrote all day, plus we discovered a pipe broken in our plumbing and $2K+ to fix it and AAAAARRRRRRGGGGGHHHH.

The Impossible Goal

The current world record for stenographic court reporting is 360 words per minute of question-and-answer material.

Mark Kislingbury's going to attempt to break his own record within the next year or so.

I've stepped forward to try to break it as well.

Right now I've passed a 270 Q&A at the State contest level, and I've passed the Literary and Legal Opinion portions of the National contest.  I am nowhere NEAR the speed I'd need to be at.  It is utterly absurd to think that I could gain the speed needed in less than a year and a half.  Ridiculous.  The next morning after I put my name in for it, I woke up thinking "OMG WHAT HAVE I DONE????"

But I want to see if it's possible.  I want to see how far I can get.   And if I can gain an insane amount of speed in that short time, others can as well.  Trust me.

Plus I plain need a shot in the arm or a kick in the pants or both.

My regimen so far is at LEAST three times through a Magnum Steno video per day, once in the morning, once before dinner, and once before bed, with hopefully a few more goes throughout normal working hours -- at 300 wpm literary and 350 Q&A.  After the speed contest this year, I'll speed them up past 400.

I'm also shortening the dickens out of my already-short writing.  I'm going through my Magnum Steno book and shoveling entries into my Anki Droid flash card app -- a neat app, mind you -- so I can easily review briefs/phrases every day.  It's amazing how that's worked to get the briefs/phrases into my head so they eventually come out my fingers.  My experience is, the less strokes I take to write something, the less tired I am and the more accurate I write.  Plus it's more fun to do my job when my fingers aren't on fire.

I'm going to blog through my progress as we journey, so stay tuned!

And think on this -- if I can make it happen, so can you.

Why are you in this business?

Since my last entry in November I've been crazy busy, which is good. I did another presentation at TechCon, still focusing on social media, but this time the topic was your general online presence. I believe it went well. Got a few good gigs coming, but here's what I'm thinking about:

Why did you decide to go into this business?

And when I say “this business” I mean whatever business YOU are in, but here I'm focused on the general machine steno profession.

Are you in this business because you want to make money? Are you in this business because you heard it had flexible hours? Are you in this business because you heard that training only took two years to complete and you'd be making six figures? Are you in this business because you heard you'd work with amazing people and hear interesting stories?

Why are you in this business?

Do you love the English language? Do you love converting it to text in the most efficient, accurate way possible? Do you love the record? Do you love knowing that the transcript is an excellent product that accurately represents the proceedings? Do you love hearing your Deaf consumer laugh as he reads your realtime feed of his coworkers BS'ing each other? Do you love knowing that there are dozens of Deaf/HOH persons in the audience who have complete access to the session because you have put in hours of practice and dictionary building?

Or are you just doing this for the paycheck?

Skills Test Nerves

***I'm posting this now and not the week before the next NCRA skills exam, because the time to prepare isn't a week before the test.  The time to prepare is NOW.***





So it took me nine total goes to finally get the CCP skills this May, and here are a couple things that made the difference this last time.

(Note: The last five times I took it, I actually COULD write 180 for accuracy.  So these tips only apply if you've GOT the CHOPS.  The first four times I wasn't ready. The tip there is DON'T TAKE IT IF YOU DON'T HAVE THE CHOPS YET.)

1. Instead of taking the test 30 minutes away from home where I always took it, and seeing familiar faces, and getting swept up in all the bitching ABOUT the test before the test*, I drove 250 miles to the next closest testing site where I didn't know anyone.
1.1: Therefore it was much easier to not get swept up in the negativity.
1.2: I spent money on a (cheap) hotel, gas, meals, and another phone charger since I forgot mine, so you BET I was going to be sure I was prepared this time!!

2. To be SURE I was prepared for the test, I realtimed various literaries with the specific goal of practicing pulling out of tailspins caused by nerves/trailing/thinking too much. What killed me the previous few times was: I'd write along just fine, la dee dah, and make a mistakw -- asterisk -- mistake, and thenn starrt to freeze up adn gt nervus because of ithenasvnskegf;dsjn;asdg;lns;lkasldfalsd.

Like that.

I practiced getting nervous.  Specifically.  If I was writing along at the target speed and felt myself start to slip, GOOD! It's an opportunity to get better at pulling out of a tailspin.

See, I always realized that if I'm writing depos while mentally in la-la land and an atty asked, "Could you read back the last question?" and I had NO CLUE what the question was, I knew I'd NAILED the question perfectly -- punctuation, hyphenation, homophones, everything.

I trained myself to look at a picture of one of my wrestling crushes so I'd slip back into la-la land and stop thinking about the words or my fingers.  As I wrote a practice take, I'd feel myself slipping or thinking -- and then look at him.  Soon it became almost a hypnotic suggestion (heck, I probably DID technically hypnotize myself, but I'm not an expert).  I'd start to slip, look at my picture, and my fingers would take back over the writing.  Just like that.  He's not my current crush anymore, but it still works.


Trust your fingers.

I did take after take, starting with my 180 literaries and working my way up.  I wrote each take imagining this was THE TEST, and I graded them afterwards with extreme prejudice.  I got to where I could do 200 wpm for a couple minutes at accuracy, so I knew I had a cushion.  I finished my 200 wpm takes and thereafter practiced literary at speeds not under 220 wpm.

I brought the picture to the CRR test.  Set up just as if I was doing a regular job.  Didn't visit with others beyond exchanging pleasantries; practiced a few -- just a few, as I tend to test better cold -- minutes of Magnum Steno's 220+ wpm dictation.

The warm-up minute was finished, and the hands started to tremble -- but I took a deep breath and looked at my picture.  I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that I could DO THIS.

Ready? Begin.

*My fellow test-takers, I love you all, but we do get to bitching when we get together. Just sayin'. 

Convention Aftermath 2011

I gave my first continung-education seminar ever on August 1 at the NCRA 2011 Annual Convention in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Downside: It was Sunday morning, and there wasn't a huge crowd.  Upside: It was Sunday morning, and there wasn't a huge crowd.

A good crowd, nonetheless.  Maybe about 20-25 people? I don't know.  Hard to count when you're too busy wondering HOW WAS I GOING TO FINISH THE SENTENCE I JUST STARTED AND WHY DID I JUST PUT THIS GRAPHIC UP OMG I HAVE NO IDEA WHERE DID I LEAVE OFF IN MY NOTES.

It felt exactly like the realtime contest -- plenty of nerves beforehand, plenty of nerves during; however, there were good stretches where I was confident and articulate, and there were also areas where I flubbed and stumbled and dropped.  But, like the realtime contest, it felt ATTAINABLE that in the near future I will be confident and clear all the way through.

And I MUST thank my dear husband Greg for jumping in a time or two with insights here and there.  He's not just my husband and best friend but also my wingmate.  In fact, if I get asked to teach on social media again, we may copresent.

In the months leading up to this session, I did a heck of a lot of research into successful social media marketing.  That research plus my own experience revealed several points in common, which I shared then and share below:

1. Determine your purpose.  And I should've said right after clicking on the slide, "Use the right platform the right way." (I had a funny pic, but I didn't tie it in with the point. Note to self.)   Use each platform according to its natural culture and determine who your target audience is.
2. Add value.  You must bring something to the table, because people OPT-IN to follow you and don't want to be bombarded with ads.
3. Engage with your followers by listening and responding.  People want to CONNECT with you, not be talked at.
4. Be real and consistent.  Post regularly, and don't portray yourself as something you're not.
5. Look at your profile and your interactions through the eyes of your prospective customers.  Would you hire you?  Avoid the text-speak and take down the drunk pictures, at least. Like this one.

Notice also that the cap is still on my borrowed beer.

6. Cross-pollinate and direct everything back to your blog or website.  If you update content on one platform, post on ALL platforms that it is updated.
7. Take the relationship offline.  Handwrite thank-you notes.  Meet up (in public).  Don't wait for someone to contact you first.
8. Be patient.  This is like gardening; it takes time, patience, and consistent effort.
9. Embrace opportunity! The fear of success can be just as damaging as the fear of failure.  Have a plan.

There.  And it didn't take me 90 minutes to say!

Afterward, Greg and I headed to La Creperie or however you spelled it for a light--LIGHT--lunch.  My stomach was still deciding whether or not to accept food.  We ate and deconstructed the seminar, so it will be better next time.  Next time?  I hope so.

Guide for NCRA National Convention Newbies

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I GOT MY CRR AND CCP!! WOOOOOOOT!

Now, back to the blog.

The first time I stepped into an NCRA National Convention exhibit hall was in 2008 at Anaheim, CA.  I was completely overwhelmed by all the court reporting action that was going on.  I remember on the plane home my brain was so full of new information and new friends I could barely read or even rest.

I highly HIGHLY recommend you go to a National Convention if you've never done so.   If it's your first time, here are some tips:

These first three tips are for us nerds, because we like things to be written down and listed.
Convention can be like going to a grocery store.  Look through the convention brochure and make a list--yes, a list--of information you want, while you're there take copious notes, and review them a bit at a time after you get home.
Make a list of books/products you want to buy, because you'll score good deals.  Especially if you hit up the booths before they close on Saturday!
Make a list of PEOPLE YOU WANT TO MEET.
The heros you look up to are Actual People.  Talk to them and pick their brains if you have the opportunity.
Mingle like crazy.
Go to all the sessions no matter HOW hungover you are.
Go to the Saturday night party and hang out with your new friends.
There will be drunk people there. Try not to be one of them.  We're all Facebook friends now, and pictures have a way of getting uploaded and tagged.  It can take a while to live down.  No, I'm not going to name names...but I COULD.
The Sunday morning sessions will be filled with everyone's luggage.  You may bring yours too. It makes for a good footrest.
Come to my session, "Social Media for CART Providers," on Sunday morning!  What I will teach will apply even if you're not into CART. Bring your smartphone or notebook computer and start building your online network RIGHT THERE!
Follow up with your new friends a few weeks afterwards.

Convention veterans, what are some other good tips?  Anyone going to the Annual Convention for the first time this year?

July 31, 2011, 10:15 am

That's the official time for the seminar I'm doing at the NCRA 2011 Annual Convention, which has been titled "Social Media for CART Providers."  I'll be talking about using social media as your marketing strategy -- and in my case, social media IS my marketing strategy.

I've got lots of tips to share which will apply not just to CART providers, but anyone wanting to grow their business.  Feel free to join us, even if you're not a CART provider.  I've got so many ideas and tips that I don't know if 90 minutes will be enough!

But I'm stuck on one thing:  the "brief biographical sketch" I need to submit by June 1.  This is hard to write!  Third-person writing is not my forte, but I do what I must For The Children For The Profession.

What street cred must one have to be considered a social media expert? I am more knowledgable than most on how Facebook/Twitter/LinkedIn works, but NCRA hasn't developed a "Facebook" certification.

I've got my RMR and quite possibly the CCP (skills tests results pending); I'm a member of my state's membership committee and NCRA's online social media committee.  I've listed those.

I'll think of something.  You'll have to come to Vegas on July 31st to see what I end up writing.  See you in two months!