On October 2, 2009, I traveled to Hood River, Oregon, to attend the Fall Convention sponsored by the Idaho, Oregon ORCRA, and Washington Court Reporters’ Associations WCRA. The Convention began Friday, October 2, 2009, and ended on Sunday, October 4, 2009. Well over 100 court reporters and students attended the convention from the three states.

As you know, part of being a great court reporter is being knowledgeable of as many different professions and their associated terminology and lingo as possible. Topics covered were: projects and highlights in which the American Red Cross participates; current issues relative to court reporting presented by the National Court Reporters Association; high-tech depositions and courtroom presentations with transcript integration; emergency medicine and survival skills; the importance of participating in community service projects; networking with distinction; real world transcripts and video productions; collection of bad debts, and Twitter applications in the legal field.

Highlights of the convention for me were as follows:

I enjoyed meeting and networking with many court reporters from other communities. Being new in the federal system, I especially was excited to meet two other federal officials from the Spokane area, Ronelle Corbey and Lynette Walters, with whom I can communicate about issues and questions regarding federal court reporting. I plan on touching base with them the next time I attend court in Coeur d’Alene.

Presentations by Chris Hazelman of Prolumina and Cody Malone covering litigation support technology — everything from transcript and video integration applications in depositions and the courtroom to videoconferencing, livestreaming realtime, technological equipment hardware and software needs and setup. The information presented gave me a better overall and in-depth understanding of how these services are used in conjunction with each other and the benefits they provide to attorneys and their clients. I can apply this knowledge directly to providing and assisting the court and litigants with up-to-date software and technology, transcription, and realtime services.

Attorney Steve Crandall, founder of Promotion Litigation Services, gave an overview of Twitter, what it is, how people are using it, its impact on business and marketing strategies, and its economic benefit to users. It was surprising to me to learn how mainstream Twitter is becoming in the business world. There is even a Tweetlaw for legal professionals.

Needless to say, my dictionary now contains such “Twerminology” as “Tweeple,” people; “Retweet,” forwarding a Tweet; “Tweeps,” peeps short for people; “Twittiquet," Twitter etiquette.  The trend continues with “Twitteryberry,” “Twemendous,” “Twibes,” “Twellow” (like the Yellow pages), and so on.  Seems so silly for such a business social media.  What fun!

NCRA Director Judy Lehman highlighted NCRA’s current programs, the certifications they offer, and legislative issues including funding for realtime education to assist in providing captioning services under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Judy initiated group discussion with the audience members about court reporting issues in their daily professional lives to brainstorm about ideas and resources to deal constructively with problems.

NCRA offers a few new certifications. Personally, I am particularly interested in the Realtime Services Administrator certification which entails a one-and-a-half day, in-depth workshop covering realtime setup, troubleshooting, connections, software, and hardware. This workshop is given twice a year at NCRA’s Midyear Conference and Annual Conference. I think this workshop would provide me with additional tools to promote and provide valuable realtime services to the court, court staff, and litigants in an easy, user-friendly manner.

On a personal level, I am reminded how essential it is in our lives and our communities to give back to our professions in ways that best utilize our talents in assisting others. Thank you, American Red Cross volunteers for helping victims of disaster. Thank you, Dr. Van Tilburg and the Crag Rats, for rescuing citizens in the wilderness. Thank you, ORCRA, WCRA, and fellow court reporters and sponsors, for giving your time and finances to put on excellent, professional, educational events such as this one.

ICRA members Nicole Omsberg, Dianne Cromwell, Kathy Klemetson, Patty Terry, Cindy Lett, Anita Self, and Ronelle Corbey also attended the conference.  Yay, Idaho!

Nicole and Kasey man the Idaho booth!

I was very much looking forward to hearing Fourth Judicial District Judge Ronald Wilper speak about the Oral History Project sponsored by the Idaho Legal Historical Society.  Unfortunately, he was unable to attend.

Ronelle Corbey won the apple pie contest and gave a glowing acceptance speech.  What a hoot!

Not only was this conference very informative and interesting, but the mountain scenery, dinner banquet, apple pie contest, live auction, and live entertainment made it a blast! Attending this seminar gave me renewed excitement and pride in my profession.

Tamara I. Hohenleitner, CSR, RPR, CRR, FCRR

Official Court Reporter

Photographs taken by Lloyd Mutinsky  (541)367-3548