Courses
REALTIME IS YOUR FUTURE
By Dorothy McGrath and Breck Record
Bring your court reporting equipment and realtime cables. Reporters will be introduced to the relevance of realtime to their future. You will be shown how to set up the perfect realtime kit, how to protect equipment, and how to offer a realtime connection guarantee. Attendees will install the latest technology on their computers and will troubleshoot any problems encountered. You will also learn the obstacles you may face with the attorney’s computer when trying to establish a connection.
COURTROOM TECHNOLOGY
By Fred Lederer
The Center for Legal and Court Technology exists to learn how technology can best assist the courts, lawyers, law firms, and government legal agencies in the pursuit of justice. It is designed to permit trials with multiple remote appearances, electronically presented evidence, and web-published court records.
The Courtroom has a wide variety of differing technologies, including all available major court record systems, evidence presentation technologies, assistive and foreign language interpretation technologies and critical infrastructure technologies.
Presentations customarily include specific hardware and software demonstrations, as well as discussion of the legal and pragmatic implications of use of the given technologies.
DIGITAL WORKFLOW
By Tom Eckert and Joe Winner
COURT REPORTING WORKFLOW
Analog voice to digital audio file. Learn the process and dynamics involved in converting the sound waves created by voice into digital 1s and 0s.
A SOUND VOCABULARY
Discussion of a glossary of terms to identify the quality, sixe, and other discreet attributes of the digital voice files. Topics discussed include compression of files, file formats, and header records and file conversion.
DIGITAL VOICE RECORDERS
An overview of the variety of voice capture devices on the market with particular attention to the features , advantages, and benefits of various manufacturers. Topics to include external microphones, readback and rewind features, work types, index, and comment fields.
STORAGE AND TRANSMISSION
Learn how to transmit digital files via internet FTP and e-mail, learn tips and tricks to maintain a useable voice archive, as well as security and authenticity.
TRANSCRIPTION WITH FOOT PEDAL CONTROL
Become familiar with management, playback, and archiving of digital files. Topics will include XML data format, benefits of 4 channel recording, book marks, text expanders, and metadata.
AUDIO INGENUITY
By Dorraine Stanley
MICROPHONES
Discover the differences in microphones―dynamic, condenser, phantom power, omnidirectional and unidirectional―and which is best suited for your environment. Learn what to look for when shopping for a microphone, as well as expand your knowledge of splitters, adapters, and mono versus stereo. Audio of various microphones will be played for sound quality comparisons at distances of 1, 5, 10, and 20 feet.
RECORDING DEVICES
Learn the varieties of recorders―analog and digital, primary and backup―and compare their functions, features, and costs. Convert your stereo backup recorder to 2-track, learn about mixers, sampling rates, file extensions and how to convert them, as well as what equipment is required to gain a clear recording of telephone depositions.
RADIO FREQUENCY INTERFERENCE
Is cell phone interference making its way into your audio recording? Are your cables shielded? Gain an understanding of radio frequency interference (RFI), what causes it and how to combat it.
ARE YOU READY FOR REALTIME?
By Richard Ballard
Intermediate speech recognition.
REQUIREMENTS
History, Mindset, Training, Tenure, $$, Mask Technology, Setup Requirement, Salary Expectation.
SOFTWARE
VocEdit, Audioscribe, ProCat WinnerVR, Eclipse Advantage, StenoGraph, Ultech, Stenoscribe, ViaVoice, Dragon.
EQUIPMENT
Portable Computer, External Microphone, Denoto, Equipment Set-up, Back-up CD, USB Andrea
Table.
MAINTENANCE
Dedicated Computer, MSCONFIG, Defrag, 10-steps of Computer Maintenance,
THEORY
Steno Theory, Macro Creation, Examples of Macros, Visualize Grammar, When is Realtime realtime.
REALTIME IS A SPECIALTY
By Mary Ann Payonk
FIRST, WHY STRIVE FOR REALTIME AT ALL?
• Who benefits FIRST from realtime? (Answer: The reporter, always.)
• How adopting realtime principles will make your job easier, your work product better.
• So if "the way we've always done things" has worked so well for us for so many years, why do
something that's extremely stressful and requires a great deal of training and skill?
• The benefits for reporters in setting their sights on realtime.
GETTING GOOD AT REALTIME
• What IS "good realtime"? (A simple test: Would you pay for your OWN realtime?)
• Tricks of your trade (Voice and machine are similar).
• Important: It's a matter of CONTROL; THEM, not you!
• Can we REALLY get them to care about the record? Yes. And realtime puts it right in front of them!
NOW THAT YOU’RE GOOD AT REALTIME
• Commoditization and other dangerous trends: What's one to do?
• Who is your competition? Narrow the field by specializing in realtime.
• Stop leaving money on the table (have extra equipment).
• Reporters who specialize work smarter, not harder.
• Experts in any field never stop learning and getting better.
• Even in the world of realtime, there are levels of greatness. Aim for the top.
MARKETING YOUR SERVICES
• First: You must have something to sell. Is your realtime good enough to SELL?
• It's not what you SAY you can do, it's what you CAN do (deliver on the promise).
• Great expectations: Why you MUST keep your promises to your clients.
• "I can do something they can't!" Why specialization in a niche market is a great business plan.
• With excellent realtime skills, you compete on quality, not price.
• Let's change our vocabulary, from "LiveNote' to "realtime", from "dirty disk" to "rough draft".
EDUCATING YOUR CLIENTS
• Don't "sell" realtime; use realtime to educate your clients.
• How effective use of realtime will give an attorney "the edge" over his competition.
• Why command of technology is critical in litigation, especially when THE OTHER SIDE is using
every available technology to their best advantage.
• YOU must be able to give them a quick tutorial on realtime browsing software.
• LiveNote is just one of many choices for realtime browsing software, some which are absolutely
f-r-e-e.
• How to schedule realtime to ensure an excellent reporter.
• Responsible Realtime: Why using realtime can be more cost-effective than rough drafts or
expedited transcripts.
• Why quality matters when it comes to realtime.
THE FUTURE
• Don't speak too soon! You'll be amazed at some predictions of the past that have since proved to
be very, very wrong. M.A. has said, I'll NEVER use a computer! I'll NEVER be able to edit from the
writer! I could NEVER do realtime! I'll NEVER let someone watch me write!
• The future is up to YOU!