The Steno Life
August, 2004

Our membership passed the 800 mark last week! When we hit 1,000, I'm buying drinks for everyone! Oh, wait...I can't afford that and some of you don't drink. Never mind. Some of you have asked how you can help with the site and that's very kind of you. But I'm not looking for donations - this is my way of chipping in. If you want to contribute an article, please email me at marc@stenolife.com.

If you really want to help, take a look at the new Steno Game we're offering - Name Droppers. Proceeds from that will help cover the costs of this site. Buy them for yourself. Buy them as gifts. Nothing says "I love you" like a steno game! More info in article 4.

Articles in this issue -

1 - "Who is to Blame?"
2 - "Speed Bumps on the Speedbuilding Road"
3 - "Sitting Next to the Speed Champ"
4 - "Name Droppers - New Steno Game!"
5 - "The RPR Exam is Coming!"
6 - "SimplySteno Online Program Update"

Who is to Blame? (back to top)

There was a time when things were very different. There were close to 100 CR schools, and each school had 100's of students. The graduation rate was higher and the time to graduate was shorter. Now, I'm not talking about very long ago - I'm talking about 15-20 years ago.

Now, there are less than half as many schools with half as many students in each one. The graduation rate is lower and the time to graduate is longer. So what happened? I haven't done any studies - frankly, I don't have the time - but I do have some thoughts. Don't I always : )

Business - Bad business is the reason for current low enrollment (hence school closings) - After years of selling court reporting as a 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 year program, only to have students graduate in 5 or 7, I believe court reporting schools have, fairly, received a black eye in the eyes of many prospective students. 20 years ago the business was flourishing with many students bringing their friends on board. How many students who have been in school for a bit would do that now? "Yeah, I've been in school for 2 years past what they said - join me!" Low enrollment means schools close.

Teaching - There's a difference between "teaching" and "existing." Granted, I have not visited every CR school, and the one you attend may be fantabuloustic (that's a word I just invented). But the general impression I get is that schools and teachers used to be much more structured and take a more active approach. Yes, you may have your classes now - writing, testing, transcribing. But are you being helped? Are your problems being identified and answers being provided? Are you getting 1-on-1 attention? Do you have to fall out of your seat and tremble in a little ball before you're approached by anyone on the faculty? I think schools and teachers have become lazy, for the most part. Again, this isn't all of them, so don't write me and tell me yours is different - I believe you.

Students - Is it possible that students have changed? Sure. For one thing, 20 years ago there were far fewer ways to communicate - phones and in person. Today we have cell phones, Internet, fax machines, pagers...too many ways. Life has become more social. And while that may be great in the broader sense, it's not good for students. There are too many distractions. Court reporting no longer takes center stage, it becomes a sideline activity along with many other things. And I think we all know that court reporting is not something that can be taken lightly. It's a monster that consumes everything in its path.

But I DO NOT simply blame students for the lackadaisical approach that many of them take. The Admissions Dept. does not stress at the start what they are in for. Every admissions rep should start with "If you're not willing to devote yourself to this 100%, don't bother." Not gonna happen : ) Beyond that, students are not being held accountable once they are in school. Whether it's a teacher or the Director of Education or the guy who vacuums the floors at night, someone has to stand over that student's shoulder and make sure they're doing what they need to. Some people don't function if there is no consequence. It's sad, but true.

On a personal note, the program I teach at just announced they will be closing February 6, 2006. Since I started in this field, the school has been through 5 owners - this one is going to be the last. It's been predominantly a computer school for the past few years with our little program teaching out students. The rest of the programs will be staying open. So we have another 18 months to graduate the 15 remaining students. I look forward to the challenge.

Speed Bumps on the Speedbuilding Road (back to top)

Many students find themselves cruising along the speedbuilding highway, when all of a sudden, BLAM!!! What was that they hit? 120? 170? It's a common occurrence. It's one thing to build speed. That's a tough thing to do - to simply become more proficient at something. It's another thing to encounter an obstacle.

The first real speed bump usually comes at between 100 and 130. Up to that point you were able to hear the word, decipher it in your brain, then send those results to your fingers. They would then execute the stroke. But at these new speeds, the time to decipher those strokes is shortened. If you tried to decipher each word individually, you wouldn't be going nearly as fast as you need to. At this point you need to rely on some brain/finger reflex. Your fingers have to instinctively know how to write out some words without having the brain decode them first.

It's just like when you were a child. When you first started to read you had to sound out each letter to form the word. Then, at some point, usually around 6 or 7, you started to recognize whole words. You cut the process time down and your reading speed jumped. That's the first speed bump that many of you have to get over.

That new trick of instant brain/finger reaction will carry you far. Usually it will get you to the second speed bump - 160 to 180. At those speeds you can no longer get by with mediocre reflex. Your brain now has to be a machine that intakes information and spits it back out without pause. You now have to rely on brain/finger reflex to pass speeds. You can't get away with picturing that outline in your head - it has to be automatic.

I'm not offering solutions here - that's not the point of this article. I just wanted to let you know that you're not alone, and there's a logical reason to what may be happening to you. Constructive, accurate practice will remove those speed bumps from your road to success!

Sitting Next to the Speed Champ (back to top)

By Candis Bradshaw

Mark Kislingbury and I have known each other for about two and a half years and have developed quite a friendship. About a month before the NCRA convention, Mark had asked me to “help” him during the business meeting. He asked for my help to find spellings of names as people came up to the microphone. I thought the experience would be fun, so I agreed. I had never been to an NCRA business meeting, and I had heard they were pretty dull and boring. That was definitely not true of this particular one.

The meeting was to start at 2:00 p.m. When I showed up at 12:45, Mark was already there testing the internet connection for the realtime to the internet. We spent the next hour testing how I would edit in his realtime file and deciding which speaker IDs should be used. About 10 minutes before the business meeting was to start, Mark got a virus which totally shut his computer down. Just about 2:00, we reestablished a dialup connection and just prayed that the virus would not shut down his computer again (which it did not).

At the very beginning of the meeting, Mark and I were still jittery from the virus. But after the first 20 minutes or so passed, he really got “in the zone.” He wasn’t dropping at all. Very occasionally he would misstroke something, but he has macros to fix untranslates. In addition to fixing spellings of names in his realtime file, I would occasionally edit untranslates, punctuation, and mistranslates. But the most challenging part was finding the correct spellings of names and correcting them quickly while he was continuing to realtime.

About halfway through the meeting, Woody Waga (a former NCRA president and frequent speed contest dictator) got up to speak. I have never heard anyone live speak so fast. Mark did extremely well until Mr. Waga said a French word. Instead of dropping, Mark tried to get the word correctly. But otherwise he nailed the speech and the rest of the business meeting. That meeting was probably the most grueling business meeting in NCRA history, and I was amazed at how well Mark did. I did learn some lessons that day that I will always take with me:

1. If the worst happens, keep a level head. Everything will work out. Never feel defeated by anything. Always try and conquer, no matter what it takes.

2. Drop words you struggle with rather than trying to get them down correctly (that is, unless the speed is slow and you can carry. In Mark’s case, I would guess Mr. Waga was speaking somewhere around 280-300 WPM, and he didn’t have time to carry.)

3. Learn some seated back stretches for those long meetings.

I was very honored, to say the least, to help Mark out.

Name Droppers - New Steno Game! (back to top)

Finally, after billions of dollars spent and at the cost of many lives, we have our first Steno Game! Well...no one actually died. But I did get a sprained finger testing it out. And maybe "billions" is exaggerating a little. We'll go with millions.

Name Droppers is a game that you install on your computer - hook up your CAT software - then play.

The year is 2089. A group of court reporting students is on their way to the NCRA convention on the moon. But just as their space bus hits 4,000 feet, the back door opens and they all come tumbling out!

Now it's up to ground control (YOU!) to snatch each student from the sky with your steno guidance control system and help them to safety.

Yes, that's the best story I could come up with - you have a better one?!

Basically, you spell each name as it comes down. You have to spell all the names before they hit the water. There are 10 speeds from very slow to very fast. And your scores and percentages are given to you at the end. Maybe the best part - you get to make up your own word lists to spell! Some will come pre-loaded with the game, but you can make more on your own.

Let me say one more thing - this IS NOT like a game you would get from a computer store. It's nothing fancy. There may even be a typo or two in the instructions. I made this myself - what do you want from me! Before this, I knew nothing about programming. But it does work and it does let you work on your spellings - that's what matters. If you don't think so, I'll refund your money.

It comes with instructions for use with caseCATalyst4 (StenoKeys) and Eclipse. I'm sure it works with other CAT programs that have word processor capabilities, but I failed to get that exact info - I tried, but emails were never returned : )

Below is an image from the game. The game is only $11.95 (that includes shipping). To order, go to THIS LINK!

The RPR Exam is Coming! (back to top)

Yep, it's just around the corner. If you are looking for a great way to prepare, check out one of our sister-sites, www.RPRPrep.com. They are offering a discount on their prep programs for the rest of August. Prices go back up in September, so take advantage now!

SimplySteno Online Program Update! (back to top)

Would I dare plug my own site?! Umm...yes. We opened the SimplySteno program June 1st and I'm very pleased with the progress our students have made. If any prospective students would like to chat with any students in our program, just let me know and I'll put you in touch with them. I'm sure they'd love to share their experiences with you.

Thanks!
Marc Greenberg

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