Articles in this issue -
1 - "The Relativity of Theory"
2 - "Briefs Contest! - Steno Machine Prize and More!"
3 - "Never Take a 5-Minute Test!"
4 - "StenoBay.com Relaunch!"
5 - "April Insanity!"
6 - "The Mp3 Tool You've Been Looking For - Free!"
The
Relativity of Theory (back
to top)
In the 10 years that I've been in this field, I don't ever remember there being as much discussion about theory as there is right now. Shorter theories. Faster theories. Older theories. Specific theories. It seems that everyone has a theory these days! And I get at least 3 emails a week asking what theory I suggest (for the record, I stay out of it). So I've rounded up 3 leaders in the theory game to answer questions posed by students (and I threw in a couple). All 3 were asked the same questions. Here are our virtual panelists. To go to their interview, just click on the READ THE INTERVIEW link after their bio. Enjoy!
Mark Kislingbury - I've been a court reporter for 22 years; the last eight years I've also been a captioner, and the last four years done almost no reporting, mostly captioning and instant transcripts, as well as teaching seminars all around the country. I wrote a book in 2001 for those aspiring be the best they can be at realtime, entitled "My System: The Road to Realtime Excellence." In 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002 I won the NCRA Realtime Contest, and in 2001 and 2002 also won the NCRA Speed Contest -- truly blessings from God. In July 2004, I set a world record for shorthand speed at the NCRA convention by writing a Q&A for one minute at 360wpm, transcribing it at 97.22% accuracy. In 2004 I started StenoMaster, Inc., with Jeniffer Aloysius, for the purpose of making a textbook out of my theory, called the StenoMaster Theory, and to sell other products, services, teletrainings, and seminars for the benefit of the court reporting profession. I believe that my short theory as well as my method of speed building have been crucial to the above successes, and I'd like to share what I've learned with others. READ THE INTERVIEW
Carol Jochim - My name is Carol Jochim. I’ve been involved with machine shorthand for 30-plus years as a transcriber, student, notereader, scopist, reporter, teacher, school owner, owner-operator of a computer-aided transcription company, consultant to vendors and schools, author of training materials, and lastly I’m the author of Phoenix Theory (carol@phoenixtheory.com). READ THE INTERVIEW
Linda Bland - I have
been a professional, realtime reporter for over 25 years. I completed my training
in five months, teaching myself a theory during two months of that period
of time while I worked full time as a legal secretary, and then I attended
a school for three months to build my speed. Since I was partially self-trained
and the school was not accredited nor NCRA-approved, it was important to me
to prove my abilities. So I passed the Texas, Illinois and Tennessee CSR examinations,
the RPR twice, and the RMR examination as well. I previously owned an accredited,
NCRA-approved school, and I am a CPE, Certified Program Evaluator, for the
NCRA which means I serve on teams for them that evaluate court reporting schools
to see if their programs meet the NCRA's requirements to be an NCRA-approved
school. I combined the structure of the accredited, NCRA-approved school I
previously owned, with the method I trained, which was being partially self-taught
and attending a school for three months that allowed me to progress at my
own rate of speed, and developed CRAH to allow students the luxury of training
from home as quickly as possible based upon their own personal skills and
the number of hours they could practice each day. READ THE
INTERVIEW
Briefs
Contest! (back
to top)
It's that time again - a briefs contest! In the past 3 months we've had over 14,000 brief requests for words and phrases that we DO NOT have in our database. Of those, only about 9,000 were spelled correctly : ( That means I had to weed out 3,000 brief requests. My eyes look like radishes. Okay, enough with the guilt.
First let me talk about the prizes! The first prize is going to be a Stentura 200 SRT!!! This is a machine that I've had in storage for a long time - it was rarely ever used. Still, it's going to be completely cleaned up and given an overhaul by StenoDoctor.com! They have been generous enough to donate their services, to put this machine in tip-top shape! Do yourself a favor and take care of your machine - check out StenoDoctor.com.
But we have so many more great prizes! The fine people at CourtReportingHelp.com are taking care of you in a big way. They have agreed to give away several of their great CD's. Drills - mp3 files - all kinds of goodies can be found at CourtReportingHelp.com - check it out!
And we have a new sponsor as well - StenoNoteStand.com. They are donating several very cool steno note stands that you're all going to want : ) Why just set your paper notes on a flimsy sheet of metal? Now you can do it in style with these sleek paper holders. Check out StenoNoteStand.com and you'll see what I mean - everyone is going to want one of these.
Okay, now that you know what's at stake, here's how it works. Every Tuesday, for 4 weeks, I will post lists of briefs on the Message Board- under "Briefs Contest." The lists have been broken down, but they are in no particular order. Your job, should you choose to accept it, is to go through the lists and reply in the forum with as many good briefs as you can to the words and phrases. Check out the suggested briefs that have already been posted (if any) for those words, because once a brief suggestion is posted, I don't want you to post the same exact one again. If you have a DIFFERENT brief suggestion for a particular word or phrase, that's great - put in down there. But no duplicate suggestions.
Every brief suggestion you make will count as an entry into the contest. If you suggest 200 new briefs, that's 200 entries. All the entries will then be put into a hat (a virtual hat) and winners will be selected. One stipulation - the winner of the Stentura 200 SRT must currently be using an older, manual machine. I want someone to be able to use this machine, not sell it on Ebay...I mean StenoBay ; )
Winners will be announced at the end of April. Emails will be sent out as the new lists are posted - that's 3 more times after today. The first group has already been posted, so what are you waiting for - start briefing! And check out the wonderful people donating these prizes.
Never Take a 5-Minute Test! (back
to top)
Umm...Marc...aren't most tests 5 minutes long? Well, yes and no. Let me explain. I grade somewhere between 250 and 350 tests every month. When you grade that many tests, you see patterns. One of the most consistent patterns is that of the strong 1st minute with a steady decline as the test continues on. Often, there's a bit of recovery during the 4th minute, but the 1st minute is where the action is! If all tests were to be graded based upon the first minute, most of you would be moving up in speed tomorrow. Alas...
There are obvious reasons for the 1st-minute accuracy. When you start off, you're not trailing. So you're working with a clean slate in your word memory. You're more focused during the first minute because you're not thinking, "I'm not getting this test" or "I'm getting this test." As tests go on, you start to lose focus more and more - until you sometimes snap back into place - somewhere around minute 3 or 4.
So rather than worry about a 5-minute test, why not start thinking in terms of 5, 1-minute tests. When you practice, place a watch or stopwatch in front of you - if you have a 1-minute timer, that's even better. When you start writing every 5-minute dictation, make note of when the first minute goes by. Take a half a second to take a big breath and exhale. That's your cleansing breath that tells you it's time to start a new test. Even if you drop 2 or 3 words during that pause, if you can get into that first-minute mind set again, it will be worth it. It's a whole new test!
Is this just a trick you're playing on your mind? Yes. But that's a big portion of this game. Many times it's not about your ability to write - it's about letting your mind allow you to have the ability to write. And if it works, you've found a way to pass 5 tests instead of 1!
Stenobay.com Relaunch! (back to top)
For those of you who don't know, StenoBay.com is essentially Ebay, but it's targeted solely to court reporting and medical transcription items. I launched it in November, but didn't have time to properly promote and work it. As a result, it kind of died : ( That's what happens when you rush into something without thinking it through.
But I still believe in the site and I'm going to give it one more try! I mean why would buyers and sellers use Ebay, when they can use StenoBay.com for FREE?! More traffic on Ebay? More bidding? More items? Okay, it was kind a rhetorical question. But the fact is that StenoBay.com is 100% FREE for both sellers and buyers to use, and I have no intentions of changing that. So post the CR items you don't need any longer and get cash! Take a look on the site and find those CR items you've been looking for at great prices!
I've started the ball rolling by posting over 40 items that I sell on my other sites - 4-Voice dictation DVD's, CSR Programs, Finger Drill Books, Carpal Tunnel Pillows - all at discounted prices. Others have posted items as well, including StenoNoteStand.com. So head on over and check it out!
April Insanity ! (back to top)
Tired of March Madness? How about April Insanity?! Every April I run specials on a few of my sites. First off, I have many of my items posted at StenoBay.com for much less than on the websites - so check it out. Second, if you place any 12-week order on SpeedBuilders.com from now until the end of April, you'll get an extra 2 weeks of dictation for FREE! That includes the free Names and Numbers you already get with that. Third, join our SimplySteno.com program before the end of April and you'll get $100 off your starting fees! Now that's a chunk of change.
The Mp3 Tool You've Been Looking For! (back to top)
There's been a lot of talk going around lately about using Enounce and other such programs to speed up and slow down mp3 dictation. Well, my plan was to make a program like that myself...until a student of mine crushed my dreams by informing me there was already a good one out there...and it's FREE!!! So I pulled myself up off the floor and checked it out. And she was right - it's an awesome program.
The player is WinAmp, and you can download it here. It's your basic mp3 player, although it has a lot of gadgets and levers you'll never use ; ) After you've installed it, download the PaceMaker plugin from here.
Open your WinAmp and go to Options - Preferences - Plugins - DSP/Effect - and make sure the plugin is activated. Next time you play an mp3 file, a window with 3 sliders will come up. That will allow you to speed up and slow down your dictations up to 100%! And the voice distortion is minimal. So check it out and let them know that Marc sent you...but only because Stacy told him about it.
Thanks!
Marc Greenberg
StenoLife.com
SimplySteno.com
StenoBay.com
SpeedBuilders.com
RPRPrep.com
CSRPrep.com