Guarding the Record Against Misinformation

Came across some commentary that I’ll call a smooth sales pitch by Steve Townsend, co-founder of AAERT. He correctly points out that the steno shortage has been widely reported, but goes on to draw a number of inferences and conclusions that I find remarkably questionable. There is the claim that steno schools are closing, graduation numbers are dropping, and interest in the career is very low. You can trust him, because he backs that up by saying this is all true.

Well, maybe a few years ago, we could’ve agreed. But this was written August 6, 2019, when stenography is headed back into a steep incline. Programs are picking up stenography. Established programs like Plaza College are creating more awareness through newsworthy events like the court reporting symposium. Several stenographic initiatives have drummed up support and interest for this wonderful field. Just to name a few, NCRA’s A to Z program, Open Steno, Stenotrain, and Project Steno. There are stenographers all around the country asking their local college programs to consider beginning a stenographic course, and interest in the field is ramping up.

Court reporting firms across the country are sticking with steno wherever and whenever it’s available. It’s no surprise that stenography is the desired method because we are four to five times more efficient than the average typist, and have some heavyweight software companies on our team. From advanced note analytics, like CaseCAT’s steno x-ray, to Eclipse’s translation magic, a single modern stenographer has the tools and capability to match the production of multiple transcribers. It was true back in 1972 when stenographers performed with a higher degree of accuracy when tested against audio, and that hasn’t changed. The FJC had all this data back then, and has had the data through the present, and yet somehow the district courts still use many stenographers. Reality tells us we are the superior choice when it comes to quality and cost. Townsend’s great argument, that years ago they said that they could record the court with appropriate management, is a far cry from providing the very best service available to the legal community. If there was a modicum of honesty, Townsend would tell lawyers looking for stenographers to go look in the NCRA Sourcebook. If the shortage is so severe that “soon” there won’t be stenographers, that’s no threat to his business.

There’s just nothing to match the institutional knowledge and commitment we have with regard to preserving the record. AAERT’s fabled Best Practices Guide hides behind a paywall. In stark contrast, our NCRA, the National Court Reporters Association, has publicly maintained its advisory opinions and continues to foster transparency and consumer awareness. It’s entirely open to public scrutiny. Who benefits? The consumer. The lawyers, litigants, and judges we serve every day.

Some easy math will tell you we are a ways off from not seeing stenographers at depositions. The Ducker Report told us about 70 percent of the court reporting field was freelance. That means that you’ll stop seeing stenographers in court long before you’ll see an end to them at depositions — and that’s assuming all the steno projects and programs I mentioned in the beginning fail. That’s assuming that every recruitment effort we’ll make as an industry in the next decade does nothing.

Now add on top of that the fact that if we’re inputting words at 225 wpm and the average typist is getting 40 or 50, you need 5 of them to replace every one of us. Even an exceptional typist at 100 words per minute — and having thousands of such exceptional typists — would mean requiring two transcribers for every single stenographer today. If anybody thinks there’s a problem getting transcripts today, just wait for the future promulgated by AAERT, millions of cases with no one to transcribe. As long as they can sell their equipment, they’re good. The transcript and the legal process is, at best, an afterthought.

I’ve reached out to Legal Tech News about possibly writing a commentary on why stenography is the best tech to protect the record. We’ll see if that pans out. But let this serve as a reminder not to let these folks demoralize you. They have a lot of money riding on most of us staying quiet and letting their voice dictate what is accurate. In reality, the gentlest glance at their arguments reveals a fragile facade. This is all true.

August 12, 2019 Update:

Eric Allen, ASSCR President, got his own commentary published on Law.com. This is precisely what I meant in terms of us actively participating in the conversation.

Combination Banking

Hello, students. Today we’re going to touch on something I had written about not long ago on social media. Many people have trouble adding designations while writing. It’s work, and it can cause delays or missed words. One trick you can use is what I’ll call combination banking. Take your question or answer bank, and combine them with common responses. As an example, KWRAEUFRPBLGTS can be A. Yeah. Just be aware that in your software you must define it properly so that it gets its own line instead of being appended to the last line.

Luckily, I don’t have to write too much about this because Glen Warner already tackled dictionary building and phrasing here and was kind enough to supply me with a list of bank combos. Thanks, Glen!

Never be afraid to try out new things. They may transform your writing and accelerate your progress, or give you your own ideas about how to move forward.

How Many Errors Allowed?

Saw a post by a current student and steno star, Cristina Ameel, who took the time to make a table and spreadsheet to show how many errors you get at all the different speed levels. I thought that this was a worthy tool to have, so I used my computer to calculate all the different errors for a wide range of speeds and minutes. I’ll keep the spreadsheet for my results linked here. Just note that if you are using this as a guide, Cristina’s, correctly and in accordance with NCRA guidelines, rounds the errors up. Mine incorrectly rounds the errors down.

If what you’re looking for isn’t in either of our tables, just remember that to get the amount of errors allowed, five percent, you take the words per minute and multiply that by the minutes of dictation to get the number of words, then multiply the number of words by .05. This way, no matter how your school grades, you never have to be in the dark about how many errors you can make.

The vTestify Lie

I’ve often worried we too often buy into hype from voice recognition sellers. Dragon represents itself as being 99 percent accurate, but only has about a 3-star rating. Opened up to scrutiny, VR and digital recording companies don’t make the cut.

So we had a company mentioned on Facebook called vTestify. They brag about all the money they can save people on depositions. Just knowing what I’ve reported in the past, other voice recognition companies have raised a lot of money. Verbit raised $20 million. Trint raised something like $160 million. As far as I can tell, vTestify raised $3 million. Either they’re 50 times more efficient than everybody else or they’re woefully underfunded and their investors are set to lose while the company lurches along burning capital. Let that sink in for the next time somebody is trying to sell you the future, investors!

I would’ve left it there, but then another reporter brought up that they have a calculator. The claims there are laughable. They claim that they can save attorneys $3,198 per deposition. I don’t know what reporters in North Carolina are charging, but I know here in New York I could get somewhere around $4.00 a page, and maybe on a great day a $100 appearance fee. A pretty thick day is about 200 pages, only ever getting to that 300 or 400 page count occasionally. So take 200 pages multiplied by 4. 800. Add on that sweet appearance fee, and maybe it comes to 900 bucks. Even real-time reporters only charge a buck or two a hookup, so even with 6 hookups, we’re still only talking maybe a $2,000 day. We can all acknowledge that these glamorous multi-thousand dollar days exist, but the bottom line is that’s not the norm and vTestify isn’t actually saving anybody a dime. Their calculator doesn’t even make any sense. When I added the numbers they gave, I got $3,646. Somehow their calculator comes up with $4,329.

It gets better — or worse — you decide! Then we have this snippet about the court reporter shortage. Using their numbers and assuming it’s totally true, they say there are 23,000 reporters to cover 3 million depositions. What a crisis! Except when you take three million and divide that by 23,000, you get 130 and change. If every reporter took 131 depositions a year, using vTestify’s own numbers, we’d be just fine. There are about 260 weekdays in a year. Succinctly, if every reporter worked half the weekdays in a year, by vTestify’s own argument, there’d be no shortage. Let’s not forget all of the steno-centric initiatives like Open Steno, A to Z, Stenotrain, and Project Steno, that have taken place since the Ducker Report to bring people into this field. Are we really expected to believe there was zero impact and things went exactly as predicted? I don’t, and you shouldn’t either. Let’s put this another way. If the median salary of a reporter is about 57,000, reporters are only taking home, on average, 5,000 a month gross. So how can vTestify be saving anyone 3k or 4k per deposition when the average reporter is only grossing 5k per month? They can’t. But that doesn’t stop them from saying they can.

We have one decision to make in this field. Are we going to get out there and educate the consumer, or are we going to lay down and let these irresponsible companies fake it until they make it? There’s zero compunction with lying to make a buck, and customers need to know. Smart purchasers have already seen through this BS and stuck with stenographers through thick and thin, and they’ve done better for it. Tried, tested, efficient; stenographic reporters are the way to go. Maybe vTestify will figure that out and make the switch themselves!

Remember all this next time you see somebody peddling a similar product. And next time you’re making a sales pitch, ask your buyer what their monthly budget for depositions looks like. If it’s more than $5,000 a month, I have a few numbers above that say they can save a whole lot by switching to stenography.

August Applications 2019

I’ve turned this into a fun monthly post for job postings I know about. I encourage others to like, comment, and share any postings you have.

In the court system we only have the court reporter and citywide supervising court reporter positions open. Good luck to every applicant looking to join NYSUCS!

Against all odds, the Bronx DA is still looking for a grand jury stenographer.

Southern District, which is federal court, wants a court reporter. This is the first federal NY job to open up in the last few months, so if you’re looking to take that career path, take the shot. Even if they don’t take you, they’ll probably tell you what will better your chances next time. There are potentially up to eight other federal positions available nationwide.

Plaza College is seeking court reporting instructors. Start teaching the future of court reporting today!

Esquire continues to make efforts to advertise for freelance court reporters on sites like Glassdoor. If they don’t meet your rates, your best shot is opening the discussion and asking them to. It’s clear they need qualified people. Why not you?

If none of these are for you, it’s time to hit the pavement and start looking for opportunities. They’re out there, but it’s a careful mix of effort and networking that’ll bring them to you — or you to them!

Steno Speed and the Youtube Angle

Going back a couple of years ago, if you YouTube’d stenography, you’d get pen shorthand reporting from India. Happy to report that that paradigm is taking a hard shift. Today, at the top of the list is Stan Sakai’s Quick and Dirty Steno, with over a quarter of a million views. You’ve got way more than that, though. Today you’ve got Ken Wick’s court reporting videos, Katiana Walton’s podcasts, and content from tons of other creators new and old. Bottom line is American stenography and stenotype machine shorthand reporting is expanding its online presence in a big way. There’s also always been a healthy presence for stenography off of YouTube, including favorites like Mark Kislingbury, Mirabai Knight, or Marc Greenberg.

So many of these content creators are on my resource page, and I encourage professionals and students to write and comment if there’s a resource, blog, or content that you think should get added there. If you’re a content creator who’s like, “damn, why am I not mentioned anywhere on Stenonymous?” All I can say is the chance of that being intentional is pretty low. That all said, we’re pushing further along on the YouTube-Steno front. As some know, I have been working on my own YouTube channel in my spare time. There’s a multi-pronged goal of creating free resources for students so that they can have dictation available even when they cannot afford the amazing premium services out there and also introducing the idea of stenography to anybody who happens to stumble across a video of mine. Thanks to the generosity of Linda Fisher from StenoSpeed.com, down as of writing, I’m able to add over a hundred dictations to my YouTube. These dictations helped me very much as a student, they were free prior to StenoSpeed.com going down, and I am happy to put it in writing: They will be available and free once again. Simply go over to my playlists and look for the playlists marked STENO SPEED.

As of posting, these videos are still being worked on. Expect all Steno Speed audio to be posted by August 4, 2019. A great deal is already up, so don’t hesitate to spread the news and keep sharing resources together.

To anybody thinking of jumping into the mix of content creation, I recommend it. This is a vibrant field with a very loyal audience and a lot of people out there who just might need to read what you write, hear what you have to say, or watch how you do it!

Can’t Outspend? Outsell.

When many of us were in school we were given a line, steno sells itself. Many of us can probably relate to that. Most steno companies, upon hearing you’re a professional stenographer, will give you a shot. Many of us in New York came out during a big slump (2010) where steno wasn’t selling itself, but even then, it was trivial to get work. All we had to do was say we’d been working three months, and “they’d” go from sorry no work for you to “oh, here are the keys to the kingdom.” Not all of us knew it, but that’s how it was. Agency owners are good at reading confidence, and what we’re offered is often linked directly to our confidence level.

Of course, the following may be an incorrect assumption on my part, but bear with me: We have entered an era where steno is not selling itself. Company owners are being pulled into the mindset that the voice recognition is “good enough,” and some of the major players, like Veritext, have been pushing recording.

I should note, in full disclosure, that I have not been able to corroborate what I’m about to say with documents or pictures as I usually do. It’s pulled from the social media sphere, so consider it anecdotal for now, and do not be surprised if agencies start railing against social media. Even as some claim that Veritext sent an email stating they were not using recording in states like New Jersey, others have come forward across social media to say yes, this is being done behind our backs. Many of us are reportedly asking lawyers what they’re seeing, and they are seeing digital getting peddled to them relentlessly.

So what do we do when we have major players putting their resources into our replacement? Who here thinks they have more money that Veritext or their owners? Hopeless, some would say. But there is something that many reporters are realizing: This alleged shortage is a great time get private clients and begin new businesses. If Veritext or some entity swears they can’t get a stenographer, some lawyers have allegedly called their insurers and gotten authorization to use a local stenographer or stenographic firm. All their marketing moves and salespeople count for nothing if a stenographer finds themselves in the right place at the right time.

We’re the boots on the ground. We have more contact with law office staff and employees. We have the keys to the kingdom. But the people at the top have made it very clear that they’ll do whatever is convenient for them. It’s time we do the same for the survival of our industry. We don’t work for them? Try it. It might just give us access to their clients. We work for them? Guess who already has access.

Even if we don’t want to handle private clients, we could always network with an existing firm owner out there and get them clients in exchange for the work or a share. If we’re even moderately successful, big companies will be offering to buy back their business from us in a few years, and the field will be a lot healthier once the market share is spread out. Our actions determine the future. The conversation today is steno or digital. Tomorrow it just might be stay steno or slam sand.

Stenovate, Workspace Consolidation

Lauren Lawrence from Stenovate had reached out to me some time ago to alert me to the new platform she was working on. It’s received funding and seems ready to launch by 2019.

The concept seems to be a simple one. We have so many different apps and services we use to track work, send work, find work, handle bills — wouldn’t it be so nice if all of that was contained in one central repository or platform? I think it would it would, and I’m pretty sure that’s the dream behind this.

My advice? If you’re the type of person that wants or needs this kind of service, jump in early. On the one hand, you’ll be showing there’s a serious market for what’s being sold. On the other hand, younger companies, in my experience, are more responsive to their customers’ thoughts and feelings. Your usage of the product and feedback may go into making the product even better.

I’ve been following it for a while and it seems like the kind of thing conceptually that I might’ve wanted as a freelancer. Will it be a success? I think so. If Stenovate is successful in getting people to try it out and addressing concerns of its consumers, it’s got a solid shot at becoming a standard court reporting program and luring stenographers off alternatives like Dropbox. That’s a tall order, but when you’ve got a determined businesswoman and a vision, anything’s possible, a posse ad esse!

Shortage Solutions 8: Retirement

The document that alerted us to an impending shortage was the 2013 Ducker Report. In there, it told us that in about 20 years from then, a very large percentage of reporters would be retiring. Off the top of my head, I think it was as high as 70 percent, but you’re free to read it. That point is about 10 to 14 years from today.

Obviously, this brings great opportunity, because if supply can’t meet demand, the price for the service should rise. In many markets, it has risen, especially where reporters have pushed to be paid more. Some reporters are getting out there and grabbing their own private clients because it’s a seller’s market. In response to the shortage, the field had a great many recruitment ideas including A to Z, Project Steno, Open Steno, and many schools got online to reach a larger pool of students.

A big issue for us has been if enough jobs go completely uncovered, there are interests in the market ready to jump on that and say we don’t need stenography. We can use digital recording. We can use AI transcription. We can use whatever. Veritext, from my perspective, led this charge. Notably, they’re also putting money into stenographic initiatives, but this seems to be a clear case of hedging bets in case our commitment to what we do beats the money being poured into our replacement.

So here’s where we stand: We have a large group of people slated to retire. Do we tell them not to retire? No chance. But we can collectively start spreading the word that the retired are valuable. We had this push maybe a year ago in New York. Our Association, NYSCRA, didn’t give retired reporters or educators power. Not because of any ill will or resentment, but because of a simple bylaws issue. As luck had it, who had the most time to take part in and help shape up ideas? The educators and retired! So we took a stand and voted to give them equal voting power and right to be on the board.

Let’s face facts. If we are working 9 to 6 and then going home to transcribe for an hour, it leaves us very little time to advocate for this field. We may not be able to financially take time away from work or training to be a recruiter or voice in support of this field. We may not be able to advocate for others or mentor students. It’s a great time to consider forming programs and workshops for the retired who want to remain in the field as advocates. Look at the lobbying industry. Somebody works in a field for 30 years, a private interest or association grabs them up, and then they are the spokesperson who goes out and educates politicians on the issue — sometimes for big money.

If you’re retired, if you’re about to retire, or if you know someone about to retire, and especially if you’re somewhat of an altruist, you’ve got a chance to make a difference. Anything from a kind word to a student to full-blown involvement on a board or in a professional management corporation can change outcomes. As a matter of fact, a lot of these large corporations keep veteran stenographers at the head of their court reporting programs. Even traditionally transcription-oriented companies, like Escribers, had a stenographer in management. There’s no reason why the retired can’t, if they are so inclined, put down the machine, pick up the phone, and continue to make money from this field, for this field, and grow it in a way that keeps the career bridge they just crossed standing firm.

Cert Shaming

In line with the Pitchfork Culture, since beginning this career and embarking on this journey, I have run into a social phenomenon I’ll call cert shaming. I’ll even go so far as to say it goes both ways. And we’re going to examine this, and then I’ll chime in with why it may not be good to engage in the practice.

First thing we’ll talk about is less common in my view. Shaming or viewing certified reporters as inferior. There’s been a valid and true push for years for people to get certified. It’s come from NCRA in the form of things like the TRAIN initiative to other ideas like realtime for all. Overall, this is good. We all want each other to be at the top of our game. Any interview or correspondence I’ve had with any professional in the field has led to one conclusion, the field needs great reporters. As Doris Wong put it, the field need lions. But a counterculture grew from this. There are a great many reporters in states that do not require any licensure or certification, and from that culture grew people who asked: What does it do for me? More than that, that group can fall into cert shaming, seeing the certified as snobby or entitled without ever getting to know them. If you’re reading along and feel that way, I get it. But if you have no idea what I’m talking about, this counterculture holds one motto: You write better than I do, that doesn’t mean you are better than me.

Then, of course, we have the other end of the spectrum. We have folks out there in our community that get these certifications and then decide that the uncertified are the unfit. There’s no gray area or middle ground, there’s certified or not. It doesn’t matter if you take continuing education courses, write realtime, or are out there making the field shine in your own little way. No certs, no credit, full shame.

Here is the great thing about what I am about to say: You don’t have to believe me. You can go about your business and live with a long and shining career. But here’s where I’m coming from strategically. The next time you feel like someone is inferior as a professional or reporter, examine why. If all it comes down to is whether they passed a test, then I challenge you to re-examine that view. Why? Unity. Teamwork. Commitment to one another. Commitment to this field.

We have all been stuck in a substandard position at one time or another because of somebody. We all have our own idea of what constitutes a good reporter and a bad reporter. If we take that pain and disappointment and use it to tear down the next person, we lose our ability to work together on the issues that matter. On the flip side, if you take that pain and encourage the next person to do better, to reach up and be the best reporter they can be, you’re breaking the cycle and making things a little bit better. In time, I hope we can tackle big questions together. What makes us good beyond the certs? What makes us attractive to lawyers, judges, and clients? Would the NCRA benefit from allowing uncertified people in its membership? How do we balance things so that neither the certified nor uncertified feel disenfranchised? Can we? Have we already?

Whatever your answers, know that there are other professionals out there looking to you for guidance and example, and perhaps the greatest thing you can do for them is lend your perspective firmly but politely. For a quick example, I am among the uncertified, but with every single student I have ever mentored, I have set out the truth I felt most beneficial: You can succeed regardless, and if you go for those certs you give it your all and get them. Shame your fellow reporter, and to our collective shame they may leave our field one weaker. Encourage them to do well, and they will do well.