I posted this on NCRA's website, but I think it should be here, also.

As follows:

I would like to make an attempt here to try to encourage some that aren't members to reconsider their stance on the matter.

Many of the response will be, I'm sure, from the choir (current members), but hopefully some of the choir will pass this on to those that aren't members.

I'm reaching out to those reporters that are in the small areas of the country that may have one or two reporters only in your area. Are you a member of NCRA? A member of TCRA? A member of any association that promotes court reporting and the profession?

Why not?

Are you doing anything in your area to promote yourself or protect your job? Is approximately 20 dollars a month or less too much to ask of you to donate to a group that has your best interest in mind and is struggling to protect what you do? I say not. If each of us could do this alone, there would not be a need to have associations. But, the fact of the matter is, you, in your lone part of the country, can't do anything to protect my job anymore than I can do anything to protect your job other than to do the best I can and be the best I can be as my job and maintain the quality that others have laid before us.

That being said, why not step up and help us work together for the common good of the profession instead of saying, "What's NCRA done for me?" Or, "What's my state association done for me?" That, to me, is a cop out. I'm just as guilty of this thought as anyone for many years. Shame on me!!! I can't do it alone. You can't do it alone. But, we can do it together and we can work together to make sure that we all have jobs. Your lack of willingness to participate could cost others to lose their jobs, thereby, perhaps, making them look in your neck of the woods for work. Is a mere 20 dollars a month or less to help the cause too much to ask?

Do you have a state association? Are you supporting that? It's time that we all step up here and do what we can to make sure that this great profession lives on for another fifty years and that we stand tall and proud and firm on our beliefs as reporters that we truly are the best way to make the record.

If you don't feel that way, you may soon find yourself asking the question: "Ma'am/Sir, would you like that in paper bags or plastic bags?"

I'm just not ready for that. Period. I can skip five Starbucks coffees a month to support a cause that I can't do alone. What's your excuse?

Let's stop the bickering amongst ourselves and work together for the common good and move this profession forward; not backwards.

Come on!! Join me on this conquest!!

(tipping hat)

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Amen.
I totally agree. I'm an Irish reporter, still living here in Ireland, and I've been a member of NCRA since I graduated, a long time ago. Even though they don't really do anything for the international reporters I still think it's important to be a member of such a large and diverse community. I go to the conferences regularly and always come away with great hints and tips. We don't have an Irish association and not many of the Irish reporters are members of NCRA, but I feel it's important to keep abreast of what's new in our industry and the NCRA is a great way to do that.

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