realtime

[Jennifer Crawford]

I have been a court reporter in Pennsylvania for 11 years now. In my career, I have never been required to do Realtime and so I've just never dealt with it.

I am actually looking to move into the Atlanta area and a lot of the firms there want you to do Realtime. I have been somewhat apprehensive about doing it, worried about errors and such.

Does anyone have some good advice on how I can start to learn Realtime and improve my writing skills? Thanks!

[Michelle]

Hi Jennifer, the first thing I'd say is just dive right in, once you start to realtime you won't be able to stop. First thing I did when I started, a long time ago, was to make sure there were no conflicts in my dictionary, make sure your prefix and suffix sets are in your dictionary and most important, don't let anyone tell you it's not hard work, it is, but it's so rewarding, good luck.

[Mary Ann Payonk]

Hi, Jennifer. Remember that realtime benefits the reporter first. All good things will come to you in the form of decreased editing time, higher quality work, and more time with your family. You say a lot of firms in Atlanta want you to do realtime. That's all well and good. You're worried about providing quality realtime, worried about errors and such, so you care about your work. If you put your time and efforts into becoming a great realtime writer, I would hope you would also expect some monetary reward for that.

Food for thought: Right now, whether in PA or GA, you're probably making a nice upcharge on your work for cranking out a transcript overnight, perhaps 100%, which is pretty much the norm. You're going to work and practice and learn and practice and take seminars and practice and study and practice to become proficient in realtime to the point that you can charge for it. Is it worth it for you to spend all that time to get good at realtime to make less than you would doing an overnight transcript, which any reporter in town can do?

M.A.

[Breck Record]

Jennifer,

It's funny you should ask these questions. I posted earlier under the General forum about my thoughts on writing realtime and decided that it should be under this forum instead.

There are many, many articles on exactly this topic if you know where to look or who to ask. And any advice that Ms. Mary Ann Payonk throws your way should be looked at very closely. She knows what she's talking about and is an excellent reporter in the realtime arena. She and I belong to another realtime group (Realtimers Network) that might be of interest to you at some point down the line as far as getting feedback or How-To and the like.

I'm sure as the days go by here, you will get a lot of great information on these questions. Also, NCRA would be a source for writing realtime. There is the Realtime Coach that is offered by NCRA. Perhaps the software that you write on has a forum area where others with particular knowledge about your program and offer you insight into how to make the program work better for you as you venture into this arena. My expertise is Eclipse, but if you're on Case or something else, seek out their website or user group and ask questions or find answers that way.

Once you start, you'll wonder why you didn't do it sooner.

(tipping hat)