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My top three programs are the mentoring of new reporters, new certification programs
and the grooming of state leaders who will eventually join this NCRA Board. Many of your
future leaders are in this room right now, and the advocacy and promotional training
they undertook earlier this week will serve us all well in coming years.
I also like the ability to have discounts from realtime coach and 24/7 access to fresh
practice material. The tireless lobbying that our government relations office does on behalf
of reporter training and affordable healthcare for small businesses, our strategic alliances
with judicial and worldwide groups, oh, man, there are obviously way more than three reasons
to join NCRA. You are the membership ambassadors, and each of us can make it happen.
Each of you can make a difference in your corner of the world and create ripples that
float across the country and benefit all of us. Invest emotionally in your career.
When we strive for perfection, we achieve excellence. Together.
This year is all about the members. It's about you. And it's about you. And it's about you.
What are you going to bring to the table? What are you going to commit to do? And what
do you get back from your Association? What do we want to be known for? What does the
future hold for NCRA? Over recent years, we've had many discussions, including some heated
ones, about the direction that our Association and our profession are going. We are bombarded
with digital recording vendors hoping to replace us in deposition and court settings. Many
are here to make a quick sale and be gone. As guardians of the record since the days
of Marcus Tullius Tiro and Julius Caesar in 63 B. C., we have built relationships and
worked as a team to protect the public. We are in it for the long haul. And it's sometimes
a battle. There's no doubt about it. But is it worth it? I believe so. I circle back to
excellence, being the best we can be, investing in and updating our equipment and skills,
increasing our efficiencyto stay on top of technology, with the help of NCRA's constant
vigilance and support.
Our Association is here for us. Open three years ago, Direct Member Voting changed the
way NCRA does business. 200 people were present in our business meeting yesterday, and more
than five times that number voted last night during the 12 hour voting period. Our members
have engaged and said: We want to be heard. This Board has engaged and said: We want to
listen.
We've embarked on a fresh new project to run over the next several months. You will hear
about it at every turn and every opportunity. Writing our future is up to every single member
and we want to hear from you.
Soon. There.
[Laughter]
NCRA leadership is reaching out and visiting with reporters, CART providers and captioners
across the country to elicit your ideas about the future of NCRA and the future of our profession,
about how to define success from your point of view and how to achieve that success as
an Association.
This was initially known as the "Members Dialogue Project" and now we are writing our future.
I truly believe the 14 people sitting at the Board table don't have all the answers, but
I know, working together, we can discover compromises, achieve understanding, respect
diverse opinions, and work together to do the heavy lifting that will transform our
Association. Truly writing our future.
Invest emotionally in us. Give us your fresh ideas and your concepts.
I'm wearing a new pin today. It says "together we make a difference." Together. This is our
profession. This is our livelihood.
You invested a lot of time and money to be here. What are you going to take away from
it? A new friendship? A new connection? A new skill? A certification?
How are you investing in yourself and in us to make a difference? It's easy to stand to
know sidelines. I'm asking each of you to exchange your thoughts and invest in your
career. Let's work side by side with each other, talk with each other and figure out
our problems and future course together.
When we meet in Las Vegas 12 months from now, we will have created several hypothetical
scenarios. We'll have talked through them, discussed the pros and cons of each, and we'll
be ready to write the future of NCRA, what it needs to be from the perspective of more
than 20,000 great minds.
Let's share viewpoints with mutual respect and with the best interests of our profession
at heart. Maybe it's a smaller association. Maybe it's bigger. Maybe it's nontraditional
testing. Maybe it's a better way of training future reporters. Maybe it's fewer conventions.
Maybe it's virtual steno gloves.
[Laughter]
This year is all about you, our members. We make the difference, and we are writing our
future together. Be involved. Be passionate. Invest in yourself. Invest in your career.
There's a scene if the movie "a league of our own" that I want to share with you. The
best ball player in the league was thinking about quitting baseball, and she told the
coach, who was Tom Hanks, that it just got too hard. The coach replied "it's supposed
to be hard. If it wasn't hard, everyone would do it. The hard is what makes it great."
That's what makes this profession great. And your association is working to protect that
every day. We can do it. Together.
I look forward to working with you as we define and achieve success for our Association and
for our profession. This Board's promise to you is to be open and transparent, to listen
to your ideas. You have entrusted us with the stewardship of our Association for the
next 12 months, and we honor and respect that.
In return, I'm asking you to get involved, to share your ideas, volunteer your talent,
be collaborative. I'm asking you to write our future.
We will strive for perfection. And I know we will achieve excellence: For ourselves
and for NCRA. Thank you.
[Applause.]