President s Message. WCRA / Summer Table of Contents

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1 WCRA / Summer 2015 President s Message So much has happened in the world of Wisconsin court reporting since my last president s message! We celebrated Wisconsin and National Court Reporting & Captioning Week; WCRA launched a letter writing campaign with regard to our state budget; WCRA attended the Wisconsin School Counselors Association to promote our profession; and, of course, UW-Madison mens basketball player, Nigel Hayes, spoke those few words cattywampus, onomatopoeia, and antidisestablishmentarianism -- that instantly catapulted our profession into the national spotlight. The Wisconsin Badgers have created a nationwide buzz in our professional community that will not be forgotten anytime soon. This buzz began soon after Governor Walker released his Budget Bill which did not include enabling language to pay Wisconsin s official reporters, did not fully fund the positions, and moved officials out of the sum sufficient category to the sum certain category. Nigel s timing was impeccable! We were able to incorporate this national media attention, in addition to stressing the vital role we serve in our state s judicial system, into our message to the Joint Finance Committee (JFC) and our legislators. The JFC voted unanimously (16-0) in our favor. I would like to thank those of you who personally contacted the JFC members and your legislators, as well as rallied others to support us as well. The message of those who attended and spoke at public meetings and listening sessions was heard by our state legislators. However, the budget is not final yet. I ask you to remain vigilant and to maintain your contact with your legislators. Please write to them and ask them for their support when passing the final budget. (See page 15.) Yes, YOU can make a difference! The Badger hoopla created wonderful opportunities for our Wisconsin court reporting instructors to promote their programs. MATC Instructor Lisa Carey, as well as LTC Instructor Jackie Rupnow, were interviewed by local television and radio stations. The amount of interest that this media attention generated in the court reporting profession -- or should I say the stenography profession -- has been fabulous! Our Student Committee has also been busy getting reporters out to their local schools to give demonstrations to interested students as well. While the last several months have been an emotional roller coaster for the WCRA Board of Directors and our members, times such as these have a way of bringing people closer together and building a stronger association. We have seen new memberships -- although there are many more prospective members out there -- and I have had the pleasure of having personal contact with many of you during this time. The energy and the willingness of our members to take a stand for our profession has been inspiring. I am proud to be president of such a dynamic and influential association, and I am proud to be a court reporter or should I say stenographer?! Table of Contents President s Message Page 1 WCRA 2015 Annual Convention: Agenda, Speakers, Milwaukee, Realtime Contest, Costs & More Pages 2-7 WCRA Board of Directors Report Membership Drive & New Members Court Reporting Week Report Pages 8-10 Badger Hoopla: WCRA s Media Frenzy Pages NCRA Leadership Conference Legislative Defense Report Pages 14 & 15 Reporter Profiles: Michelle Gudex & Judy DeRuyter New Newsletter Proofreaders Named Pages 16 & 17 MATC & LTC School Reports Student Profiles: Ashley Shimek & Nicole Gottschalk Newest WCRA 200 Club Members: Gottschalk, Graupe, Marvin & Shallue School Presentations Sponsor-A-Student Pages School Counselors Convention DSA Nominations Due Pages 22 & 23 NCRA Introduces Online Testing Chris Willette for NCRA VP Realtime Fear Tips from NCRA Pages 24 & 25 Realtime Tips for March, April & May Where Are You/What Are You Doing?: Kiera Sanford, Kathy Jagow... & Lindsay DeWaide s Trip to Italy Pages Board Briefs & Word Power Proofreading by Almost Verbatim Court Reporter Updates & Advertising Pages In Memory & Kienbaum Celebrates 50 Mr. Modem & Mr. Modem s DME Pages 36-39

2 WCRA 2015 Annual Convention... October 2-4 in Milwaukee The Milwaukee skyline and part of the three-mile long vibrant River- Walk at night. (See page 5 for what-to-do-in-milwaukee information!) The famous Milwaukee Art Museum... one of 17 museums in the area along with 25 theaters and 150 state and county parks! WCRA is again offering a remarkable selection of headline speakers and topics: Mark Kislingbury, Deb Bollman, Bill Wick and Katie Linn. (Page 4.) The historic Milwaukee Marriott Downtown is located in the heart of East Town and walking distance from the shores of Lake Michigan, the Milwaukee RiverWalk and the celebrated arts and fashion district, the Third Ward. The hotel boasts stylish guest rooms with luxurious Revive bedding, flat screen TVs with premium cable, complimentary wifi throughout the property, and much more. Start your day with a signature Starbucks coffee and try Millioke for a delicious array of Midwestern cuisine and craft brews for dinner. Enjoy the incomparable service and unprecedented style during your visit to the Milwaukee Marriott Downtown. Both The Marriott and Milwaukee itself offer many wonderful options. Conventions are a great way to have fun and learn while you stay connected with your profession, your friends and family!

3 WCRA 2015 Annual Convention Agenda Friday, October 2, :30pm 2:00pm Registration Pre-Function Space CAT Training Sessions: 2:00pm 3:30pm Session One (.15 CEUs) 3:45pm 5:15pm Session Two (.15 CEUs) Session Options: CaseCATalyst with Lisa Carey Salon C Eclipse with Jim Woitalla Salon A StenoCAT with Chris Willette Brewery Room 5:30pm 6:30pm Realtime Contest Governor s Room Student seminar to be announced later Page Annual Convention: Agenda & Hotel Information Looking for something to do on Friday and Saturday night in Milwaukee? Please refer to Margo Lucas article on page 5, and/or in the registration folders on the many things that Milwaukee offers! Saturday, October 3, :30am 8:00am Continental Breakfast and Registration Salon BC 8:15am 4:00pm Mark Kislingbury, CSR, RMR, CRR Salon BC Start Your Engines! Mark will thoroughly cover his two pillars of writing and realtime excellence for court reporters: writing short and practicing at high speeds. He will demonstrate with numerous interesting and compelling proofs how these two pillars contribute directly to speed, accuracy, comfort, health, money, time and job satisfaction. His entertaining and informative presentation is filled with stories and anecdotes relating to his 30-year court reporting career involving highlevel realtime jobs and 11 NCRA contest wins in speed or realtime. This popular seminar gets universally high marks. You don t want to miss this one! (.55 CEUs) 9:45am 10:00am Mid-Morning Break 11:30am 1:15pm Lunch and Business Meeting Salon A 1:15 pm - 2:45 pm Mark Kislingbury (seminar resumes) Salon BC 2:45 pm - 3:00 pm. Mid-Afternoon Break 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm Mark Kislingbury (seminar concludes) Salon BC 4:00 pm - 4:15 pm Late Afternoon Break 4:15pm 5:45pm Deb Bollman, CA-CSR, CRR, CBC, RMR Salon BC Captioner for NCAA Tournament (.15 CEUs) A discussion on Badgers Basketball and how a hot mike moment shined a light on our profession around the globe. Sunday, October 4, :30 8:00am Continental Breakfast Salon BC 8:00 9:00am Town Hall Breakfast with NCRA Salon BC Representative Doreen Sutton, RPR (.1 CEUs) 9:00-9:15am Mid-Morning Break 9:15 10:45am Atty. Bill Wick Salon BC Interactions Between Attorney, Reporter and Witness - Observations of the Trial Attorney (.15 CEUs) 10:45 11:00am Mid-Morning Break 11:00 12:30pm Katie Linn Salon BC Hidden in the Heartland: Child Sex Trafficking and a Community Response This seminar will discuss the growing issue of child sex trafficking in Wisconsin, victim identification techniques, and what the everyday person can do to help engage in the fight to dismantle the commercialized sale of children in our community. (.15 CEUs) Total CEUs Applied for: 1.4 CEUs Hotel Information Hotel room block deadline is Friday, September 11, 2015, by 5 pm. Room rates are $149 per room per night plus tax. Call to reserve your room. Let them know you are with the Wisconsin Court Reporters Association. You can check out the hotel, spa, and other amenities at mkedn-milwaukee-marriottdowntown. The hotel address is 323 East Wisconsin Avenue, Milwaukee, WI The driveway entrance is on 625 North Milwaukee Street. See you in Milwaukee! Convention Survey Results The convention survey results are in! 53% of our members voted to have our fall conventions in September and 47% voted for October. Listening to our members is of utmost importance to the board. As of 2016 our fall conventions will be in late September. This will allow those who are in need of CEU points before the September 30th deadline to get their points before the deadline.

4 WCRA 2015 Annual Convention Speakers WCRA 2015 Annual Convention Friday Speakers Page Annual Convention: Speakers CaseCATalyst with Lisa Carey Eclipse with Jim Woitalla StenoCAT with Chris Willette WCRA 2015 Annual Convention Saturday Speakers Mark Kislingbury Bill Wick Debra Bollman Katie Linn Mark Kislingbury, CSR, RMR, CRR Guinness World Record Holder for The Fastest Realtime Court Reporter in the World Mark Kislingbury will share his many "secrets" that contributed to his phenomenal success in court reporting contests and his Guinness World Record of 360 wpm. He believes that you, too, can apply his methods and achieve spectacular results in your reporting skills. His methods definitely go against longtime conventional wisdom in the court reporting profession, but he says he can prove that his ways work far better than the "old ways." He will show you how you can quickly become faster, more accurate, while at the same time less stressed and an altogether happier court reporter with renewed love for your job. Deb Bollman, CA-CSR, CRR, CBC, RMR It's a "Beautiful" Profession Debra Bollman s career has truly been an Adventure in Stenography. She recently gained national attention when Wisconsin Badgers forward, Nigel Hayes, referred to her in his hot mike moment. Who knew how the Badgers players interaction with the stenographers at the NCAA tournaments would shine such a positive light on our profession? What you probably don t know is before Debra was trending on the internet, she spent 18 years captioning everything from The Today Show to The Weather Channel, has provided transcripts for the World Series, NBA Finals, March Madness, and pretty much every other major sport in between, including cricket, and she s travelled the globe transcribing sporting events in Paris, Dubai, Qatar, Ireland, and Canada, just to name a few locations. Katie Linn (continued) Katie s advocacy efforts in the area of human trafficking began in Charlotte, North Carolina, where she worked as a James B. McMillan Fellow with the Rescue and Restore Project under a grant from the Mecklenburg County Bar Association and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. In this role Katie collaborated with local and national law enforcement, including the FBI and Department of Justice, to help trafficking victims pursue critical legal protection. Katie has also served other organizations, including Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee and Legal Services of Southern Piedmont in North Carolina where she worked on immigrant justice issues; the Legal Aid Society of Milwaukee where she worked in Family Law and on child custody cases; and InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/ USA in Madison, Wisconsin, where she developed and revamped corporate governance policies for the organization s general counsel. Debra is quick to point out what a blessing stenography has been. As a 24-yearold single mother of two, she knew she needed to find a quality profession... fast. It was divine intervention that led me to court reporting. I called the school, took the entrance exam, and the rest is history. Only 18 short months after starting theory, she graduated, and in 1997 the adventures began. WCRA 2015 Annual Convention Sunday Speakers Bill Wick - Defense lawyer who concentrates his practice in the areas of medical malpractice and general personal injury litigation. Bill received his B.S. in 1970 from Carroll College, his M.P.A. in 1972 from the University of Southern California, and his J.D. in 1974 from Marquette University Law School. Mr. Wick was certified by the American Board of Trial Advocacy as a Civil Trial Specialist. He is a member of the State Bar of Wisconsin and a past chair of the Litigation Section. He has also been President of the Civil Trial Counsel of Wisconsin now known as the Wisconsin Defense Counsel. Mr. Wick is a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and a member. He has also been President of the Wisconsin Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA). He has also been selected to be included in Best Lawyers in America for the last nine years. Mr. Wick is a frequent lecturer on topics involving civil litigation. Katie Linn Executive Director, Exploit No More Katie holds a B.A. in Economics and a B.A. in Political Science, magna cum laude, from the University of Arizona. She also holds a J.D., cum laude, from Marquette University Law School. Prior to joining staff with Exploit No More, Katie served as a staff attorney for the Honorable Christopher Foley of the Milwaukee County Circuit Court. (Katie Linn continued in sidebar to left. Doreen Sutton profiled on page 6)

5 Welcome to Milwaukee! by Margo Lucas The WCRA Convention is coming to Milwaukee in October, so why not make the most of your stay and take in some of the local attractions. Milwaukee is the largest city in the State of Wisconsin and within its borders has 17 museums, 25 theaters, and over 150 state and county parks. Here are some suggestions of things to do on your own, with your colleagues, or with your family to enhance your visit. The Milwaukee Art Museum is celebrating its 10th anniversary of the building of the Calatrava, which has been named the sexiest building in the world and featured in TV shows and Hollywood movies. If you don t have the time to go inside, at least drop by at noon to watch the massive wings flap. If you are thinking family friendly, the Betty Brinn Children s Museum is the only museum designed for children ten and under. They will be having so much fun in the hands-on exhibits that they won t even realize they are learning at the same time. For older children, check out Discovery World with its interactive science, fresh and salt water aquariums, and a 19th century re-creation of a Great Lakes schooner. Perhaps you re interested in exploring your wild side. Then motor on over to the Harley-Davidson Museum and hop on board a variety of hogs for that photo opportunity. Then cruise across town to the special Milwaukee County Zoo where more than 1,800 animals are housed on 200 acres. This is not your typical zoo because kids will love the Sky Trail Adventure Zone or taking a 500-foot zipline experience. If you miss seeing Milwaukee s beloved gorilla Samson at the zoo, you will find him permanently housed at the Milwaukee Public Museum. Don t forget to wear a brightly colored shirt to attract the hundreds of butterflies in the butterfly museum or take a stroll back in time down the streets of Old Milwaukee. While there, also take in a show at the IMAX or Planetarium. If outdoors is more your thing, the lakefront is the perfect place for bikers, joggers, and walkers to enjoy the paved Oak Leaf Trail. It will take you right through Veterans Park where you can purchase a kite and take advantage of the wind off the lake or rent a paddle boat at the lagoon or rent a Segway to cover a lot of ground. The Milwaukee RiverWalk spans nearly three miles along the Milwaukee River taking you through downtown Milwaukee. There are outdoor coffee shops and restaurants to enjoy along the way. You can even stop for a photo op with the bronze statue of the Fonz. If you want to enjoy the lake view and have others do the driving, sit back, relax, and enjoy a cocktail on an Edelweiss cruise. Otherwise, if you want to burn calories while drinking, there is Milwaukee s only pedal pub crawl as you and your friends pedal a seven-seated bike and leave the steering to someone else. Is all this exercise getting you hungry? Then follow the aroma to Palermo's Pizza, Milwaukee s only pizza factory tour, which includes a big slice of their fresh, handstretched pizza and a beverage. Milwaukee Food & City Tours will point out architectural gems, share stories of the ethnic neighborhoods and cultural hotspots, while sampling flavors from restaurants along the way. Some of their well-known bus tours are of pizza and custard, churches and chocolates, ghouls and spirits, historic bars pre-prohibition, and the bloody Mary brunch. (continued in side bar to right) Page Annual Convention: Welcome to Milwaukee Welcome to Milwaukee! (cont.) Milwaukee is nicknamed the Brew City because of its rich brewing history, and there are several brewery tours to choose from. The Lakefront Brewery was voted Milwaukee s best brewery tour, and The Best Place takes a look at the Historic Pabst Brewery. The Miller Brewery tour will take you through the historic caves with over 155 years of brewing history ending at their beer garden. If a microbrewery is more your flavor, check out The Sprecher Brewery which offers an array of award-winning beers and gourmet sodas. There s also the Great Lakes Distillery, Wisconsin s first distillery since prohibition. Milwaukee is a great city with so much to offer. Start making your plans this summer, and we look forward to seeing you in the fall. Milwaukee Art Museum Betty Brinn Children s Museum Milwaukee Public Museum

6 Page Annual Convention: Realtime Contest Speakers (cont.) Registration Costs WCRA s Realtime Contest!! We are offering two chances to qualify. The test will consist of two timings: one five-minute literary at 200 wpm and one five-minute Q&A at 225 wpm. Awards will be presented to the winner of each category as well as overall winner. The best combined score wins the championship. Please review the rules prior to the contest. Winners will be announced on Saturday at lunch. DATE: Friday, October 2nd, 2015 TIME: 5:30 PM PLACE: Governor s Room COST: $15 Those contestants passing with 95% accuracy will receive.25 PDC per leg passed. Great way to get points!! Bring a flash drive or SD card to load your ASCII onto. WCRA Offers One-On-One Realtime Assistance Are you motivated to write realtime for yourself but still have questions? Are you ready to take the plunge to write realtime for your judge or offer this valuable service to attorneys but would like some help with the hookups? Whatever your questions may be, WCRA s TRAIN Committee will be happy to set you up with an experienced realtime writer who will provide you one-on-one assistance. Please contact Michelle Gudex at michellegudex@gmail.com to get started. WCRA 2015 Annual Convention Speakers (continued) WCRA 2015 Annual Convention Sunday Speakers (cont.) Doreen Sutton, RPR, CSR, CR NCRA Representative Doreen Sutton, RPR, CSR, CR, has been a freelance court reporter for 23 years and currently runs her own firm. She has also worked per-diem for the courts and has previous experience in banking, bookkeeping, payroll, and accounting. Doreen has been an NCRA member since She is a member of the Arizona Court Reporters Association and has served on their board, including as president. She has also served as editor to ACRA s newsletter, ArizoNotes. In addition, she serves on the GateWay Community College Court Reporting Advisory Board and has given several RPR boot-camp-style sessions to newly graduated students. Doreen is also involved with another reporter in providing deposition how-to instruction to the Phoenix School of Law. She is the author of Erhardt s Edition of Briefs and Phrases, and is the recipient of the 2013 Arizona Distinguished Service Award. WCRA 2015 Annual Convention Registration October 2-4, 2015, Milwaukee, WI REGISTRATION DEADLINE Friday, September 11, by 5:00 p.m. Registration opening soon! Watch your or visit WCRA Member WCRA Member Or Member of Or Member of State Affiliate State Affiliate Association Non-Member Association Non-Member ((Late Registration Costs) PROFESSIONAL MEMBERS: 3-Day All Inclusive - BEST VALUE! $299 $399 $349 $449 2-Day $235 $335 $285 $385 Friday Only $150 $250 $200 $300 Saturday Only $180 $280 $230 $330 STUDENTS: 3-Day Student $160 $210 2-Day Student $120 $170 Saturday Only Student $80 $130 SOCIAL: (does not include seminar sessions) 3-day Social $110 $160 Saturday only Social $80 $130 Registrations will include breakfast on Saturday and Sunday, and lunch and an afternoon snack on Saturday. Mark Your Calendar! Stay connected with WCRA on Facebook &

7 WCRA 2015 Annual Convention Information Convention Folder Pick-up: You can pick up your convention folder Friday afternoon or Saturday morning at the registration table. Charity Information: Exploit No More exists to empower Milwaukee s children to rise out of sex trafficking. The objective is to lend voices to children who have been sold for sex, to mobilize our community to do something about it, and to provide long-term residential aftercare to children freed from the chains of commercial sexual exploitation. The goal is to create awareness, advocacy, and aftercare by establishing a safe house in the Milwaukee area for minor girls who have been victims of sex trafficking. Check donations can be sent to: Exploit No More, P.O. Box , Milwaukee, WI Online donations can be made at: Door Prizes: Once again, we will be giving out door prizes from various vendors and reporters. If you would like to donate a door prize, please bring the item to the convention and give them to the people at the registration desk. We appreciate all door prizes. Social Package: For those of you who are retired or would like to reunite with old friends or attend the business meeting but do not wish to attend the seminars, WCRA continues to offer a social package. This includes Saturday s breakfast and lunch/business meeting and Sunday breakfast. The cost will vary for each convention based on the hotel charges. It does not include admission to the seminars. Raffle for Student Scholarship/Recruitment Fund and Exploit No More: WCRA will be hosting a silent auction, but we need your help! Could you please support our auction by either contributing a cash donation or providing a gift basket? In the past reporters in counties or districts collaborate to create a basket or make a cash donation. Proceeds from the auction will go toward our Student Scholarship/Recruitment Fund and Exploit No More. Any questions, please contact Dannielle Copeland at danniellecox@gmail.com. Sponsor-A-Student: The students need sponsors. Your donation would be greatly appreciated. Please check the student sponsor area on your registration form. Students are the future of the stenographic profession! Steno Machine Cleaning & Tuning Steve Worth from Worth Business Equipment will be available Saturday, October 3, to clean and tune up machines. He will consider appointments on Friday, October 2, if there is the demand. He services most steno machines with a couple of exceptions. Machine cleaning is $220 plus parts. This includes Diamantes. If you know that you need a specific part or parts (paper tray, tripod, display, etc.), Steve would like to know ahead of time so he has the parts available. You will need to schedule a time slot with him directly. Space is limited! Contact him at or him at worth4154@msn.com. Additional Convention Information: Page Annual Convention: Additional Information STUDENTS ARE THE FUTURE OF OUR PROFESSION Will you sponsor a student for a Convention? Sponsorship options are available when completing online registration. If you would like to sponsor a specific student, please designate that student when registering. Students ARE our future! DO YOU LIKE TAKING PICTURES? With so many handy digital and cell phone cameras, taking fun pictures is easy. WCRA is looking for all you photographers out there to take pictures when you attend our conventions. It s fun, it s easy, and we need you! Please contact Karla Sommer and sign up to take pictures for WCRA. Laptops and stenograph machines are highly recommended but not required for Saturday s session.

8 Page 8 Board of Directors List WCRA Board Meeting Badger T-Shirts Board of Directors President: Karla Sommer, RMR, CRR, CBC Wausau, Wisconsin sommerkms@gmail.com President-Elect: Sheri Piontek, RMR, CRR Green Bay, Wisconsin sheripiontek@gmail.com Past President: Susan Kay, RPR Milwaukee, Wisconsin susankay1957@gmail.com Secretary: Kathryn A. Jagow, RMR Port Washington, Wisconsin sjagow@wi.rr.com Treasurer: Lori Baldauf, RMR Oshkosh, Wisconsin baldauflori1@hotmail.com Director: Lindsay DeWaide, RPR, CRR Poynette, Wisconsin lindsay.dewaide@reporters. gramannreporting.com Director: Judy Zickert, RMR, CRR Whitehall, Wisconsin jzickert1@gmail.com Director: Lynette Swenson, RMR, CRR, CBC Madison, Wisconsin bobbnett@yahoo.com Director: Andrea Reichle, RPR Wauwatosa, Wisconsin areichlewcra@outlook.com Director: Margo Lucas, RPR, CCP, CBC, CRI Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin mlucas11@wi.rr.com Director: Sarah Hart, RMR CRR Pewaukee, Wisconsin sarahhartwcra@gmail.com From left: Andrea Reichle, Sarah Hart, Secretary Kathy Jagow, Lindsay DeWaide, President Karla Sommer, Judy Zickert, President-Elect Sheri Piontek, Treasurer Lori Baldauf, Margo Lucas, and Lynette Swenson. (Not present, Past-President Susan Kay) WCRA Board Members Meeting by Lori Baldauf WCRA s Board members had an in-person meeting on March 14, 2015, at the Best Western Premier Waterfront Hotel in Oshkosh. This is the site chosen for the fall convention, October of We were given a tour of the facilities and agreed that it s a wonderful place for our members to enjoy a weekend convention. The meeting was called to order at 8:15, the board worked diligently on the detailed agenda, and the meeting adjourned at 2:10. Please check out WCRA s website for the full minutes of the meeting. Remember, minutes of all past board meetings are posted on the website for your review. This fall a couple board member terms are expiring and we are actively taking nominations. Please consider becoming more active in your association. You will definitely not regret the sincere feeling of giving back to your professional organization and having a real voice on the board. New, fresh ideas and enthusiasm help to keep WCRA always moving onward and upward! WCRA Badger T-Shirts Our WCRA Badger t-shirts were a hit! We sold almost 100 t-shirts raising a total of $ for the Wisconsin Chapter of Reach Out and Read ~ Where Great Stories Begin, a nonprofit organization that advocates for childhood literacy, If you missed out, don t worry. We will place another order as we near the fall convention date, just in time for football season! WCRA MISSION STATEMENT: The Wisconsin Court Reporters Association is committed to achieving the highest level of professional standards when capturing the spoken word. Educational enrichment and technological advancement are vital in maintaining the honor and integrity of our profession while serving the public, judicial system, and the deaf and hard-of-hearing communities. Adopted in April 2013

9 Membership Drive a Success!!! by Judy Zickert and Lori Baldauf The WCRA Membership Drive ended March 15th with success. The new members included 18 students, 18 officials, 11 freelancers, 3 beginning reporters, and 1 CART/Captioner. Thank you to the district leaders who volunteered to contact nonmembers about the benefits of a WCRA membership. Congratulations to Barbi Galarno, Jackie Rupnow, and Lindsay DeWaide for referring three or more new members. They will be receiving a convention voucher valued at $175!! Nice work, ladies. Honorable Mention goes to Gloria Johnson, Susan Kay, Tom Malkiewicz, and Taunia Northouse who each earned two referrals during the Membership Drive. As a thank you to the new members, as well as the referring members, your name will be put into a drawing at the fall convention in Milwaukee for a $100 Visa card (need not be present to win), and if you are planning on attending the convention, be sure to pick up your free gift at the registration table. We will not be mailing these out. If you have received a credit voucher towards a convention, please register online and then mail the credit voucher to Lori Baldauf at Circuit Court Branch 6, 420 Jackson Street, Oshkosh, WI 54901, and she will record the voucher for you. You may pay the balance by credit card online or send a check payable to WCRA for the balance due at the same time you send in the voucher. If you have any questions, please don t hesitate to contact Judy Zickert at jzickert1@gmail.com or Lori Baldauf at baldauflori1@hotmail.com. WCRA is a very strong state organization dedicated to pursuing excellence and promoting professionalism. YOU, our members, are the greatest priority to WCRA. YOU can rely on your Association to meet and exceed the demands of our evolving profession and to keep YOU, the member, informed of the important issues of our state and nation. An organization can only be as strong and solid as the membership it develops. The future of our profession and the role it plays in the state judicial system and the deaf and hard-of-hearing communities relies on the strength of the people involved. Thank you for your continued support!! WCRA is on Facebook and now Twitter! by Sarah Hart When the Wisconsin Badgers went to the NCAA Championship this March, you probably heard about some of the hoopla Nigel Hayes created around stenographers nationally. His interest in the NCAA stenographer set off a media frenzy, and stenographers became the unintentional stars of the NCAA tournament. With each passing week, we waited in anticipation for what words Nigel would say to stump the stenographer. Through Facebook shares and posts, Twitter tweets, and press conference interviews, we enjoyed every minute of the fun. We hope you did too! Be sure to check out the WCRA Facebook page to recap all the comments, shares, likes, photos, and videos that captured this amazing ride. We want to hear from you! We know you re out there working hard and doing great things every day. Go to our Wisconsin Court Reporters Association Facebook page to share your stories, photos, accomplishments, helpful hints, what s new and trending. We can also be found on Twitter.com/WCRA_steno. Page 9 Membership Drive Update! New WCRA Members Facebook & Twitter Welcome New WCRA Members Veronica Williams - Official, Juneau County Joan Biese - Official, Outagamie County Dawn Lahti - Freelancer, Franklin Kaila Macek - Official, Rock County Tricia Trexell - Freelancer, Muskego Stephanie Groshek - Student, LTC Whitney Berndt - Student, LTC Lisa Freeman - Student Laurell Breslow-Collien - Official, Milwaukee County Rachel Davis - Freelancer, Madison Sarah Gilkay - Freelancer - Wauwatosa Monique Kaiser - Freelancer, North Prairie Cory Crandall - Official, Dunn County Jennifer Carter - Official, Milwaukee County Roxann Badtke - Official, Shawano County Phyllis Peoples - Official, Milwaukee County Join WCRA & NCRA Today! What truly distinguishes highly successful court reporters from the merely successful is knowing when and how to RECOGNIZE OPPORTUNITY. Such an opportunity is right in front of you now in the form of membership in your state association as well as NCRA. Visit or Stay connected with WCRA on Facebook &

10 Wisconsin and National Court Reporting & Captioning Week: February 15-21, 2015 Page 10 Court Reporting & Captioning Week Report NCRA s Court Reporting & Captioning Week: Promoting the Profession Contest - Wisconsin Takes 3rd Place Thank you to all of you who contributed by hosting an event for our special week or promoted our profession in some way. Our WCRA members rock!!! by Lori Baldauf Celebrations were had in February throughout Wisconsin in honor of Wisconsin and National Court Reporting & Captioning Week. Many officials took advantage of the dedicated week by providing handouts to all courthouse visitors and courthouse personnel. Other official reporters provided various treats for their judicial staff. One county hosted a noon hour luncheon for the Clerk of Court s, Public Defender s, and District Attorney s offices, while another county hosted an afterwork happy hour party with prizes for those who could Guess the Steno outline. Sheri Piontek made a special visit to LTC to speak with students, and Karla Sommer and Lindsay DeWaide attended MATC and visited with students there. In anticipation of our special week, WCRA offered many suggested ways in which to celebrate to showcase court reporters and captioners, and we are confident there was a celebration of some kind in every county! Lisa Carey from MATC assembled many informative handouts and offered them to WCRA for distribution. (A BIG THANK YOU! ) These materials can be made available to our members throughout the year and come in handy when visiting schools and conducting onsite demonstrations. Please contact Lori Baldauf at baldauflori1@hotmail.com to request this information. Sheri Piontek shared the details of our statewide participation with NCRA during their TakeNote Campaign, and, as a result of our combined efforts, Wisconsin earned a third place! It is our hope that we can build on our celebrations from year to year and that more of our members will take the initiative and seize this wonderful opportunity to promote the court reporting and captioning professions. Ozaukee County celebrates Court Reporting & Captioning Week. Marathon County & Willette Reporting cake Barbi Galarno & Sheri Piontek shared useful information with students. (More on page 19.) Marathon County Reporters Kim Lentz, Karla Sommer, Miriam Leute, and Lyssa Basset, join Chris Willette (center) from Willette Court Reporting to celebrate Court Reporting & Captioning Week.

11 Page 11 Badger Hoopla WCRA Salutes the Badger Basketball Team: And A Special Thanks to Nigel Hayes for Bringing National Attention to Our Profession Karla Sommer with her husband Larry. Michelle Gudex, RMR, CRR, CBC, CCP Veronica Williams. Lisa Lafler, RPR, CRR, CLR with her husband. Nancy Weaver and her daughter Sarah. Sarah Falsey s Badger baby.

12 Wisconsin Sports Network Awards Ceremony by Karla Sommer and Chris Willette Page 12 Badger Hoopla What an honor it was to be invited to attend the Wisconsin Sports Network awards ceremony and participate in awarding the UW-Madison Men's Basketball Team the College Team of the Year Award! To provide you some background, Chris received an less than 12 hours before this event was to begin indicating that the Wisconsin Sports Network was looking for a couple of "stenographers" to attend their awards ceremony that evening in Kohler. This was an opportunity we could not pass up, so we immediately began making our plans. We had no idea what we were getting into, but it was quite an amazing evening! There were more than 600 people in attendance, many of whom were famous sports figures. We met so many wonderful people and got to hang out backstage and chat with people we would never have imagined meeting. Since our last-minute addition to the itinerary was to be a surprise to Nigel and the other players, we were asked to keep our presence a secret until the awards ceremony. We were allowed to anonymously mingle in the pre-awards reception which was a full-scale promotional event including tons of amazing appetizers, beverages, photo booth, DJ, sports games, etc. The awards process was similar to the awards ceremonies that you would see on TV, except instead of a "thank you" speech, the winners were invited to sit on couches on the stage for a very brief interview. Nigel had received an award earlier in the evening. During that award, the MC asked him if he had words he could share with the audience, after which the conversation turned briefly to stenographers and the positive media attention his comments garnered for the stenography profession. In that conversation Nigel said something like, "I guess it's a big deal. I don't really know why. I just said a few words." We were very impressed with his genuine personality. The MC for the award with which we were there to assist was Mark Tauscher, a former Green Bay Packer. We got to strategize with him about the presentation. Once they were settled on the couch, Mark started ribbing Nigel about the stenographer comments and presented him with our prepared WCRA Go Badgers poster that was written in steno. Tauscher asked him to read it and then said something like, "Oh, wait. We have your own personal stenographers here to help," at which time we entered the stage with our machines and sat down and started writing. We were then to have open conversation with the team, make it lighthearted and fun. On the stage were Coach Bo Ryan, Sam Dekker, Nigel Hayes, and Josh Gasser. (continued on next page)

13 Page 13 Badger Hoopla Chris Willette and Karla Sommer on stage with Coach Bo Ryan, Sam Dekker, Nigel Hayes and Josh Gasser at the Wisconsin Sports Awards Banquet. Wisconsin Sports Network Awards Ceremony (continued) Chris then took the mic and congratulated the team on behalf of all stenographers, court reporters, CART providers, and captioners across the United States on their great season. She then turned to Nigel and said something like, "Nigel, earlier you wondered what you had done for our profession. Let me just tell you that we are in the process of a nationwide campaign to recruit more students into our profession. After your words, schools right here in the State of Wisconsin -- Lakeshore Technical College and Madison Area Technical College -- have seen increased enrollment. Your timing was impeccable and we thank you for that. We would like to thank you by making you an honorary court reporter for the next few minutes." Karla then put her machine in front of Nigel and he started writing. Sam Dekker then wanted to try it, so Chris gave him her machine. They sat and wrote and had a conversation about the words that were coming up. Chris interjected and told them they should perhaps give up on the whole basketball thing and consider a career in court reporting! Sam is entering the draft, so that got a good laugh. Karla and Chris with Josh, Sam and Nigel holding two special autographed steno machines Both of us got our machines autographed by Nigel. We were able to present our prepared poster to the team for their locker room. We also brought along one of the Badger t-shirts with "the words" on it, and Nigel and Coach Ryan both signed it as well. We will be donating it to our raffle at our fall convention to raise money for the Wisconsin Chapter of Reach out and Read ~ Where Great Stories Begin, a nonprofit organization that advocates for child literacy. The evening was not finished yet. We then attended the after-party at The American Club in Kohler with another full spread of food and beverages and a dance. This is the time that we really had some great promo of the profession. We were recognized by a ton of people as, "Oh, you're the stenographers?! How does that machine work?" Interesting fact... when we said we were court reporters, they look at you like, what's that? When you say "stenographer," there was recognition. There seems to be a bit of a disconnect, which we thought was very interesting. Random people would walk by and give a shout-out, "Awesome job, stenographers!" We described the opportunities that exist in our profession and the shortage to many interested people. The awards ceremony will air on Wisconsin s major networks in June. We will keep you posted. Stay connected with WCRA on Facebook &

14 NCRA Leadership Conference in Denver, Colorado Page 14 NCRA Leadership Conference in Denver by Sheri Piontek, WCRA President-Elect Lindsay DeWaide and I attended the NCRA State Leadership Conference in Denver, Colorado, April 12-13, 2015, on behalf of WCRA. It was a two-day conference that followed Tech-Con. We arrived a few days before the conference to experience our new surroundings. We conquered the train system to go to a comedy show and saw John Lovitz. The Rockies opening day for baseball was the same day, which they won, so lots of celebrating was going on in the downtown area. Saturday we drove to the top of Pike s Peak and literally put our heads in the clouds! We cleared our heads on the way back to the bottom of the mountain and proceeded to get ready for the conference the following day. Sarah Nageotte gave her presidential address welcoming all of us to the conference and shared her visions for the court reporting profession. Left to right: Lindsay DeWaide, Jodi Monroe and Cheryl Haab (both from California), Josie Johnson (Iowa), Sheri Piontek (WCRA President-Elect) and Pam Burkle (Iowa). Who would have thought that taxes could be so exciting when Wendel Stewart, Senior Director of Finance and Administration, and Jeffrey Altman of Whiteford, Taylor & Preston, LLC, spoke to us on what our associations should look for in our treasurer reports? They suggested an accountant take a look at our books as a double check so no one is embezzling our funds. Wisconsin is ahead of the game in that regard as we instituted this mechanism of checks and balances last year! Matt Riley enlightened us on how to develop content in planning an effective meeting. We learned about parliamentary procedure and the things to negotiate when signing a contract for conventions. The hotel is looking to make money, so you must pay particular attention to what is most important to your association in regard to food and beverage options, number of hotel rooms, and conference rooms before signing the contract. Lindsay and Sheri with Sarah Nageotte, NCRA President, and Stephen Zinone, NCRA President-Elect. Christina Lewellen of the NCRA staff shared the complete reorganization of the public relations format for the court reporting profession and went into the SONAR Report in more detail. She is so exciting to listen to as she is full of enthusiasm and energy! Tips and strategies for networking was the best thing I left the convention with as an officer of WCRA. By networking through your personal life, it can bleed over into your professional career, and the options are endless. This conference shared some great tools on being a more productive leader in a state association. Lindsay and Sheri at the NCRA State Leadership Conference in Denver. Lindsay with Debbie Dibble and Mary Berry, Texas President-Elect. Sheri and Lindsay with NCRA Representative Heidi Thomas.

15 Legislative Defense by Karla Sommer Addressing our legislative issues with regard to the budget necessitated the board of directors to seek the assistance of experts. We were very fortunate to have NCRA s Government Relations Team, Adam Finkel and Dave Wenhold, available to answer questions and offer advice. However, it was and is very important to have someone representing us at a state level, someone with Wisconsin connections. Our lobbyist, Bob Jentz, and our attorney, Jordan Lamb, have represented us for many years now and understand our association and profession. They have put in many hours assisting us in our legislative defense. This work does not come without a cost. Because of WCRA s wise financial management over the years, we were prepared and did not have to ask our members for additional financial support. WCRA thanks you for your continued membership and support over the years. THIS is why your continued membership is so important. We would like to thank all of you who contacted the members of the Joint Finance Committee, your legislators, as well as rallied support. However, it is critical to maintain that contact. When or if something crosses their desks in the future that may affect us, it is good to have that personal connection established. If you do not know who your state legislators are, you can find them by going to the Find my Legislator box at the following link: In your contact, please include the following: 1. State who you are, your employment, and that you reside in their district. 2. Bring to his/her attention the fact that the JFC unanimously supported the court reporter funding issue by voting 16-0 to pass Alternative A4-B2 of the Legislative Fiscal Bureau Paper #225 to delete the provision and maintain current law, with funding and position authority for court reporters under the Circuit Court's general program operations sum sufficient appropriation. Page 15 Legislative Defense WCRA Board Members Visit County Court Reporters Join WCRA Today! What truly distinguishes highly successful court reporters from the merely successful is knowing when and how to RECOGNIZE OPPORTUNITY. Such an opportunity is right in front of you now in the form of membership in your state association. Visit 3. Ask for their support when passing the final budget. 4. Thank them for their service. Remember, you do make a difference! WCRA Board Members Visit Milwaukee County Court Reporters by Andrea Reichle Right: Sheri and Karla meet with Milwaukee County court reporters. Every month, the Milwaukee County court reporters have a meeting to discuss any ideas or issues that have occurred. This past March, Karla, Sheri, Lindsay, Judy, Margo, and Andrea of the WCRA Board graciously gave up time from their schedules to come to Milwaukee. There was a great turnout of over 25 court reporters in attendance. We discussed the issues regarding the budget and the importance of becoming a member of WCRA. Laurell Breslow- Collien got a gift card for being the first reporter at the meeting to become a new member of WCRA, and Pauline Garry won the raffle prize. Stay connected with WCRA on Facebook &

16 Reporter Profile: Michelle Gudex Page 16 Reporter Profile: Michelle Gudex New Proofreaders - Michelle and Judy Check Out Our WCRA Discussion Forum I would encourage you all to visit our discussion forum on our website, wicourtreporters.org, to share any questions or concerns you may have. While any member can go there and start a new discussion, comment, or view discussions, members must SUBSCRIBE TO THE FORUM to receive notification of when there is a posting, otherwise they will not receive notice. Please go to our website now to subscribe so you stay current on discussions. Hi, my name is Michelle Gudex, RMR, CRR, CBC, CCP. I entered court reporting school right out of high school in the fall of I did not know what else to do, and I thought that I could be good at it. I enjoyed challenging myself on the machine, and I very much preferred practicing over studying for a test in another class. It wasn't your typical homework. I graduated from LTC at the age of 19 in the spring of 2002, did some additional interning over the summer, and got my first job in January of 2003 working half-time for the Outagamie County Court Commissioner. On my days off, I did per diem work and also depositions for Appleton Court Reporters. In June of 2004, I became a full-time official in Sheboygan County and have been here ever since. The view of Lake Michigan is beautiful from my office! I enjoy the fact that there is always room for self-improvement in this field, which keeps me from getting bored. Once I reach one goal, there is always something else to work on. I am currently working on learning new software tricks and overhauling my dictionary by getting rid of junk I entered ten years ago and creating lots of new briefs to shorten my writing in the future. It is almost like a video game to me now to write as short and accurate as possible. After writing things out for so long, I think it is time to put the short back into shorthand! On a personal note, I have been with my husband Jason since I asked him to the Sadie Hawkins dance when we were 15. After we both finished college, we got married and had two children, Winston (6) and Oliver (3). Jason is a mechanical engineer (a/k/a my personal tech guy), and we are part-owners of two businesses which he helps run, ConceptWorks, Inc., and Mekco Manufacturing. I look forward to helping out by proofreading this newsletter, helping on WCRA's TRAIN Committee, and becoming more involved in the future to continue to make positive things happen in our field. Aside from that, summer is almost here, and that definitely puts a smile on my face! Proofreading Who Knew It Could Be Fun? WCRA Offers One-On-One Realtime Assistance Please contact Michelle Gudex at michellegudex@gmail.com to get started. See page 6 for details. by Mary Burzynski and Doris Pfeiffer When we first began proofreading the newsletter, we did it as a favor for then- WCRA President Chris Willette. Seven years later, we're still at it, but all good things must come to an end. Karla Sommer will soon be turning over her responsibilities as WCRA president to Sheri Piontek. Although it's been an enjoyable ride, it's now time to turn over our proofreading responsibilities to two pair of fresh eyes; namely, Michelle Gudex and Judy DeRuyter. While at times the newsletter proofreading seemed a burden, it was always a time of healthy discussion about rules and connecting with a longtime friend. Yes, at times it was even downright fun! We wish the best to Michelle and Judy. May you find this new endeavor to be as enjoyable and rewarding as we did! Stay connected with WCRA on Facebook &

17 Reporter Profile: Judy DeRuyter My name is Judy DeRuyter. I am an official reporter for Branch 4 in Sheboygan County. This all began when a court reporter (currently working; I ll protect her identity) came to speak to my shorthand class sophomore year of high school. My focus has been on court reporting ever since. I attended Lakeshore Technical College and graduated in I applied for a position with the Family Court Commissioner, Terence Bourke, as his court reporter. I worked with him until 2000 when I took the position in Branch 4. When Judge Murphy retired in 2003, Judge Bourke was elected. I then was able to work for him again until he decided to retire this year. I am now looking forward to working for a new judge, Rebecca Persick. I have been married to Scott since 1999, and we have a charming two-year-old son who turns three in August. In the summertime, we do a lot of camping and playing outside. In wintertime we go snowmobiling when there s snow and do different activities that keep us busy until summer rolls around again. Court reporting has been a great career so far. I have learned so many new things from the cases we have been assigned it keeps work interesting. Being available to help at conventions and on different committees and causes WCRA is working on is a challenge and rewarding at the same time. To the students who are entering this field or who are having a difficult time finishing school and getting out to work, my advice is the same as you have heard time and time again: practice, practice, practice. When you need practice material you have not heard before, try what I did to get my speed up. I sat down in front of the TV. Intellectually it may not be good for you, but for speed building it is great. Watch legal shows (which is how I got my mom and myself hooked on Law & Order back when it first started). Watch the news. They all have multiple speakers, so you can work on those difficulties. Speed is always a factor on news programs as they have time limits to work with. Call your local court reporters. Many are willing to have you sit in court with them to find out what the speeds and flow is all about. Someone is always willing to help out. Just keep working at it, and before you know it, you will be a working reporter just like I am! Will YOU be a mentor for a colleague? Request to all CART providers, captioners and realtime writers: Will YOU be a mentor or a sounding board for colleagues that are interested in what you do? Are you willing to share your story with others? Please contact me at rose.coulthart@wicourts.gov. I would like to put together a database of mentors. Page 17 Reporter Profile: Judy DeRuyter Student Mentor Program Student Mentor Program Our Student Committee sponsors a mentor program whereby students are linked with working reporters, captioners and/or CART providers. The reporters provide advice, encouragement, speedwriting tips, job shadowing opportunities, answers to questions, whatever we can to help students graduate. The mentor program has, without a doubt, at times been the difference between a student giving up or graduating and meeting their career goals. The benefit to the students can be enormous; the benefits to the working reporter/captioner/ CART provider are in knowing we have helped someone get through a tough program and filling the muchneeded job openings that exist throughout the country. Contact Taunia Northouse at taunia@tds.net or for more information. The time commitment is minimal; from occasional s to on-the-job training, set up entirely between the working professional and student. Student Mentors: Thank You For Making A Difference WCRA would like to recognize and thank all of our student mentors who provide advice, encouragement, speedwriting tips, job shadowing opportunities, answers to questions, whatever they can to help our students graduate. Your support and guidance can make the difference between a student giving up or graduating and meeting their career goals. YOU ARE MAKING A DIFFERENCE! Stay connected with WCRA on Facebook!

18 MATC School Report by Lisa Jo Hubacher, RPR, CRI Court Reporting Program Director/Instructor Madison Area Technical College Page 18 MATC School Report It has been a whirlwind of great things happening in our program and the profession as a whole the past couple of months. Yeehah! As I m sure you know, Nigel Hayes made us famous; and solely by reason of proximity to the university from whence he hails, we were instantly inundated with requests for information. Lisa Lee Carey was interviewed by at least 6 different media outlets in one week s time, most with less than 12 hours notice. I cannot thank her enough for stepping in so many times and doing such an excellent job promoting the profession. The free publicity also brought an invitation to host a table at Adult Swim at the Madison s Children Museum. Rowan Bright, a former graduate and current freelance reporter with Verbatim Reporting, kindly donated her Friday night to wow the crowd by demonstrating realtime. Her realtime feed was broadcast to a large screen at the end of the table and simultaneously to her ipad. Nicole Gottschalk (profiled on page 17), one of our current students near graduation, also accompanied us for the evening. We put her to work with the texting contest. We challenged passersby to text a preprinted message while Nicole wrote the same message on her machine. We never lost! Our eternal gratitude to Rowan and Nicole for helping us out. Badger Basketball stand-out Nigel Hayes made us famous... instantly inundating us with many requests for information about the court reporting profession. MATC School Report (continued) Our advanced students just completed a weeklong mock trial at UW Law School. They all report it an extremely worthwhile experience. We are very lucky to be in such close proximity to the school. While I regret that this is the final year for the mock trial there, we already have designs on conducting our own mock trial next year in conjunction with the paralegal and public safety students. Adult Swim was better than anything I ve ever attended. We talked to people for four hours straight. Not just one or two people straggling by with lag time in between either. There was a group of at least 20 people at one point straining to hear Lee explain reporting. And the throngs just kept a-comin. Talk about a perfect demographic for us -- predominantly 20-, 30-somethings who came to a Friday night event called Word Freaks. We are trying to capitalize on the publicity even further by holding an open house in our mock courtroom on campus on Wednesday, June 17, utilizing the TakeNote campaign materials and monies offered through NCRA. We will invite our advisory committee members to help us host and to hold our annual committee meeting thereafter. We ask all of you to keep the momentum going by contacting local schools to offer a demonstration or to speak to the school counselor before the school year ends. Tell your friends and neighbors about what you do. Speak to juries and litigants every chance you get. Talk to students in your classrooms if you re a CART provider. Help keep us rolling along! Thanks much! (continued in side bar to left) Our FIPSE grant requires we hire an outreach liaison whose job will be to increase awareness of the profession, increase market demands for our services, and recruit students nationwide. That position will be filled shortly. We re looking forward to loosing that person onto the world! Program applications are already double over the number of students who applied last fall. For the first time ever, we had new students begin in January, and I believe we will have at least two new students beginning in June. Allowing year-round entry seems to be helping enrollments. Lisa Lee Carey joined with MATC students to promote our profession during Court Reporting & Captioning Week. A month later she stepped up to the plate and excellently promoted our profession during interviews conducted by at least six different media outlets in one week s time.

19 LTC School Report by Barbi Galarno As we end another school year, we are as busy as ever. We were lucky enough to celebrate National Court Reporting Week with two speakers. Sheri Piontek spoke during our first-year student classes, covering everything from interviewing, to proper dress, to even suggestions on posture and proper body mechanics. She also brought along handouts for the students. Susan Kay, along with a former student/now freelance reporter, Tiffany DeBruin, both with Brown & Jones, came and spoke during our second-year student classes. Susan covered, again, topics relating to freelance reporting, as well as interviewing, dress and business skills you may need as a freelance businessperson. Tiffany was able to share with the students her experience as a newbie out in the field. While the speakers did come during specific class times, all students were invited to come to hear both speakers, and we heard a lot of feedback from students on how much they enjoyed that experience. Many thanks, again, to all of them. We also got to enjoy the benefits of publicity that came from the Badgers basketball team this year. FOX 11 out of Green Bay came to LTC to do an interview on our campus, and Jackie did a phone interview with TMJ4 out of Milwaukee. We also held informational sessions in February, March and April. We advertise in the areas of all our campuses and hold the sessions in the actual classrooms students attend with Jackie and me at LTC over the ITV system just like they would experience when they would attend class. We did have a fair amount of inquiries, but actual attendance was not great. With the projection from NCRA of 5,500 job openings in the next five years, many of them in the CART and captioning areas, Jackie and I have been taking a look at incorporating some additional classes into our court reporting program. The changes will enable students to only have to do a Captioning/CART internship to earn the additional Associate s Degree in broadcast captioning. The additional classes will also be beneficial to court reporting degree graduates in getting them better prepared for CART work in the judicial setting. As we get approvals and a date as to when we will be incorporating these changes, we will be sure to give an update. Page 19 LTC School Report Sponsor-A-Student Susan Kay, Barbi Galarno and Jackie Rupnow celebrate Court Reporting & Captioning Week. We anticipate that we will have five to eight students graduate before the end of summer. We have one that has completed all the necessary speed requirements and is just finishing up the internship and procedures courses and another just finishing up general education courses. We would just like to extend another thank you to Susan Kay, Tiffany DeBruin, Sheri Piontek and Karla Sommer for their help in making our Court Reporting Week an informative one for our students, and to the members of WCRA for the work they do in mentoring our students and the support they give during their internships. Sponsor-A-Student As students are the future of our profession, we are offering members the opportunity to help them stay in our profession and come to our conventions. You can pay for a student's membership fee of $20, or select a sponsorship option when registering Please send the check (payable to WCRA) to: Attention Lori Baldauf, WCRA Treasurer, c/o Circuit Court Branch 6, 420 Jackson Street, Oshkosh, WI Designate it for student membership fees or convention registration or both. If you have a specific student in mind, you can designate that student; otherwise we will draw names out of a hat. Stay connected with WCRA on Facebook! Sheri Piontek speaking with students... part of Court Reporting & Captioning Week. Thank You to WCRA s Outstanding Student Volunteers Thank you to the following volunteers for accepting our request for school presentations: Cathy Sosnowski Doris Pfeiffer Julie Poenitsch Lisa Hubacher Pat Nelson Andrea Reichle Chris Willette Karlye Canfield Kim Lentz Mary Burzynski Mical Barkley Chris Wetzel Lisa Carey Laura Kolnik Denise Pahman Jennifer Schmaling Margo Lucas Veronica Williams

20 LTC Student Profile: Ashley Shimek Page 20 LTC Student Profile: Ashley Shimek School Presentation School Presentation by Doris Pfeiffer Mary Burzynski and I were asked to present classroom demonstrations to three sophomore classes in Athens, Wisconsin, on April 30, As has been our past experience, we had varying degrees of interest and participation. As sophomores, the students may not yet be thinking about their futures, but it certainly is a good way to at least put a little bug in their ears about our wonderful profession. One of the teachers strongly pointed out to the class the fact that it was a three-year degree which led to a well-paying job. She compared it to her own level of pay after having completed a master's degree. We took advantage of the Badgers and in particular Nigel Hayes and their bringing court reporting or stenography to the forefront by playing a short clip of one of their press conferences. That clip did grab their attention. We did a short PowerPoint presentation following the news clip. My suggestion to anyone doing a school presentation would be to keep the presentation short, then allowing time for the students to be hands-on with the steno writer, and also allowing time for questions. WCRA 200 Club for Students My name is Ashley Shimek. I am attending Lakeshore Technical College in Cleveland, Wisconsin. This semester will wrap up my second year in the judicial reporting program. Currently, I am at 160 wpm in jury charge; 150 wpm in testimony, which I find the most challenging; and I just moved up into the 160 wpm class for literary. My goal is to graduate next year at this time! I first became interested in the judicial reporting program when I was a senior in high school. However, I took a law class later on in my senior year and we went to the Manitowoc Courthouse to see a trial. Being interested in judicial reporting, I paid close attention to what was being said. I did not under stand anything they were saying, and, unfortunately, I decided not to go to school for reporting. Instead, I continued my education by going to LTC in the pharmacy technician program. I graduated a year later when I was 19, but I could not find a suitable job. I was definitely discouraged at this point, but I knew I needed to find a career that I loved. I decided to take some general education courses at UW Manitowoc for a semester and transfer to UW Oshkosh for social work because I love helping people. This choice was a dead end and after a year of taking social work courses, I decided this was not for me. When I was a little girl, I always dreamed of being a geologist. Even though that dream seemed a bit far fetched, I decided to go for it. Since social work did not work out for me, I enrolled in geology courses at UW Oshkosh. I absolutely loved every bit of it. Unfortunately, I had a very hard time in chemistry, and this was a required class. I took it twice, and each time I failed. So, once again, I was discouraged and I had no idea what to do with my life. Thinking everything over, I decided to move back home and enroll at LTC for accounting. Needless to say, after one semester, I hated accounting! At this point, being very frustrated, I went to talk to an academic advisor. I was instructed to do research on a few programs. The only program that stood out to me was judicial reporting and broadcast captioning. I decided that it wouldn t hurt to try it since this is what I was going to do right out of high school in the first place. It was a bit scary at first, seeing the equipment. After one semester of judicial reporting, I absolutely loved it! Today, I am 25 years old. I am so happy I decided to go with reporting! Some people laugh because I took the long way around to get to it, but I am happy I got the experience and knowledge in other areas. All my loved ones are very supportive of me, and I am very grateful for that! When I am not practicing on my steno, I love to read and go adventuring! Students, WCRA invites you to join the 200 Club. Invitation-to-the-profession packets and certificates are available upon request. Qualifications are: 1. Successful 200 wpm test 2. Member of WCRA 3. Current enrollment in an NCRA-accredited school Contact Taunia Northouse, Verbatim Reporting, Limited Taunia@tds.net Stay connected with WCRA on Facebook &

21 MATC Student Profile: Nicole Gottschalk I am Nicole Gottschalk, an aspiring court reporter who's a few tests and some internship hours away from completing Madison College's Court Reporting Program. Although I'm open to any position in the reporting world, my ultimate goal is to be an official reporter. I'm among the many who only know court reporting exists because of a family member. My aunt is an official reporter in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. Years ago, she suggested that I would be good at it; but, of course, it went right over my head when she explained how it was done. After my first couple of frustrating years in college, wasting time and money in different programs, I finally listened to the lingering thought in the back of my mind and enrolled in the court reporting program. I attended the program orientation and it was very different than I expected. I had no idea what I was doing or getting myself into; all I knew was I had that "I'm meant to be a court reporter" feeling. Two and a half years later, that same feeling remains. I can't imagine myself doing anything else, and I haven't even entered my career yet. The most amazing part of my journey to becoming a reporter has been witnessing the immense encouragement that working reporters give to students. I look forward to the day when I'm on the other end of that support. Congratulations to the Newest WCRA 200 Club Members Nicole Gottschalk (profiled above) Adam Graupe (profile coming in the next newsletter) Amanda Marvin (profile coming in the next newsletter) Samantha Shallue (profiled in Winter 2014/15 newsletter) Adam Graupe, LTC Page 21 MATC Student Profile: Nicole Gottschalk Newest WCRA 200 Club Members On Madison s Capitol Square Serving Wisconsin since 1975 All reporters certified by NCRA Dedicated to the advancement of the court reporting profession Taunia northouse, RDR, CRR, CCp WCRA president StuDeNt COMMittee ChAiR 1998 to present DiStiNguiSheD SeRviCe AWARD 2012 Madison: toll FRee: MilWAukee: verbatim@tds.net Amanda Marvin, Cuyahoga Comm. College Samantha Shallue, LTC support WCra support Your profession... BeCoMe involved TodaY!

22 Wisconsin School Counselors Association Convention Page 22 Wisconsin School Counselors Association Convention by Lindsay DeWaide The Wisconsin School Counselors Association held a convention at the Monona Terrace in Madison this past February. This event happened to coincide with Court Reporting and Captioning Week. What better way to celebrate than to promote our beloved profession here? WCRA and the Student Committee took this opportunity and put together a lively, informative booth. For three days, our wonderful, dedicated volunteers educated counselors, passersby, and even other vendors about what we do, how we do it, and the opportunities that lie ahead for those who master the skill of stenography. Our realtime display was the center of attention, capturing the interest of many inquiring minds wondering just how this magic works. There were a few points hammered home to captive listeners. The most important, in my view, is our profession is a well-kept secret! We have a top career without a four-year degree says Forbes Magazine. There is 100 percent job placement upon graduation. This is a very attractive fact, with current skyrocketing costs of college tuition and lack of job placement. Karla Sommer, Lisa Hubacher and Lindsay DeWaide answer questions at our booth. Another topic discussed many times is this career holds endless opportunities. The same skill can be taken and applied in many settings, in many places, and while making a good living. Travel the state, the country, and the world to take assignments as a freelancer. Work as an official reporter for state and federal courts, even Congress. Caption television programs at home in your bunny slippers or provide CART onsite at schools and events for the deaf and hard-of-hearing community. Linda Flakne, Karla Sommer, Lisa Hubacher, and Lindsay DeWaide answering questions at our WCRA booth during the Wisconsin School Counselor Convention in February Stay current via & our website: wicourtreporters.org To name a few exciting opportunities, NCRA s Heidi Thomas provided CART behind the scenes for the Dalai Lama event when he visited the States. Our own Ed Johnson reported the 2015 State of the Union, shaking the president s hand before and after the speech. All in all, our appearance at the WSCA event was a success, sparking a lot of interest in stenography and generating leads for future school demos and career fair appearances. WCRA thanks our committed members for their efforts in showcasing the profession and volunteering their time. A huge need still remains, however, for volunteers to promote the profession. Please consider visiting one high school in your area. Enrollment and graduation is critical to the future of our schools and our profession. With the predicted job growth and looming shortage of reporters/captioners over the coming years, it is necessary for us to take charge and be active to ensure our future remains bright. In Lisa Hubacher s words: We need to get butts in those seats!

23 Distinguished Service Award Nominations: Deadline August 15, 2015 It s Time to Submit Distinguished Service Award Nominations: Deadline is August 15, 2015 A recipient of the Distinguished Service Award shall meet the following qualifications: Page 23 DSA Nominations Due A. Shall be a member of WCRA in good standing. B. Shall be a working reporter C. Shall not be an officer or director of WCRA D. Shall have been involved in WCRA affairs on an extensive level, during which involvement the candidates shall have rendered distinguished service to this association, which has contributed to its good reputation, general welfare, or worthy accomplishments. The committee may consider, among other things, services rendered to state and other reporting associations, public affairs and public relations, writing for association publications, and the advancement of the concept of the superior merits of machine shorthand reporting as opposed to other methods. Nominations of candidates may be submitted only by voting members of WCRA. Supporting endorsements may be made by other than the above to support the nomination. The committee shall not be limited to the names submitted in any one year, but may consider candidates whose names were submitted during the previous two years. Your DSA nomination should contain the following information: 1. Your name and address. 2. Name and address of the nominee. 3. Number of years the nominee has been reporting. 4. Number of years the nominee has been a WCRA member. 5. List the individual s creative contributions to the welfare of the profession of court reporting. 6. List any of the individual s significant and distinguished service to the profession as an active participant on boards or committees of any national or state association of court reporters. 7. List any of the individual s contributions to the profession in such areas as teaching, editing or publications or other contributions as have served to advance the progress of the profession of court reporting. NOMINATIONS ARE GOOD FOR TWO YEARS. LET S SHOW RECOGNITION FOR OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTIONS TO WCRA AND RESPOND TO: Karla Sommer, sommerkms@gmail.com Wisconsin and National Court Reporting & Captioning Week: February 15-21, 2015 (cont.) Karla Sommer, Sarah Hart, Julie Poentisch and Lindsay DeWaide took part in National Court Reporting & Captioning Week. Full wrap-up article is on page 10. Once again, thank you to all our Wisconsin court reporters who participated in promoting our profession. As a result of our combined efforts, Wisconsin earned a third place award in the NCRA national competition! Stay connected with WCRA on Facebook!

24 NCRA Introduces Online Testing! by Sarah Hart Page 24 NCRA Online Testing Chris Willette for NCRA VP NCRA Announces Slate of Officers - Chris Willette for Vice President WCRA Past President, Past Board Member, and Current Member Chris Willette has been selected by the NCRA Nominating Committee to serve in as Vice President. NCRA s membership will vote on the nominations at the Association s 2015 Convention & Expo later this year. All members may register their vote online as well. WCRA is so proud of you, Chris!!! Adding letters to your name just got easier! Beginning in 2015 NCRA is now doing skills testing online! What does this mean for you? What are the changes? The tests will be available more times throughout the year. You can take each test twice every four months. You get to choose what time of the day or night to take your test and you get to take the test in the comfort of your own home/office. You can take and pay for only the test leg that you need or want to take. You will immediately receive your electronically graded score. Here s how it works: After completing the registration process at NCRA.org/testing, NCRA will you instructions for contacting ProctorU to schedule your test. ProctorU is the online proctoring company used by NCRA. On the day of the test, you will log onto myrealtimecoach.com to access the test(s) you have registered for. An online proctor will confirm your identity and will need to see you and the room you are testing in, just as an onsite proctor would. When you are ready, there will be a one-minute warm-up. After the warm-up (and you ve taken a few deep breaths), click the Play button to start the test. When you complete the test, you will immediately receive your score. Equipment needed in addition to your steno machine, CAT computer, and CAT software: Internet access and web browser (Google Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, or Safari) Gooseneck webcam Adobe Flash Player v11 and Adobe Shockwave Player (recommended plug-ins for your webcam) Headphones 4Custom court reporting services tailored to your exact requirements 4Full-service firm including Realtime, E-transcripts, Expert & Technical Testimony 4Dedicated professionals certified through the National Court Reporters Association 4Serving central Wisconsin since1985: Marathon, Portage, Wood, Oneida, Price, Lincoln, Langlade, and Taylor Counties Christine J. Willette, RDR, CRR, CCP Phone: Toll-Free: Fax: chris@willettecourtreporting.com Microphone Windows XP or higher or MAC OSX or higher Visit NCRA.org/testing for more information and to register. Thank you to our NCRA Chief Examiners For those of you who have taken an NCRA certification skills test over the past several years, you know NCRA Chief Examiners Sue Veres and Jane Jones, as well as MATC Instructors Lisa Hubacher and Lisa Carey, and LTC Instructors Jackie Rupnow and Barbi Galarno. WCRA would like to thank them for tirelessly volunteering their personal time over the past several years to administer NCRA certification exams at MATC and LTC. Through their dedication, they have had the pleasure of watching many of you pass certifications, and the test takers could count on having experienced examiners. WCRA thanks you for your commitment to the future of our profession! Stay connected with WCRA on Facebook!

25 Realtime Fear Tips From NCRA's TRAIN App, which was created by NCRA Director Sue Terry A very long time ago whenever anyone mentioned writing realtime, the comment invariably was, "I don't want the lawyers to look at my screen." The answer is that they don't. The attorneys have their own jobs to do and they are rarely concerned with what is going on in your corner of the room. What writing realtime has done for me is improved my writing and my dictionary. I am constantly watching my screen and coming up with new ways to write something. I am so amazed when very difficult words are spoken and they actually come out in English on my screen! By the time I felt confident enough to send it out to the attorneys, I had been doing it for myself so long it was an easy transition. Don't get me wrong, in the beginning of a video depo when the attorneys are rattling off their names, firms, and clients, I still cringe at what comes up on the screen; but overall, writing realtime has been very rewarding to both my selfesteem as a professional and to my compensation. Now when the occasional attorney looks over at my screen, I am proud to know that he is seeing a clean transcript. (Submitted by Linda Hoffman.) The greatest realtime tip I ever had received came from my husband, a trial attorney in NJ. I was scheduled on a Saturday morning at a local hospital for a realtime deposition. Of course, the complaining started the evening before. Not only was it Saturday, it was realtime and a medical. My husband was so tired of hearing me complain, he turned around and yelled, "Viola, stop. It's only words!" Well, I was so in shock, I didn't know whether to smack him or hug him. An attorney was telling me basically to calm down and get over it. I think of those words he said to me every time I feel like I'm in trouble, and it calms me down. What words will calm you down? It works. Try it. (Submitted by Viola Zborowski.) Page 25 Realtime Fear Tips Welcome, Michelle Gudex, to the TRAIN Committee! Members, be on the lookout for Michelle s TRAIN Tips. She will be providing weekly tips to keep us all on the realtime track. Everyone has the same fear of writing realtime. The scenario is, it's the beginning of the proceedings when everyone is introducing themselves. You're lucky to get the attorney's name down correctly, let alone the 10person firm that you've never heard of that he/she spouts off at 400 words a minute. Try just getting the attorney's name correctly, and when he/she states their firm, simply write FI*RM 1, 2, etc., and it will come out correctly. There's another great way to slow them down. When they are quoting from exhibits or just plain talking way too fast, give them a "Computer Error." We're all used to seeing the Microsoft error numbers and have no idea what they mean; right? Choose a stroke to define as your own "Error Message" such as this: *** Error 829. Maximum processor speech input exceeded. Steno/Text dropped to comment line. Scopist reinsert from comment line upon editing. *** Now, what does that mean to us? Well, I think you know. What does it mean to them? "Wow, I have to slow down if I want to see this." You'll be surprised how this will train them in their role for a good realtime record. Besides, it's our little way of putting the blame where it belongs. Wisconsin and National Court Reporting & Captioning Week: February 15-21, 2015 (cont.) Dannielle Copeland and Rachel Gwidt (pictured right) took part in National Court Reporting & Captioning Week. Full wrap-up article is on page 10. Once again, thank you to all our Wisconsin court reporters who participated in promoting our profession. As a result of our combined efforts, Wisconsin earned a third place award in the NCRA national competition!

26 Where Are You & What Are You Doing? by Karlye Canfield Page 26 What Are You Doing? Realtime Tip for March Word Search Puzzle My daughter, Kiera Sanford, is a freelancer in Charleston, West Virginia. I ve been retired now for 9 l/2 years, and still enjoy taking an occasional deposition, but my main focus is working with Kiera as her full-time scopist. In January I will have been reporting for 50 years but have yet to encounter this kind of deposition dilemma. The photo shown to the left, a selfie, is of Kiera in her car. She was heading to a depo when a tractor/trailer jackknifed on the Interstate. She sat in stopped traffic for about 1.5 hours, unable to move, and couldn t get to her depo site on time. So she called the attorneys, let them know the situation, and suggested that she take the depo from her car by cell phone. They agreed. So like any competent, fast-thinking reporter, she got out her equipment and started taking the depo from the front seat of her car while stuck on the Interstate. Luckily her cell phone was connected to her car speakers so the sound was adequate but not ideal. She notified them when the traffic started moving again and suggested they go off the record so she could drive to the nearest rest stop. She called back and finished the first depo. By this time all the other scheduled witnesses were backing up at the depo site, so she took five more depos at the rest stop to complete the eighthour day in her car. That s dedication! But wait, there s more!! Eight days later she was driving to a depo site and came upon a tanker truck that had turned over and you guessed it - shut down the Interstate again! What to do? No problem. Get on the cell phone, call the attorneys, take out the steno writer and laptop, and start writing! Just another day in the life of a court reporter. Kiera Sanford, Karlye Canfield s freelance reporter daughter. Word Search Judicial Districts 1, 2, 3 and 5 by Lori Baldauf O O Z G X E R A J Q J Z F R Z A T D T L O A W C G B A B Q W N D A U C R O R V A H H M S A F A G K F L A O H S A B O E S W N H Z A C G S E Z X N E A H F E Q F I T O K V E O K Z X I D Y A N I N U Q B S U K B K N Z Y E P E A E Y R A R U F Z G E N W K W Y Y E W X Y Y H N T B E U E D I F L G J Y C Y T O J E E P K F I F E R L C E K N Z R E G E M X E E K U A Z O D D G Z J M H T R O W L A W N F A DANE GREEN JEFFERSON KENOSHA LAFAYETTE MILWAUKEE (Solution on page 27.) OZAUKEE RACINE ROCK WALWORTH WASHINGTON WAUKESHA Realtime Tip for March by Cathy Busa Cathy Busa has been reporting for 22 years in the Houston, Texas, area. She was a freelance reporter for 14 years before obtaining an officialship in Montgomery County, Texas. Cathy joined NCRA's TRAIN Task Force in 2014, and she enjoys jogging and her monthly book club meetings when she is not spending weekends with her family. Here is her realtime tip. Since I'm in trial most of the time, one thing I do -- which I do every week and I think it helps my judge immensely -- and that is on day one I build a job dictionary before we start with all the witnesses' and attorneys' names, locations, any unusual names/spellings I can find from the State's list of witnesses and their exhibit list they give me that morning. It's so much more efficient to input those ahead of time. That eliminates spending breaks and lunch trying to go back and find words that need to be J-defined. As new words or names come up that I haven't expected, I also watch the brief suggestions screen in my software and immediately implement those to create further J-defines on the fly. As my judge relies on my realtime constantly and watches it through the trial, I also take advantage of the time when video exhibits are being played or when attorneys are looking at exhibits before they re being entered to stay on top of problem words or phrases and then correct them on my computer. The CV-Net I use refreshes the judge s screen each time I make those changes. That is really a great program to have. Finally, each successive day of trial, I apply the first day's job dictionary to my dictionary list to translate against; and then once I'm in the new file, I apply globals from the previous day to that file. That way all the E-defines I have made in this trial will also apply to each new day of trial, ensuring I'm not wasting time making the same changes/corrections over and over.

27 Realtime Tip for April: What s Your Plan B for Realtime Connectivity? by Sandy Bunch VanderPol, FAPR, RMR, CRR, RSA Credential, CA CSR #3032 As I m writing this article, I m still stunned that my Plan A didn t work. And I m still ecstatic that I had prepared for Plan B. Since realtime hookups are an important part of my service model, I ve been fastidious about preparation for the worst possible moment in the realtime scenario. I ve carried extra computers, serial cables, adapters, Ethernet cables, netbooks, ipads, adapters you name it. But on this particular day I was, first of all, shocked that my solid, steady, reliable WiFi router malfunctioned. I couldn t believe it. I had used this router for years, and I had a strong affinity for it. I just couldn t believe she would fail on me. So I tried the usual troubleshooting tactics for routers: Unplugging the router for ten seconds and plugging it back in; pressing the reset button (no less than ten times in my desperation); cabling from my CAT computer to the router via an Ethernet cable (that s a Hail Mary effort I knew wouldn t work), and even trying a different outlet, all to no avail. I simply could not believe that my router had expired! So with 20 minutes remaining before the judge took the bench, I succumbed to the fact that my faithful router was now defunct, was expired, and was useless to me for at least the day. (It turns out it has been useless going forward.) With that thought in mind, I literally shouted out thanks that I had packed my backup router only the day before. In a matter of a few minutes, I was up and running with my icvnet realtime feed to the judge, counsel, and the clerk. Now, that s only one of my stories about my Plan B for realtime connectivity. I have several more. And each Plan A failure was circumvented with a foolproof Plan B. So what s your Plan B? If you are using cables, ensure a reliable Plan B by carrying extra adapters, cables and multi-line blocks. If you are using StenoCast Bluetooth, carry a few extra receivers/dongles. If you are wireless (using a network for sending your realtime) ensure success by carrying an extra router, Ethernet cables, a MiFi, or your cellphone (cellphone s hotspot). My Plan C - Another solid option for wireless connectivity can be streaming your realtime over the Internet, a Wide Area Network (WAN) whether it s your Stenograph or Gateway Cloud, LiveDeposition, LiveNote Stream, Remote Counsel or StreamText. Connecting to the law firm s or court s network is certainly a viable option. Just be sure if it s a public network that confidentiality of the proceedings is not an issue. Set yourself up for success when you provide realtime to your clients. Always have a Plan B and a Plan C. My motto: The greatest weapon against stress in the realtime environment is to be prepared to succeed ALWAYS have a Plan B and Plan C. Page 27 Realtime Tip for April Word Search Answers Word Search Judicial Districts 1, 2, 3 and 5: Answers by Lori Baldauf O O Z G X E R A J Q J Z F R Z A T D T L O A W C G B A B Q W N D A U C R O R V A H H M S A F A G K F L A O H S A B O E S W N H Z A C G S E Z X N E A H F E Q F I T O K V E O K Z X I D Y A N I N U Q B S U K B K N Z Y E P E A E Y R A R U F Z G E N W K W Y Y E W X Y Y H N T B E U E D I F L G J Y C Y T O J E E P K F I F E R L C E K N Z R E G E M X E E K U A Z O D D G Z J M H T R O W L A W N F A DANE GREEN JEFFERSON KENOSHA LAFAYETTE MILWAUKEE OZAUKEE RACINE ROCK WALWORTH WASHINGTON WAUKESHA Do you have used writers, computers or unused software? Someone may have a use for it. WCRA has reserved a space at no cost to members to advertise quality court reporting equipment. your information to: ellen.emagine@comcast.net Stay connected with WCRA on Facebook &

28 Realtime Tip for May: Test-Taking Tips submitted by Mary Burzynski Page 28 Realtime Tip for May: Test-Taking Tips Happy Spring! Has it finally arrived? I surely hope so! In the spirit of Arbor Day, Earth Day, and Clean Sweep, I am recycling a tip from last year. May 2 is the day for NCRA Certification Tests. Best of luck to everyone who is testing on Saturday. I am adding a relaxation exercise that I found online somewhere, and it was very helpful for me as I was waiting to testify before the Joint Finance Committee. It s called Breathe. Exhale completely through your mouth. Inhale through your nose to the count of four. Hold your breath for the count of seven. Now let your breath out slowly through your nose for the count of eight. Repeat twice a day. Well, in a very tense situation, twice a day is not enough. Twice in a minute is probably better! Our first tip comes from NCRA Past-President Nancy Varallo. Do not write for 24 to 48 hours before the test. Like a muscle when exercising, your brain will perform better after rest. Our fingers are fast enough for any speed. It is our brains that write steno. They need a break too! MARK YOUR CALENDARS 2015 WCRA Annual Convention October 2-4 in exciting Milwaukee Featuring: Mark Kislingbury Start Your Engines! Deb Bollman, CA-CSR, CRR, CBC, RMR ASAP Sports Bill Wick Interactions Between Attorney, Reporter and Witness - Observations of the Trial Attorney Katie Linn Hidden in the Heartland: Child Sex Trafficking and a Community Response Plus, A Realtime Rally Contest & SO MUCH MORE!! Doreen Sutton is a member of the NCRA Secretary/Treasurer. She is a freelance reporter in Arizona, and she suggests this tip. I feel that visualizing the entire experience from start to finish sometimes helps. So you set up your equipment, ready to write. Get a five-minute take and take the test. Visualize turning it in after typing it up. During the ensuing days before the test, visualize going into the room, writing the test, keeping focused and writing well and typing it up. Visualize the entire experience, that you got it, that it was a successful test. Keep that scenario in your mind while doing other tasks, such as shopping, cooking, or driving. Our next tip comes from Karen Teig, another member of the NCRA Board of Directors. Karen is an official reporter in Iowa. This is her tip. Sit down at that writer like a wrestler walking onto the mat. Own it! Tell yourself, Every day I write faster than this test is given. I can do this! Take a few deep breaths, clear your mind, and don t talk to yourself during the test. Here is a tip from another NCRA Board member, Michele York, a United States House of Representatives Court Reporter. This is Michele s tip. Practice, practice, practice! If you want it, you have to work for it! Here is a tip from someone who needs no introduction, Chris Willette. Practice on your air machine at speeds faster than you can write. It will help get your brain firing more quickly and help it adapt to the faster cadence. Eat peanut butter immediately prior to the test. Breathe! Get something for everything. Don t waste time thinking about a brief when you re writing for speed. If the brief doesn t work naturally, write the word out. Another tip comes from a reporter who also needs no introduction, Karla Sommer. Arrive early so you are well prepared and have time to address any last minute concerns you may have without getting flustered because of the time. Once you are set up and the test is ready to begin, get yourself a focal point and just look at it and start writing. Don t freak out if you miss something. Just remember to breathe and keep writing. If I can, I like to let my mind wander rather than think about the test. Where are you going to have lunch after the test? What are my plans for the rest of the weekend? It tends to relax me, and I tend to write much better. (continued on next page)

29 Realtime Tip for May: Test-Taking Tips (continued) Here is another great tip from WCRA Board Director Margo Lucas. Margo is a CART provider. Don't let a single thought enter your mind as you are writing the test, whether positive or negative, such as: "Hey, I'm getting this." "This isn't too bad." "Oops, I just dropped." "Okay. I can still pass this." "Oh, no, another mistake. Do I go back and correct it or just keep going?" "Hey, this feels like it's getting faster." "Now I'm behind. Holding on to three words, five -- six words -- Crap, I just dropped. "How many errors can I still make before I fail this test?" When is this going to end? This is the longest five minutes of my life. Page 29 Realtime Tip for May: Test-Taking Tips Well, you get the idea. Do not have a conversation with yourself. There s plenty of time for that after the test. Focus on the words dictated and write them immediately. Don t hesitate. Just write. Don t second-guess yourself. Just write. You will make errors, and that s okay. You don t have to be perfect. If you think you can or you think you can t, you re right. The choice is yours. Ed Johnson from Wisconsin passes along this tip. I think yawning helps, whatever you can do to mentally put yourself in a state that, hey, this is no big deal. Yawn, stretch, try to make yourself mentally, I don't know, bored, the opposite of stressed. Again, it's all about confidence and relaxation, psyching yourself into a state that this is no big deal. However people do that I guess is within their own abilities, but that's what I felt worked for me. I found this tip as I was reading the JCR Weekly. It comes from Stuart M. Auslander. He is a retired court reporter and the founder of the New York School of Court Reporting and Career Institute. He meant this for students, but are we not all still students? Where are you & what are you doing? Steve and Kathy Jagow proudly announce the April 19 birth of their first grandchild, Colton Andrew Jagow. A future court reporter? The three Ps: Practice, patience, and perseverance. This test-taking tip comes from Merilee Johnson. She is a CART provider, captioner, and freelance court reporter from Minnesota. She is also a member of the NCRA TRAIN Task Force. Here is her tip. You can t pass if you re not present. My last tip is something I recently heard as I was serving on the NCRA Nominating Committee. One of our board of directors candidates said that she uses the Be Brave Theory. The theory is to basically BE BRAVE! It s only 20 seconds! Well, in our case, it s only five minutes. So to those of us who are taking certifications tests on May 3, let s all BE BRAVE! It s only five minutes! So how do you spell relief? A Y in the box that means you passed that fiveminute test because you rested 24 to 48 hours before the test date. You imagined the whole testing process. You psyched yourself into a state of euphoria that this is no big deal, and you did not allow any self-doubt talk to creep into your mind. You were brave and faced this mission like a wrestler faces an opponent. You took a deep breath and ate a spoonful of peanut butter right before the dictation began with those infamous words, Ready, begin! Good luck to all of you who are working to gain additional certifications by taking the RPR, RMR, CRR, CCP, CBC, or the RDR. Why is this adorable child on page 11? Is this another future court reporter? Well, maybe. But this picture for now is part of a remarkable event that brought national recognition to our wonderful profession. Please see pages for these exciting articles.

30 Italy by Lindsay DeWaide Page 30 What Are You Doing? Lindsay DeWaide in Italy Where are you now... what are you doing? In addition to enjoying fulfilling and interesting careers, court reporters also lead fun and diverse lives. We are running a column in hopes that we will hear from you, our membership, about some of the fun things that you are doing... trips, family occasions, conventions, etc. Lindsay DeWaide combined business with pleasure on a recent trip to Italy. Above, an iconic view in Florence. Where are you and what are you doing? Have you taken fun trips? Have you been involved in any special activities, events or cases involving our profession? Please share your stories and pictures with your fellow reporters. Membership in WCRA, conventions and your Wisconsin Reporter newsletter are all intended to not only help you do your job better, but to also give you a chance to build friendships and learn from others in your field. We are in an exciting career at an exciting time... let s share what is exciting in our lives. What I love most about freelance reporting is the excitement and mystery of the unexpected. Every day is a new experience, a chance to meet new people, travel to new places, and hear new things. When the possibility of traveling to Italy for a good client surfaced recently, naturally I jumped at the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. My travel experience was a ridiculous reenactment of the movie Planes, Trains, and Automobiles -- in French and Italian. However, I finally arrived in Modena, my first destination, where I conquered a challenging, yet rewarding, week of testimony. Working closely with the interpreter, the realtime provided played a vital role in maintaining an efficient flow of the depositions and ensuring communications were conveyed accurately between the attorneys and witnesses. At the conclusion, I was able to venture out and truly experience Italy. Although there is so much more to explore, I made the most of my second week, traveling to Florence, Pisa, Cinque Terre, and finally Rome and Pompeii. Florence and Rome are filled with art, history, and spectacular architecture. So much can be seen outside on foot. I visited Florence s most iconic landmark, the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, and climbed 463 steps to the top of the duomo to witness a spectacular view of the city and mountains beyond. (See back cover.) I visited one of the oldest art galleries in the world, the Uffizi Gallery -- with paintings by Michelangelo, Raphael, and Leonardo da Vinci, to name a few -- and the Accademia, where I admired Michelangelo s brilliant statue of David. One day in Rome fell on Italy s Labor Day; so unfortunately it was crowded, and many sites were closed. I was still able to see a lot walking around, such as Trevi Fountain, Circus Maximus, and the Spanish Steps. I experienced the Colosseum (left) and a tour of the Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel. Perhaps the highlight of the entire trip was the Cinque Terre, Five Lands, region along the rugged Ligurian Coast. If it s not on your bucket list it should be. Here, five old fishing villages, each with its own distinctive character, are nestled in the cliffs by the sea (below). Only trains, boats, and rocky, narrow, steep paths connect the colorful villages. No cars exist. Please send your photos and articles to Ellen Burleigh (newsletter editor) at ellen.emagine@comcast.net. Deadline for the next newsletter is August 1. Let s get to know each other better.

31 Italy (continued) Unique to this area is the steep, terraced mountainside overlooking the sea where olives and grapes are grown and hand-picked (right). As the poet Veronelli once wrote, The workers glide acrobatically between the vines, like mad angels. I was able to visit three of the villages on foot. I hiked roughly seven tough miles of trails along the cliffs, taking in the breathtaking beauty of the dramatic coastal landscape. I was surrounded by lush, green mountainside, the sea splashing on the rocks below. Words cannot describe the true beauty and magic of this region. While exploring the outskirts of Monterosso al Mare, the northernmost village, I stumbled upon the hidden gem Buranco, a boutique vineyard burrowed high in the hillside. The Grillo family was very welcoming, offering tastings of wine, bruschetta and pesto, limoncino, and Sciacchetra. It was quiet and peaceful on the veranda, taking in the Italian countryside, with grapevines and lemon and olive trees as far as the eyes could see. My final day in Italy was spent touring the ancient Roman city of Pompeii, ending with a climb to the top of Mount Vesuvius, the only active volcano on mainland Europe (left). Its catastrophic eruption in AD 79 destroyed the ancient city below. The ruins of Pompeii are both incredible and sad to walk through -- and impossible to see everything in a day. To name a few things, there is an arena where gladiators honed their fighting skills. There are restaurants, public baths, amphitheaters, shops, houses, a brothel with hilariously obscene frescoes, the Temple of Apollo, and an elaborate system of pumps and lead pipes used to distribute water. It s amazing how modern they were. Page 31 What Are You Doing? Lindsay DeWaide in Italy Above: Pompeii with Mount Vesuvius in background. Below: Leaning Tower of Pisa. Much of everyday life was preserved under the volcanic ash, including the people themselves. There are a number of body casts created, preserving the last expressions and body positions of the dying civilians. In conclusion, Italy s history, art and architecture, people, shopping, scenery, and food are truly magnificent. Being submerged in the Italian culture and way of life for two weeks was a life-altering experience for me. Italy was more than I could have imagined, and it was very hard to say good-bye, or Arrivederci, to this diverse, stunningly beautiful country. It has left a lasting impression and captured my heart. I am already longing to return to this special place. (I did not forget the most important element of all: Food! Stay tuned.)

32 Page 32 Board Briefs Word Trippers Proofreading by Verbatim Proofreading by Almost Verbatim by Taunia Northouse Q It's still beneficial to her long term to have even limited weight bearing abilities on both feet to assist with even minor a.m. plagues? (ambulation) But no one in their right behind is going to try to do that for any other reason. (mind) Q Tell me the seriousness of mild end expiratory wheezing by rat rally? (bilaterally) A It says poet will not turn well at high speeds in tight areas. (boat) strategy.design.copy ads.logos.business cards brochures.newsletters & more ellen burleigh h c ellen.emagine@comcast.net Board Briefs by Lindsay DeWaide as bad as as big as as early as as far as as fair as as fast as as follows as good as as hard as as high as as large as as late as as little as as long as as loud as as low as as many as many as as much as much as as near as as often as as soon as SBEFTS SBIGS SAERLS SFARS SFAIRS SFAFTS SFOLS SGAODZ SHARDZ SHAOIS SLARJS SLAITS SLILS SLONGS SLOUDZ SLOES SMAEN SMAENS S-FP S-FPS SNAERS SAUFRNS SAUFNS SNAZ SNS Barbara McNichol s Word Trippers WCRA s current Board Members as soon as possible SNOP as well SW-L as well as SW-LS as you sit here today SURD as I sit here today SIRD as we sit here today SWERD as a matter of SMAF as a matter of law SMAFL as a matter of fact SMAFT as a matter of evidence SMAFDZ as opposed to SOPT as a result SRULT as a rule SRAOUL as to STO as to the STOT as to the facts STOFTS as for the STPORT as you understand SUNDZ as you recall SURL as you can see SUKZ as I can see SIKZ as we can see SEKZ insofar as IN/SOEFRS insomuch as IN/SOEFPS Callous, callus Callous, an adjective, means being harsh emotionally; feeling no emotion or sympathy for others; hard-hearted; insensitive; indifferent; unsympathetic. The noun callus refers to a thickened or hardened area of skin or bark caused by exposure to friction. A boy asked his teacher about the large callus on her hand. She was surprisingly callous in her dislike for his concern. Kathy Orta The jury displayed the same callous attitude in sentencing him to death as he had shown for his five victims. After doing manual labor for many years, his hands were rough and heavily callused. Refer to 360+ Word Trippers all in one place. This print book and Kindle e-book helps you use these pesky word pairings correctly. Full details at or go to Amazon.com to order. Ellen Burleigh (your newsletter editor) entering one of the many locks on her recent Viking Cruise down the Danube. All the Word Trippers created since March 2011 in a convenient Word Trippers bonus handout, which is available just for asking! Word Trippers 2nd edition now available. Connect with Barbara on LinkedIn, Google+, Facebook, and Twitter.

33 Word Power by Karlye Canfield Some words are being misused and overused in our modern language today. 1 The biggest culprit: literally How many times do you hear a person use/misuse/overuse the word "literally." It's becoming an epidemic. Page 33 Word Power When something is literally occurring, that means that it is happening exactly as described. Someone who is literally passing out from excitement has their eyes rolling back in their head, and is collapsing to the ground as we speak. Usually, the intended word is figuratively, which means that whatever is happening is being described metaphorically. Someone who is figuratively on pins and needles with anticipation is really looking forward to something. Someone who is literally on pins and needles is currently experiencing small puncture wounds on their body. I heard a friend say, "I literally bend over backwards to help her" and I wanted to know how that helps?? Instead we can use words like really, honestly, actually. Unless you literally mean exactly what you are saying, don t use the word literally. If you have to use SOMETHING, try the word actually. 2 Another usage that drives me bananas, if not literally, is "an historic." Think about it: You don't live in "an house." Cartoon is from Stu s Views 2004 Stu All Rights Reserved 3 "So therefore..." So and therefore are words that mean the same thing. 4 Infectious vs. Contagious - something that is contagious is something that spreads by direct or nearly direct contact, and it refers to transmission. Something that is infectious may or may not be contagious because infectious refers to cause. You can be infected by a sickness that is not contagious, tetanus, for example, or pneumonia. Both are infectious but not contagious. 5 I.e. vs. e.g. - I admit that I have confused these for years, but finally, I memorized them. As you know, they are both abbreviations. As you might suspect, they both stand for Latin phrases. I.e. stands for id est ( that is ) and e.g. stands for exempli gratia ( for example ). Since NO ONE speaks Latin anymore, it s best to find another way to remember these. A good way to remember the difference. I.e. means in other words and should therefore introduce information that clarifies the statement made in the rest of the sentence. For example: Karlye Canfield s Realtime Tips! I really don t have time to make dinner tonight; i.e., you should pick up a pizza. The expression i.e. is great for introducing parenthetical statements because it sets off a bit of nonessential or extra information. You can actually enclose it with parentheses or not, depending on how much distance you want to put between the two concepts. E.g. is easier to remember think egg sample in order to connect your brain to for example. It s silly, but it works. For example: I really don't have time to make dinner tonight. Can you pick up something, e.g., pizza or takeout. 6 Disinterested vs. uninterested - I see these being used interchangeably, but they are different. If you are not interested in or bored by something, you are uninterested. Disinterested means you do not have a financial or personal stake in something. Disinterested means impartial or neutral. ONLY $10 (Sale ends soon.) or call to order

34 Page 34 Go Green Court Reporter Updates Go Green Today! Your quarterly newsletter is available in an electronic format in full color!! You can download and easily print your own copy, if you desire to have it in hand for your reading pleasure. Please join those of us who have opted to receive the newsletter electronically. It s an option that you choose within your own member profile on the WCRA website. Please consider making the change for the good -- go for the green -- and opt instead to save a tree or two as well as a few membership dollars! If you need assistance in making this change, please feel free to Lori Baldauf at baldauflori1@hotmail.com or Judy Zickert at jzickert1@gmail.com. WCRA and the environment thank you! Do It Online!! We encourage all members to register and pay membership dues and convention registration fees online using a credit card. Simply go to wicourtreporters.org, and click on Conventions & Events for the forms that need to be filled out for membership and/or convention registration and payment. Your secure online payment will be made through PayPal. You do not need to have a PayPal account to use the service. This service can not be used if you are applying a credit voucher or gift certificate for registration or membership fees. Please let us know if you have any comments or concerns. Stay current via & our website: wicourtreporters.org Court Reporter Updates: January/February/March/April/May 2015 New Appointments Jessica Case Rock Br 1 Susan Weniger new job share appt w/olson in Eau Claire Br 1 (still also in Eau Claire Br 5) Kimberly Tollard District 8 Floater Emily Rebek District 1 Floater Danielle Lanser District 1 Floater Risa Kramer District 1 Floater Transfers Trudi Delain - transfer from District 5 floater to Dane Br 14 Philip Harrelson transfer from Rock Br 1 & Dodge Br 3 to District 5 floater Christine Toellner transfer from La Crosse Br 5 to Vernon Cty (still also a District 7 floater) Susan Veres transfer from La Crosse Br 5 to Vernon Cty Andrea Bormann transfer from Eau Claire Br 1 to Dunn Br 2 Michelle Stello transfer from Vernon Cty to La Crosse Br 4 (effective ) Rose Roderick transfer from District 1 Floater to Milwaukee Br 40 Cindy Jo Brandt transfer from District 7 Floater to Sauk Br 1 Resignations, Retirements, etc. Pamela Delany Kenosha Br 3 Susan DeMent District 3 floater Jana Aamodt Burnett Rita Henderson Dane Br 14 Kenda Lisney La Crosse Br 4 Ellen Walfoort District 5 Floater Karen Palis District 1 Floater Mary Ellen Phillips District 8 Floater Patricia Sobolewski Dunn Br 2 Kenda Lisney LaCrosse Br 4 Denise Zamow ended job share in Jackson Cty only, still in Wood Cty Nina Bostwick Jacqueline Malone Jerald Schneider Current Vacancies/Postings District 5 Court Reporter (floater) District 1 Court Reporter (floater) - 2 full-time positions, 2 limited term positions Official Court Reporter La Crosse Br 5 Official Court Reporter - Langlade Official Court Reporter Marinette Br 2 Official Court Reporter - 50% - Rock Br. 1 Check for most current job postings. Looking for an employee? You can conveniently and securely place an ad through the WCRA website. The cost is $25, which includes an blast to all members, the ad on our website for three months AND in the most recent newsletter. All it takes is eight easy steps: 1. Visit 2. Log in 3. Classified Ads tab - Advertising with WCRA 4. Register 5. Enter your address - Next 6. Scroll down to find pertinent "job opening ad" box 7. Type in ad text 8. Select payment method

35 Where are you & what are you doing? Are YOU in the newsletter? You should be! WCRA membership offers the opportunity for members across the state to network and communicate at conventions and through Facebook. Another great way for connecting with your colleagues is through YOUR newsletter. Please consider sending a "Where Am I & What Am I Doing?" article to: Karla Sommer at sommerkms@gmail.com. Send your accompanying photos to: Ellen Burleigh at ellen.emagine@comcast.net. This can be a high res jpeg photo of anything anywhere, but please include yourself in the photo. See YOU in the newsletter! Treasurer s Report & Secretary s Minutes are now available only online: Advertising Advertising with WCRA supports your state organization while offering at the same time a targeted marketing vehicle, not only for our own firms but for many other businesses. If you know someone (i.e., friend, family, associate) who may benefit from our targeted advertising, please tell them about us. Annual Opportunities & Costs: $100 Bronze Advertising in the WCRA newsletter $200 Silver Advertising in the WCRA newsletter & website $300 Gold Advertising in the WCRA newsletter, website and at conventions Advertise through a variety of media: We have one of the finest quarterly newsletters in the country. It is well written and well read. It mails to over 300 members across our state who will see your print ad. Over 100 people on average attend WCRA conventions students, vendors, members, non-members and other individuals. Your company s flier will be included in every attendee s folder. WCRA s website shares ongoing professional issues with reporters around the country. By advertising on the website, you reach people from coast to coast. Please contact Sheri Piontek at sheripiontek@gmail.com if you would like to advertise or if you have questions. In addition: WCRA members in good standing can have free advertising for selling equipment for two months on the website, one blast to current members, and a one-time ad in the newsletter. Non-members will continue to pay a fee of $25 for the same services. Page 35 Advertising Website Reminders Website Reminders: by Judy Zickert at jkzickert@tds.net In order for the Website to be fully functional and put to its best use, it is important that all members please follow the steps below: Sign in and click on View Profile Click on Edit Profile to update your contact information, etc. Click on Access by Others and click on the appropriate circles to allow your name to appear in the Members Only/Anybody section Follow this same procedure anytime you need to change your phone number, address, mailing address, etc. WCRA has invested in this software so that our volunteers are able to spend their valuable time doing other important duties for our association. If you have not yet created a user name and password to access the WCRA site, don t waste another minute! You re missing out on up-to-date communications and other features available to registered users. Here s what you need to do: Go to Type in the address you have provided to WCRA (upper right-hand corner) Click on Forgot Password A temporary password will be ed to you. You can then return to the site, sign in and create your own password. You can also update your personal contact information and Member Access settings (see above).

36 In Memory WCRA would like to remember the following reporters for their dedication to our profession. Page 36 In Memory Wesley Gales, 84, Sturgeon Bay August 26, 1930 April 19, 2015 Wesley s career as a court reporter started in Kenosha County, where he worked as the official reporter for the Honorable Harold Bode. While in Kenosha, he became an integral part of Gateway Technical College s court reporting program. He taught English on a part-time basis and also wrote a court reporting training manual for Gateway s students. During this time he was also very active in the Wisconsin Court Reporters Association (WCRA) and the National Court Reporters Association (NCRA). He served on WCRA s Board of Directors and served a term as president of the association from In 2004 Wes was honored by receiving WCRA s Lifetime Achievement Award. He was also on the editorial staff of NCRA s magazine which published several of his articles. MARK YOUR CALENDARS 2015 WCRA Annual Convention October 2-4 in exciting Milwaukee Featuring: Mark Kislingbury Start Your Engines! Deb Bollman, CA-CSR, CRR, CBC, RMR ASAP Sports Bill Wick Interactions Between Attorney, Reporter and Witness - Observations of the Trial Attorney Katie Linn Hidden in the Heartland: Child Sex Trafficking and a Community Response Plus, A Realtime Rally Contest & SO MUCH MORE!! One of Wesley s great passions in life was helping students and working reporters further their careers. He accomplished this by becoming skilled in writing speed tests that were used by NCRA in its certification process. In the 1980s NCRA recognized Wesley for his contributions to the profession and named him a Fellow, one of its highest honors. In 1980 Wesley was hired by the late Honorable Edwin C. Stephan as his official reporter, and the family moved to Sturgeon Bay. After Judge Stephan s retirement, Wesley became the official reporter for the Honorable John D. Koehn. Wesley retired from court reporting in 1992, but in his heart he still wanted to be involved in helping student reporters. To this end, he started his own business, Gales Dictation. He published several volumes of tests and other dictation that schools across the nation purchased. William Bill Shimeta, 91 January 8, 1924 April 7, 2015 Richard Dick Schmidt, 66 September 13, 1948 April 10, 2015 William "Bill" Shimeta was a court reporter for 58 years. He started reporting trials and investigations in the Army Air Force in 1943 and was a court reporter for 40 years in the Milwaukee County and Circuit Courts and continued to do freelance reporting for 18 more years. Bill was honored as WCRA s Lifetime Achievement Award winner in Richard Dick Schmidt was an official court reporter for Winnebago County for nearly 40 years. Dick lost his short and courageous battle with cancer. He will be dearly missed by all who knew and respected him, both in the community as well as the entire 4th Judicial District. He attended many of WCRA's conventions throughout the years. (continued on next page) Stay connected with WCRA on Facebook!

37 In Memory (continued) Jim Barker July 8, 1946 April 2, 2015 At a young age Jim worked at his grandparents' court reporting office typing transcripts where he learned to value the importance of grammar and punctuation. Throughout his life he has been actively involved in the court reporting community. He started his own business and developed SearchMaster, a software program now used by thousands of court reporters to quickly find the information they need. Jim also hosted multiple online forums where he would answer questions about grammar and punctuation. He encouraged a high standard of professionalism and was well known and admired for his personal approach and the generous amounts of time he would spend helping others. Page 37 In Memory Myrna Williquette August 4, 1958 April 25, 2015 Kathleen Fay Francois November 27, January 8, 2015 Myrna began her freelance court reporting career in 1979 in Green Bay with Colleen Reed & Associates, was a partner at Bay Reporting from 1984 until 2004, and continued on as an employee at Bay Reporting from 2004 until She left us way too early at the age of 56 after a brief, yet courageous, battle with cancer. She will be missed by many. Fay was a tireless court reporter and one of the last to know and use shorthand becoming well-known and respected in the legal community. Her professionalism was one of her most outstanding qualities. Another was her sharp wit and great sense of humor. Fay will be especially missed by the court reporters and Administrative Law Judges of the Worker s Compensation Division who for many years contracted with Fay to cover hearings in the Fox Valley. At the age of 77, she was still reporting hearings until January of this year. Fay will be remembered not only for her gifted shorthand skills but also her professionalism as reflected in her cheerful disposition and impeccable appearance. Fay was truly a classy lady. Submitted by Sharon Gulvik-Stremcha, Karen Kasten, and Beth Nadolny, RMR Stay connected with WCRA on Facebook! MARK YOUR CALENDARS 2015 WCRA Annual Convention October 2-4 in exciting Milwaukee Check out: Milwaukee Art Museum Betty Brinn Children s Museum Discovery World Harley-Davidson Museum Milwaukee County Zoo Milwaukee Public Museum Oak Leaf Trail Milwaukee RiverWalk Edelweiss cruise Milwaukee s only pedal pub crawl Palermo's Pizza Milwaukee Food & City Tours Lakefront Brewery Historic Pabst Brewery The Miller Brewery The Sprecher Brewery Great Lakes Distillery (See page 5 for details & websites.) Plus, A Realtime Rally Contest Fantastic Speakers & SO MUCH MORE!!

38 Ask Mr. Modem! May 2015 Who Regulates the Internet? Page 38 Ask Mr. Modem Mr. Modem s DME Mr. Modem s DME Sites of the Month Pack This is a fun social media site with a focus on dogs. You can become the leader of your pack today and create a page for the pooch in your life. When you arrive at the site it begins by asking you if you have a dog. Just answer the questions as they appear and have fun! Veteran Owned Businesses A comprehensive directory of more than 21,000 veteran-owned businesses. If you re a veteran and would like to add your business, click the red Sign Up Now button and select the Basic Listing, which is free. Fill out the online forms and click Submit Your Listing. Be sure to visit this site often and support our veterans! Virtual Tours of Historic Britain Quicktime videos of many historic sights, including The Beatles' Abbey Road, Leeds Castle, Gloucester Cathedral, Stonehenge, the Master Modemshire Pub, the Tower of London, Oxford and more. Once the images load, drag your mouse cursor across them to view the entire panorama. Images require the free Quicktime Player at For prompt, personal responses to your computer questions, subscribe to Mr. Modem's award-winning weekly computer-help newsletter at Stay current via & our website: wicourtreporters.org Q. Is there a governing body that regulates the Internet in the United States? A. No one person, company, organization or governmental agency oversees the Internet at this time, though that is certainly subject to change. There are some individuals who feel the Internet should be overseen by the Government, much like a public utility. At present, however, it is a globally distributed network comprised of many voluntarily interconnected autonomous networks. It operates without a central governing body with each constituent network setting and enforcing its own policies. However, to help ensure its operation, several key technical and policy aspects of the underlying structure and the principal name spaces are administered by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which is headquartered in Los Angeles. ICANN is a very influential agency whose employees adhere to the philosophy, ICANN if I think ICANN. Q. Where does Microsoft Word save a document if all you ask it to do is to save it? I forgot to use "Save As," and now I can t find the saved document. A. It depends. If no destination location is selected -- in other words, if the Save In field is blank, the default is usually Documents or My Documents, but that can vary, depending how Word was configured originally. You can check the default location by going to Tools > Options > File Locations and see what it shows as far as the default location for Documents. (You can also use Word's Help to search for File Locations. ) Without a specific location designated in the Save In field, often the destination selected for a previous document will appear, in which case the document will be saved to that same location. If you are saving an existing document with the same name (as opposed to using Save As and providing a different name), you will overwrite the existing document with your newly saved document, so it should reside in the same location as the original document. If you truly can't locate a saved document, run a Windows Search via Start > Search > For Files and Folders and you will be able to find it, as long as you can remember either the name of the file or a specific word or phrase within the document itself. Q. I just switched to Windows 7 from XP and I want to create an icon on my Desktop that would allow me to go straight to a Web site. Can you help me with that, Mr. M? A. Start by going to the Web site to which you would like to create a shortcut. Make sure that the window in which it appears is small enough so you can see part of your Desktop. Look for a little icon next to the address of the Web site as it appears in your browser's Address bar. Click and drag that icon to your Desktop and voila! A shortcut is born! To rename the shortcut, click to select it and press F2. Q. Do flash drives have a limited lifespan? Do they deteriorate after a couple of years? A. The general consensus is that flash drives are good for a maximum of ten years. That estimate depends on the manner in which the device is stored, as temperature, humidity, proximity to electro-magnetic devices, small animals that chew things, and small children that flush things, can also adversely affect the useful life of a flash drive. I've seen flash drives fail in less than a year, though that can also happen to CDs and DVDs. Some CDs claim a shelf life of 100 years, which is silly, since CDs weren't mass produced until 1980, so it s pure speculation if they will last 100 years. I would avoid relying on flash drives for long-term data storage. 10 years is an industry best guess, but failure can occur in far less time. I wouldn t place all my digital eggs in one basket. I replace storage media approximately every five years, just to keep it current.

39 It s YOUR Time to Start to Lead! If you are a new or young reporter in Wisconsin reading about our retirements, you are fortunate to have had such wonderful role models from which to learn. Many seasoned reporters have retired, and more will eventually follow. It is time for you -- that s right, YOU to take off where the reporters before you left off. Become a mentor for a student. Take a certification test. Become a leader in your profession. CARE about your career and attend the next convention. Ask a nonmember to join WCRA. Jump on the TRAIN and start writing realtime. You are the future of our profession. Make a footprint!!! Page 39 Your Time To Lead 50 Years of Reporting WCRA has had outstanding leaders both in the past and now... but we need YOU to carry us into an exciting future! Richard with Judge Huber, Judge Kirk, District Court Administrator Don Harper, and District 8 Chief Judge Don Zuidmulder. Richard Kienbaum Celebrates 50 Years of Reporting by Jannell Mineau In March we gathered to celebrate Richard Kienbaum's 50 years of dedication to the Wisconsin Court System. Richard graduated from the court reporting program at Spencerian College in December of 1964 and worked for the State Tax Commission until his birthday in 1965 when he began his service as an official reporter for the State of Wisconsin in Waupaca County for Judge McHenry, then Judge Zwickey, then Judge Schaeffer, then Judge Kirk and for the last 15 years Judge Huber. We are still blessed by his tremendous institutional knowledge, calm demeanor and sense of humor. FOR SALE (2) Easy Lock tripods by Stenograph $25 each plus shipping/handling Stay connected with WCRA on Facebook! Please contact: Debra A. Wisniewski debwizzy@msn.com

40 Wisconsin Court Reporters Association Karla M. Sommer, President Br. 2 Court Reporter 500 Forest Street Wausau, WI sommerkms@gmail.com Are YOU in the newsletter? You should be! Please consider sending a "Where Am I & What Am I Doing?" article to: Karla Sommer at sommerkms@gmail.com. Send your accompanying high res jpeg photos to: Ellen Burleigh at ellen.emagine@comcast.net. The 2015 WCRA Annual Convention will be October 2-4 in Milwaukee. Enjoy great speakers in a very exciting venue! (pages 2-7) Chris Willette and Karla Sommer with Bo Ryan, Sam Dekker, Nigel Hayes and Josh Gasser at the Wisconsin Sports Awards. (pages 12 & 13) Sheri Piontek near Pike s Peak while attending the NCRA State Leadership Conference in Denver, Colorado. (page 22) Lindsay DeWaide at the top of the Duomo in Florence, Italy. (pages 30 & 31) Next newsletter deadline is August 1, 2015! You may always send articles in ahead of time! In addition to Board members and Committee leaders, we also want to hear from you... the membership! Have you volunteered? Do you have something to brag about? Do you have pictures to share from a WCRA activity? This is your publication to do that.