State association leaders and aspiring leaders are invited to attend the 2024 NCRA Leadership & Legislative Boot Camp being held March 10-12, 2024, at the Embassy Suites by Hilton in Alexandria Old Town, Va. This year NCRA is particularly excited to bring together leaders for an immersive, hands-on opportunity to address concerns relating to artificial intelligence and to train court reporters, captioners, legal videographers, and scopists how to advocate for their professions. Registration is open now through January 24, 2024.
Over the past year, NCRA Government Relations has heard your voices! For the first time, NCRA will be hosting a legislative Boot Camp where we will address artificial intelligence concerns and will work to introduce a federal artificial intelligence bill into Congress. Additionally, we are excited to welcome the NCRA STRONG Committee for a special guest presentation this year and know that they will continue to add valuable insight into their research and past findings about the dangers associated with electronic recording, digital recording, and artificial intelligence. Jocelynn A. Moore, Esq., NCRA’s Director of Government Relations, shared the reasons she is urging aspiring state leaders to attend Boot Camp.
“This year, more than ever, we are seeing a continued legislative attack on the court reporting, captioning, legal videography, and scopist professions. This year alone we have seen legislatures, state supreme courts, and state agencies work to unravel licensure, certification, and the entirety of the professions in Indiana, Illinois, California, and Tennessee. Now more than ever is the time for our colleagues to learn the skills necessary to advocate for themselves and for their professions. We are even seeing the legal profession consider the implementation of artificial intelligence and need to train our colleagues how to fight against it,” said Moore.
Meredith Seymour, who serves as president of the Wisconsin Court Reporters Association (WCRA), and Greta Pedersen, RMR, who serves as president-elect of WCRA, shared their experiences about what they learned after attending Boot Camp for the first time this year and encouraged new leaders to take advantage of this unique experience.
“When I signed up for Boot Camp, I didn’t know what to expect,” Seymour said. “I knew that it would somehow give me insight on how to become a better leader, but I didn’t know how. I am also not one who’s interested in politics and government relations, so I was worried I wouldn’t take anything away from this event as well as feeling awkward or out of place the whole time. I cannot tell you how valuable, useful, and encouraging this Boot Camp was for me. One word that has come to my mind time and time again ever since is ‘confidence.’ All I could think about on our way home was ‘I need to contact my local government officials about our profession and this Act.’ Have I ever wanted to do such a thing in my life before? Absolutely not. But from the information and training I received from the Boot Camp, I now have newfound ambitions of advocacy for our profession in Wisconsin.”
“After completing Boot Camp and going to Capitol Hill, I feel confident in my skills to advocate and lobby for our profession. Truly invaluable training,” Pedersen said.
Dave Wenhold, CAE, PLC, NCRA’s Executive Director, and Moore will lead the event with additional guest speakers and the NCRA STRONG Committee to round out the schedule.
Attendees will:
- Participate in intensive sessions and training that will teach them the skills and strategies necessary to effectively advocate for their profession in state legislatures and in Congress;
- Learn about the legislative issues, including artificial intelligence and educational funding, that have the most impact on the court reporting, captioning, legal videography, and scopist professions;
- Participate in real-life scenarios where they can put their newly learned advocacy skills into practice and network with other NCRA members who are passionate about their profession; and
- Have the chance to visit Capitol Hill, where they will put their grassroots advocacy training to the test and advocate before their elected representatives and staff in Congress.
For registration rates, full agenda, and more information about the event, please visit the 2024 NCRA Leadership & Legislative Boot Camp webpage or email NCRA Director of Government Relations Jocelynn A. Moore, Esq., at jmoore@ncra.org.
