By Joshua Edwards
For many people, their number one fear — even ahead of death — is public speaking. Fortunately, there is now an online club where stenographers everywhere can practice their public speaking.
StenoMasters was chartered in August 2021 as part of Toastmasters International, an organization that has been in existence for almost a century. Toastmasters has around 16,000 clubs in over 145 countries on six continents with over 300,000 members. Everyone can benefit from the support Toastmasters offers: Lawyers, judges, doctors, laypeople, and, of course, stenographers.
StenoMasters has grown rapidly to more than 20 members from 12 states — and even one member from Australia. The club provides a welcoming environment for stenographic court reporters, captioners, and students, as well as anyone connected to the field to develop their public-speaking skills. As StenoMasters president and charter member, I am overjoyed that StenoMasters has taken off. Our goal is to keep growing our presence and membership to the point that state court reporting associations will begin chartering their own chapters.
To view the full text of this article, NCRA members can use their membership credentials to log into the September 2022 issue of the online JCR Magazine.
Joshua Edwards, RDR, CRR, CRC, is a CART captioner and court reporter based in New York, N.Y., and the founder of StenoMasters. He can be reached at joshuabedwards1980@gmail.com.
