The 2015 National Court Reporting & Captioning Week sponsored by NCRA will kick off Feb. 15 and run through Feb. 21, and members, firms, schools, and vendors are being urged to start planning how they will market the event’s third year.

As in the past, a Court Reporting & Captioning Week resource center providing updated template press releases, social media messages, official proclamations, and more will be available by Jan. 1, 2015, and will be supplemented with additional resources on crTakeNote.com. NCRA launched the Take Note campaign in September based on an industry wide outlook report by the independent research firm Ducker Worldwide. The study determined that over the next five years, some 5,000 jobs in the court reporting profession are expected to become available. The campaign is designed to raise awareness of the profession and future employment opportunities. The Take Note website includes presentations, advertisements, and talking points based on the findings of an industry outlook report released earlier this year. An executive summary of the Ducker report is also available at the site.

Promoting the profession

“We are all poised to celebrate our profession like never before during the 2015 Court Reporting & Captioning event, especially with the additional resources NCRA has put at our fingertips with the Take Note campaign,” said Sarah Nageotte, RDR, CRR, CBC, who serves as the 2014-2015 NCRA President.

“With additional resources available, it will be extremely easy for state associations, court reporting schools, students, and individual court reporters and captioners from around the country to spread the word about how awesome the stenographic court reporting and captioning profession is,” added Nageotte, an official court reporter for the U.S. District Court, Northern District of Ohio.

Throughout the designated week, NCRA will engage in a public relations campaign that will highlight the career options available to those who graduate from a court reporting program and will seek an official legislative recognition of National Court Reporting & Captioning Week. As part of the campaign, NCRA will also rely on its social media outlets such as Facebook, Twitter, and blogs to reach thousands of people.

Members amplify the message

In addition to NCRA’s increased marketing efforts about the profession and the benefits of joining NCRA, the association will make a toolkit available to members on the NCRA website. The website includes materials for presenting court reporting and captioning as exciting job opportunities for students, press release templates, social media-appropriate logos and banners, tips for hosting special activities such as a Veterans History Project Day to mark the event, and more.

“Our profession has been held secret for too long. Do your part to spread the word about the opportunities court reporters and captioners have in the marketplace, and the 2015 National Court Reporting & Captioning Week is the right time to make the public ‘Take Note,’” Nageotte said.

Celebrate National Court Reporting & Captioning Week

One of the easiest ways to celebrate National Court Reporting & Captioning Week is to simply change your Facebook profile picture to the event’s official logo. The logo can be downloaded from the NCRA.org/Awareness page. Facebook is also a great place to promote the profession by sharing what makes court reporting such a unique and exciting career. Tips for messages to share on social media are also available at the event’s Web page.

Hosting a Veterans History Project Day is also a great way to introduce the public to the court reporting profession. It also helps with the efforts of the Library of Congress VHP program, which is dedicated to preserving the stories of American war veterans for future generations to read. Reach out to veterans organizations in your area to help generate interest. Another great venue to host a live VHP event is during a history class at a local high school. The students will not only hear the story of a war veteran, but also get to watch a demonstration of it being captured and transcribed.

Finally, be sure to issue a press release about how you plan to celebrate National Court Reporting & Captioning Week and offer to make yourself available to local media for interviews and demonstrations. Template press releases are available at NCRA’s Court Reporting & Captioning Week Web page.

And don’t forget to share with NCRA what you plan to do to celebrate. Send information about activities to pr@ncra.org.

Schools

Connect with local high schools in your area and offer to exhibit at one of their career days. Offer to make a presentation about the court reporting profession to high school students following business tracks.
Welcome back alumni to visit with students and to provide real-life insight into the profession.
Host an open house and family day for the public and members of the media to learn more about the exciting
career of court reporting. Include demonstrations, raffles, food, and texting versus steno writing contests.
Host a potluck luncheon and invite students, working court reporters, family, friends, attorneys, judges, to swap stories and ideas in a casual setting.
Create “spirit ribbons” for students and faculty to wear throughout the week to increase awareness about
court reporting as a career.
Host an event that includes members of the deaf and hard-of-hearing communities as well as the general public
and high school students, teachers, and school counselors, and provide demonstrations of broadcast and CART captioning.

Firms

Offer court reporting students in your area an opportunity to shadow your working court reporters and CART and
broadcast captioners for a day. Hands-on learning opportunities are always welcomed by students.
Host an open house at your firm and invite high school students, judges, and attorneys you regularly work with to help increase awareness of the important role court reporters have in preserving the record.
Reach out to court reporting schools and offer to host a live Web chat with students. This is a great opportunity for students to ask questions about their future careers.
Offer to caption an event or meeting in your community free of charge. Churches, local theaters, and even schools
make great venues for this activity.
Encourage your court reporters to volunteer for NCRA’s Virtual Mentor program. More information can be found at NCRA.org.

State Associations

Reach out to your state and federal lawmakers and urge them to help celebrate by officially proclaiming National Court Reporting & Captioning Week.
Offer to host an event at a court reporting school in your area where students and the public can help raise awareness of the important role keepers of the record play in preserving vital information.
Reach out to law schools or your state bar association and ask them to help celebrate the week.

Official Court Reporters

Encourage your judges to officially proclaim the week, or submit an editorial to the local media about the important role court reporters play in the judicial process.
Offer to provide an oral history interview and final transcript to an older judge or attorney within your legal
area.
Offer to provide attorneys you work with a demonstration of realtime if they are not already requesting it.

Individuals

Reach out to local libraries and offer to decorate a display case or other area with information about the court reporting profession.
Consider becoming a mentor to a court reporting student through NCRA’s Virtual Mentor program. More information can be found at NCRA.org.
Write a weeklong blog that highlights your daily work and lets readers know how much you love your profession.

For more information about how you can celebrate 2015 National Court Reporting & Captioning Week, or to find the latest in resources including press release templates, media pitches, presentations, and more, please visit NCRA’s Court Reporting & Captioning Week resources page or contact the NCRA communications team at pr@ncra.org.