State leaders from around the country joined NCRA Board of Director members and staff during the 2015 NCRA State Leadership Conference held April 12-13 in Denver, Colo. During the conference, attendees learned more about how the national association can aid and benefit their own organizations in supporting the court reporting, captioning, and legal videography professions.
The conference, which is hosted every other year by NCRA, provides attendees with sessions that cover an array of issues and topics such as effective lobbying, public relations and media outreach, recruiting and retaining members, and more. This year’s event drew leadership from 29 states.
“This year’s conference was an incredibly successful event. NCRA’s state associations left with the tools they need to help improve their associations’ membership, government relations, public relations, meetings, and much more,” said Adam Finkel, NCRA’s Director of Government Relations. “Just as important, the networking opportunities let the leadership from state associations work on similar issues together, allowing for a higher likelihood of success.”
Among the presentations at this year’s conference were a session presented by Finkel and Dave Wenhold, CAE, PLC, from Miller/Wenhold Capitol Strategies, who serves as a consultant for NCRA. The interactive session included an overview of the current status of the court reporting profession and the sharing of strategies and tactics that have proven successful in recruiting more court reporters to join their state associations. Recruiting and cultivating new leaders and committee members was addressed in a session led by Kristin Anderson, RPR, and Linda McSwain, RPR, co-chairs of the National Committee of State Associations. The two former state leaders shared with attendees ideas and tips that worked for them to increase involvement in their state associations.
State leaders in attendance also were provided a review of the Association 101 Handbook, developed as a resource to provide them with a strong understanding of what tools, tips, and resources are available to assist them. Wendel Stewart, CAE, NCRA Senior Director of Finance And Administration, and Jeffrey Altman, NCRA’s general counsel and a partner with Whiteford, Taylor & Preston, LLC, also led a session that shared best practices for governing and managing state associations while ensuring legal compliance.
Other sessions covered NCRA’s 2015 public policy agenda and information about how state associations can become involved, tips for developing content and planning effective meetings, and strategies for successful networking.
Christina Lewellen, MBA, NCRA’s Senior Director for Marketing and Communications, led a session that covered the tools and resources available to state associations to promote the profession via the Take Note campaign, the value of good public relations, and how to deal with the media.
NCRA President Sarah Nageotte, RDR, CRR, CBC, was joined by Steve Zinone, RPR, President-Elect, and Board of Director members Debbie Dibble, RDR, CRR, CBC, CCP, and Karen Teig, RPR, CRR, CMRS, in a session that covered strategies needed to build an effective coalition to benefit the court reporting profession.
The event wrapped up with a networking reception that allowed attendees the opportunity to meet a number of NCRA’s leadership.
