TechCon brings the brightest and most knowledgeable to the remote and curious freelance reporter. So much information bombards us every day, much of which is technical in nature. For the freelance court reporter who is on his or her own most of the time, the choices and decisions can be daunting. There are options coming at you from state and national court reporting associations, the Internet, and from fellow reporters. I have been freelance court reporting since 1980, always proud of this profession and striving to be the best I can. The first time I saw the TechCon conference advertised, I vowed to attend as soon as I could arrange it, and Arizona turned out to be the perfect choice.
Wow, what a great experience! From the charming, informative, and fascinating stories of Sue Terry, RPR, CRR, and Judy Werlinger, RMR, CRR, CMRS, regarding their adventures in realtime, to the nuts and bolts technology brainbusters of Daniel Bistany, TechCon was everything I had hoped for and more. I solidified my choices on some of the gadgets and programs I use, but, more importantly, I zeroed in on what routers, hotspots, websites, and apps, to mention a few, were the best out there for my particular applications. For those of us who are writing realtime, the technology is changing all the time and can be hard to keep up with. This conference was invaluable with having all of these experts in one place. They were extremely helpful with any questions we had and also with informative recommendations.
I would recommend this conference to all reporters and want to thank the presenters and vendors for the pride and confidence they have in this profession and for sharing their knowledge and wisdom with not only each other, but with us remote reporters who are many times on our own.
Sometimes when we as reporters are assessing how to obtain our CEU points, it is very tempting to take advantage of the many cheap online options. I would encourage all my colleagues to take into consideration the priceless nature of networking with fellow reporters; not just in the traditional sense of developing clients, but creating friendships and troubleshooting issues that plague us from time to time. What I am always struck by when attending these in-person conferences is the generosity of my profession and willingness to always lend a helping hand.
