As President of NCRA, I wanted to give you a quick update on work happening at NCRA to make your Association even better. At the beginning of the year, the NCRA Board of Directors and our Interim Executive Director, Dave Wenhold, CAE, PLC, collaborated to create a game plan to rejuvenate NCRA and a more streamlined and effective organization. Creating NCRA 2.0 is underway, and that means staff and the Board are doing deep dives into every program and line item to see if it matches the Strategic Plan, our Business Plan, and the needs of our members.
We have heard from many members stating that they love the direction NCRA is going and the communication coming from NCRA. In five short months, we have gained tremendous momentum through creating the NCRA STRONG Task Force, celebrating Court Reporting and Captioning Week, restructuring vendor contracts, increasing the accessibility of the Board to members, working on reducing the physical footprint of NCRA headquarters to save serious member dollars, and orchestrating the largest NCRA Legislative Boot Camp in recent history.
About two weeks ago, I had the privilege to participate in NCRA’s Legislative Boot Camp with more than 75 court reporters and captioners who spent three days transforming themselves into legislative warriors for the profession. These volunteer members came to D.C. to learn from the best, our own Government Relations team and Board. These reporters and captioners went to Capitol Hill following two days of training and did an amazing job of talking to their members of Congress about the importance of what you do every day, and they are bringing those tools and that energy back to their individual states to advocate for you. Many of the attendees will tell you that Boot Camp was the hardest training they have ever had but also the most rewarding.
Just recently, the NCRA Board voted to change our official tagline to represent who we are. The new tagline is: “NCRA:The Association for Court Reporters and Captioners.” This may seem like a small item to change, but it helps brand the organization in a way that the outside public can understand who we are and acknowledges the captioners among our colleagues.
We are continuing to move forward. The hard-working volunteers of the NCRA Board want you to know that we are listening to you and trying to incorporate your great ideas into NCRA 2.0. We even created a special place on the website so that you can give us your direct feedback. In case you missed it, here is the link to the web page that requests your feedback. We need your ideas, thoughts, and assistance on committees. Please consider helping us and serving on a committee you are passionate about. We are in the process of forming committees now for the ensuing association year.
NCRA 2.0 is well underway, and we will continue to update you on progress. We understand that this can be a process and that we are not going to make everyone happy 100 percent of the time, but we are working to make this organization one that you can feel pride in calling your professional home. I am unabashedly proud of what we have accomplished in a few short months, and as the saying goes, “You ain’t seen nothing yet!”
Thank you for your time and your input. Together we are NCRA STRONG!
Sue A. Terry, FAPR, RPR, CRR, CRC
President, National Court Reporters Association
