Amber Fraass, RPR, a freelancer in South Ogden, Utah, ended NCRA Connect Virtual 2020 with a new goal in mind.
“Each class that I watched really had some value to me,” Fraass said. “The realtime presentation by Anissa Nierenberger [RPR, CRR, CRC, CRI, a captioner from Boise, Idaho, and owner of Caption Masters] was one of my top three favorite presentations. I had not really given much thought about getting my CRR until I watched her presentation. Her suggestions of shortening writing and the ‘three strikes you’re out’ rule really clicked for me. I have now set a goal to obtain my CRR and have started a daily practice and note review to look for ways to improve as a reporter and to reach another skill level.”
Fraass said the virtual conference worked well for her this year since she has a newborn daughter and a son who is not quite 2 years old.
Margary Rogers, RPR, CRI, an official court reporter in Washington, D.C., said she also appreciated the different ways you can experience a virtual conference.
“I really liked the fact that I was able to move around and attend different virtual sessions,” Rogers said. “The best thing about the virtual session was not having to run from Room B on the second floor of a hotel to Room F on the third floor, up an escalator and down a long hall to the right. Also, if I really wanted to attend two concurrent sessions, I had the option of watching one session then and the other on a later date and time. With this flexibility, attendees do not miss any session.”
The sessions are still available to registrants until Aug. 25, whether they attended live or not. Registrants to Connect can also exercise two options if they wish to earn extra CEUs.
- If you purchased a Half Registration, you can upgrade to a Full Registration and earn a total of 1.6 CEUs.
- Both registration levels can add individual sessions at a cost of $55 per session for members and $79 per session for nonmembers to earn more CEUs.
To take advantage of either of these options, email meetings@ncra.org or call 800-272-6272.
Fraass said she is already using some of the information she learned.
“I truly loved the presentation by Allison Hall,” Fraass said. “Talk about lighting a fire of motivation. She was very direct in speaking about what would help with writing, improving time management, and giving fantastic examples of briefing and phrasing. She talked about taking the time to shorten her writing to get to where she is today and how much time and work she has done to get where she is, and I was absolutely impressed and motivated to set up a schedule for myself to maximize the time I have to work. As she said, we all have the same amount of hours every week to get things done. It’s all in how you use that time. I also joined her Facebook page after the class, and it has such great tips on time management and getting things done.”
Rogers said she appreciated seeing new people presenting and new topics in the virtual format, but she also connected with an old friend.
“I’m so happy because I was able to connect with one of my court reporting college classmates, Jen Milette, RPR, an official and CART captioner in Warwick, R.I., who I had been thinking about for a while, during the Champagne Wishes Networking session,” Rogers said.
Remember: To receive your CEUs, you must attend a session for a minimum of 50 minutes, and you must take the session survey (located under the session description). Registrants can only earn the number of CEUs up to the number of CEUs for the registration package purchased and then verified through the process above. CEUs will appear on your NCRA transcript mid-to-late September. If you have questions about CEUs, please contact continuinged@ncra.org.
If you missed the NCRA Connect Virtual 2020 conference, don’t worry. Beginning Oct. 1, several fan favorites will be available for purchase. Watch the JCR Weekly in coming weeks for more information about the sessions that will be made available, the cost to purchase, and the CEUs you can earn.
[…] Reprinted here with permission of the JCR – Journal of Court Reporting, a publication of the National Court Reporters Association. This article was originally published in thejcr.com. […]