TheTakeNote campaign, launched by the National Court Reporters Association (NCRA), the country’s leading organization representing stenographic court reporters, broadcast and CART captioners, and legal videographers, will serve as a main theme during the 2015 National Court Reporting & Captioning Week, which will run Feb. 15-21. This year’s event marks the third year NCRA has sponsored the celebration designed to help increase the public’s awareness about the growing number of employment opportunities the profession offers.
NCRA’s Take Note campaign launched in September 2014 and is based on the findings of an industry-wide outlook report conducted by the independent research firm Ducker Worldwide. The study determined that over the next five years, some 5,500 jobs in the court reporting and captioning profession are expected to become available.
Court reporters, captioners, CART providers, and court reporting schools around the country will participate in the week-long event by hosting an array of activities such as visits to high schools to showcase the profession, open houses, Veterans History Project interviews, media outreach, and more.
NCRA has made a wide range of resources available to its members, court reporting schools, and others at both crTakeNote.com and NCRA.org. Resources include tips on presenting the benefits of the profession to potential new students, press release templates, social media-appropriate logos and banners, and ideas for hosting special activities. NCRA will also support an official legislative recognition of National Court Reporting & Captioning Week and rely on its social media outlets including Facebook, Twitter, and blogs to reach thousands of people throughout the week.
“National Court Reporting & Captioning Week is an opportunity for our profession to celebrate the valuable contribution this vocation provides to ensure vital records are captured and maintained,” said NCRA President Sarah Nageotte, RDR, CRR, CBC, an official court reporter from Jefferson, Ohio.
“The areas where we work are vast and range from serving as official court reporters to freelance reporters who work strictly taking depositions or recording the proceedings of a variety of meetings and such, while broadcast and CART captioners do wonderful work to help better the lives for millions of Americans who are deaf and hard of hearing by providing captioning in real time for live sporting and theater events, church services, movie houses, and many other venues.”
Nageotte will help kick off the week with a presentation to members of the Hawaii Court Reporters and Captioners Association during a luncheon being held Feb. 14 that will cover the findings of the industry outlook conducted by Ducker Worldwide. Nageotte will also discuss the TakeNote campaign and share tips on how best to highlight the professional outlook to high school students. Representatives from Hawaii’s statewide student news network will also be in attendance and will generate a news segment to share with middle and high schools.
“I’m very excited about this opportunity to help increase awareness about the court reporting and captioning profession and will ask everyone attending to commit to contacting at least one person within their network and educate them about the opportunities this career path offers,” said Nageotte. “In fact, I’m urging everyone in the court reporting and captioning profession to do the same throughout National Court Reporting & Captioning Week.”
For more information, visit NCRA.org. Career information about the court reporting profession—one of the leading career options that do not require a traditional four-year degree—can be found at crTakeNote.com.
