Knowledge IS Power!!!

We now have the knowledge that our leaders have betrayed us.  We know that at least two, and likely three, past presidents are going to the national recorders convention in Orlando, Florida. 

Steve Z. sent out an e-mail on the firmowners’ listserv:

“I’m a corporate member of AAERT because a part of my business consists of transcription, and I plan on attending.  I do know that there are quite a few members of AAERT that are also members of NCRA, as well as other associations. 

“FWIW, in my opinion, NCRA and AAERT have quite a bit in common.  Mainly, putting words on paper.

“Also, I’ve tested some AI technology in the marketplace to keep tabs on its progress, and exactly how it works.  

“Knowledge is power; right?”

Don’t you wish that you knew sooner about his opinion that stenographers and digital recorders are effectively equivalent because, after all, both are just “putting words on paper”?  Don’t you wish you knew this BEFORE giving him the moniker of president of NCRA … for the rest of his life?

AND the keynote speaker in Orlando is another past president of NCRA who tries to come off as so forward-thinking, when in reality he’s just giving his imprimatur to digital recorders AGAINST stenographers who thought he was serving them.  Silly stenographers.  We wonder how much it costs to get a past president of NCRA to play Judas by being a keynote speaker:

“The Paradigm Shift and the Choices You Will Make

“Life is about the choices we make.  With the court reporting industry at a critical crossroad, business people must face the reality and make the critical choices that will ultimately impact their survival and prosperity as the industry continues its shift in response to internal and external pressures.  Change is a constant, and adaptability is a critical survival tool as change occurs.  One can make educated choices and be right or wrong, but standing still and struggling to maintain the status quo in the face of a dynamic force will only guarantee that you will not be standing long.”

Of course, how good do you think the odds are that yet another past president will be in Orlando representing a major digital recording company?  What a trifecta!

And what do we hear from our current NCRA president:

“Your 2019 board would like to acknowledge that it stands firmly behind the stenographic court reporting community and does not condone or support the training or implementation of digital recorder operators. While NCRA is aware that a variety of business models exist for capturing the important records of our legal community, NCRA exists by its governing documents to support the stenographic model of capture. 

“In addition, please be advised that on January 29, 2019, the Executive Committee of the NCRA Board of Directors took the following action: “MOTION made, seconded and carried to immediately suspend the solicitation of new NCRA Corporate Partnership agreements until such time as the NCRA Board of Directors can review the program in full.”

The board’s actions are just reactionary — always in damage-control mode — while past presidents are attending and keynote-speaking at recording association meetings.  NCRA is just hanging on by threads!  All of us here at WUNCRA understand that these past “leaders” have left a huge mess to clean up.  But why does the board continue to run the association behind a cloak of secrecy?  That is exactly how we got to where we are right now.  We want to know which board members voted FOR the new NCRA Corporate Partnership agreements in the first place.  Why did it take so long to “suspend the solicitation of new NCRA Corporate Partnership agreements”?  And are the “partnership agreements” that have already been signed up and allow nonmembers a “seat at the table” still in effect?

If meetings were more accessible, minutes were not just skeleton minutes, and individual votes were made public, membership would have known which “leaders” should never have been on the board.  Everything has been done in secrecy – and it continues!

Has the last president that resigned been defrocked from NCRA?  Or was it the board that asked her to step down but didn’t let membership know about it?  Membership doesn’t know, because everything is a big fat secret.

From a recent forum post:

“I just became aware that Veritext is introducing digital recording here in Massachusetts and encouraging lawyers to modify their deposition notices to include same as a method of transcription.”

Didn’t we predict a few months ago that the SOS Plan B* was trying to change the conversation?  There you go, the conversation has changed.  Was the past DSA recipient who formed SOS Plan B a naïve pawn, or is the blessing of recording the conversation that she was looking for?  We know that the co-chair of that group from Buffalo became a corporate member of the recorders — just like Steve Z. — right before the “SOS Plan DR “ group began.  The “paradigm shift”** has been in the works a very long time.  While the NCRA board was spending time creating its strategic plan trying to save itself, the world was passing it by.

Maybe the best thing to do is shut NCRA’s doors and divvy up the remaining few dollars to the paltry membership that still exists.  That way the moniker of “Past President of NCRA” wouldn’t have so much cachet (or more accurately, CA$H!).

It feels like NCRA is in a deep sleep and will never wake up!  But we’ll keep trying.

WAKE UP, NCRA!
 Frank N. Sense

P.S. Please, you have a Ph.D. that you toss around – come up with something besides the old saw of “’change is a constant,’” and if you don’t adapt the world is going to leave you behind.”  Especially since the real “constant” seems to be former “leadership” selling us out.

* $ELL OUR $OUL$ PLAN B

** “Paradigm Shift” is the theme of the recorders’ association’s meeting in Orlando.  We’re sure the theme was developed before all the SOS began.

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