Huseby Inc. Court Reporting Blog | Nationwide Court Reporters

The NCRA Annual Convention & Exposition is a wonderful opportunity for those in the court reporting profession to meet other reporters and learn about how the profession is changing. One popular event is the speed competition held at every convention.

A Hundred Years of Competition

In 1909, court stenographers used pen and paper to transcribe testimony using either the Pitman or Gregg methods of shorthand. In this year, a national speed competition was started to allow court reporters to test their abilities against one another. Unfortunately, both the Pitman and Gregg companies used results of the competition to misrepresent their systems. This plus the rise of the professional competitor led to the annual contests being discontinued in 1927.

During these early speed contests, stenotype machines were allowed only in the 1914 competition and then banned after that. When the contest was revived in 1952, all participants used stenotype machines. Contest results reflected the changing nature of the profession. For many years, men took home the contest titles because most reporters were men. As more women entered the profession, the first one won in 1965 and women started winning regularly in the late 1970s.

Speed Contests Make Better Reporters

In many cases, the goal of competition is to motivate people to strive for better performance. Court reporters training for speed contest improve their abilities and can perform their jobs better. The winners inspire even those who don’t participate in the contests.

Speed contests also show how fast a reporter cannot be. One important motivator for the original contests started in 1909 was to provide a sanity check to the profession. Court reporters were claiming to be capable of speeds of 400 to 600 words per minute, a claim that was difficult to disprove. Now that the best court stenographers were performing at speeds below 300 wpm in competition, it showed these claims to be untrue.

How Do Reporters Get Ready For Competition?

We at Huseby have some advice for Philadelphia court reporters, or reporters from anywhere else, who want to enter the next NCRA speed contest. Your experience on the job will not prepare you fully for competition speeds. The only way to get fast enough to win a speed competition is by practicing as much as possible.

Competitors must transcribe three five-minute recordings at 95% accuracy. The Literary part must be performed at 220 wpm, the Legal Opinion statement at 230 wpm and the Testimony portion at an astounding 280 wpm. Maintaining these speeds for five minutes is not something easily done and court reporters will need to train to develop the endurance necessary.

Court reporters planning to enter the next competition to be held August 2010 in Chicago should start training now. It will not only increase their chances of winning the competition but will improve their capabilities on the job.