Tuesday, June 19, 2018

9:00 – 12:00 CONCURRENT SESSIONS:

Option #1: Eclipse/Advantage Software Group Training & Updates Option #2: CaseCatalyst/Stenograph Group Training & Updates Option #3: ProCAT/Winner Group Training & Updates Option #4: [Other Systems] Group Training & Updates

Meet with representatives of your realtime reporting equipment/software provider and receive training on the latest updates on improvements made and efficiencies found within the systems to make your work, and life, easier!

(3 CE hours, .3 CEU’s) Option #5: “The Realtime Experience” (Limited Space Available)

This is a special opportunity for just a few volunteers to take their Conference experience to another level! And sessions for this “experience” will run parallel with other sessions of the Conference.

We know there are reporters who are much more capable than they realize, who could be ready to provide realtime if only they could have the chance to gain the experience and be able to say, “I’ve done this. It’s not new anymore. I can do it!”

So we’re looking for volunteers, both mentors and trainees, to be paired up and work together to gain just such needed experience.

All participants will meet together Tuesday morning, for mentors to help their trainees set up their equipment, troubleshoot issues, and in every other way prepare for a realtime feed. Then the realtime feeds of presentations Tuesday afternoon will be provided by trainees through Bridge Mobile, with all the other Conference participants logging in to receive the feed.

(6 CE hours, .6 CEU’s, when combined with follow-up training on Thursday) 12:30 – 1:30 Registration 2:00 – 2:15 Welcome & Introductions

David E. Jester, CVR-M, Court Reporting Manager

Tuesday, June 19, 2018 (continued)

2:15 – 3:15 The Partnered Roles of Judge and Court Reporter The Honorable Imelda J. Pate

Senior Resident Superior Court Judge

Continuing in our “Judges’ Perspectives” series, we’re delighted to learn, not only from Judge Pates’ experience as a judge but also from her time as a prosecutor both in state and federal court, how the court reporter’s role in court

proceedings melds with that of the judge and attorneys. (1 CE hours, .1 CEU’s)

The Honorable Imelda J. Pate was sworn in as the first female superior court judge elected in Lenoir County in January of 2017, following an already well-established tradition of service to the community in and around Kinston where, as a child, her father, Jarvis W. Pate, devoted a 30-year career to the community as a police officer with the Kinston Police Department, and her mother, Jean S. Pate, served for more than 40 years as the customer service representative of First Citizens Bank in Kinston. Judge Pate completed her undergraduate degree at North Carolina State University in 1980 and graduated from Campbell University’s Norman A. Wiggins School of Law in 1983. Following law school, Imelda began her career as a prosecutor and served for 30 years in Lenoir and Greene Counties, also working as a liaison to the United States Attorney’s Office and receiving a Public Service Award for her work in the Eastern District of North Carolina. She has served as a volunteer for the Salvation Army, the Gate of Lenoir County, and as a past board member of SAFE of Lenoir County. She is a Paul Harris Fellow with Kinston Evening Rotary. She has been active with the Juvenile Crime Prevention Council. She is an active member at Queen Street United Methodist Church currently serving as Church Council Chairman.

3:15 – 3:30 BREAK Refreshments Provided in Dogwood/Magnolia

Tuesday, June 19, 2018 (continued)

3:30 – 4:30 Court Reporters and the Legislative Process

Senator Danny Earl Britt, Jr., North Carolina Senate

Learn about the legislative process and, more particularly, how court reporters both contribute to and benefit from that process.

(1 CE hours, .1 CEU’s) Danny Earl Britt, Jr., enlisted in the North Carolina National Guard as a private while he was still attending high school in Tar Heel, NC. Following high school he attended Appalachian State University where he walked on and played football graduating Magna Cum Laude in Boone, North Carolina with a B.S. in Political Science and concentration in pre-legal

studies. After graduation, Danny immediately enrolled in law school in Oklahoma. Following law school Danny joined a firm in Elizabethtown North Carolina working for a few years before taking a job with the Robeson County District Attorney's office. Danny served as a Superior Court prosecutor and prosecuted numerous serious cases in the criminal courts of Robeson County as an Assistant District Attorney including solo prosecution first degree murder cases. This period as a prosecutor was split with service as a military prosecutor in the Judge Advocate General Corps serving in Iraq under the command of the 25th Infantry Division. Elected to the North Carolina State Senate, District 13 representing Columbus and Robeson Counties, in October of 2016, Danny is a member of the Agriculture/Environment/Natural Resources Committee, the Appropriations on Justice and Public Safety Committee, the Judiciary Committee, the State and Local Government Committee, the Transportation Committee, as well as Joint Legislative Committees on Administrative Procedure Oversight, Emergency Management Oversight, Justice and Public Safety Oversight, and the Committee on Private Process Servers.

Wednesday, June 20, 2018

8:30 – 9:00 Late Check-In/Registration

Refreshments Provided in Dogwood/Magnolia

9:00 – 12:00 “Margie Holds Court”

Margie Wakeman Wells, CRI

Margie literally wrote the book (a few of them, actually) on how to make write in a grammatically-correct way what is said in a courtroom in an almost universally grammatically-incorrect way. She’ll spend the morning with us and impart knowledge based upon an unrivaled command of the rules of grammar and punctuation.

(3 CE hours, .3 CEU’s) Margie Wakeman Wells is a lifetime credentialed teacher in the state of California and is certified as a CRI. She is in her sixth decade of teaching – with more than 40 of those years in the field of court reporting. As a reporting instructor, she has taught from the theory level through the exit speeds as well as all manner of English courses – both on campus in a bricks-and-mortar school and online. She has presented, under the auspices of NCRA and state court reporting organizations, over 300 seminars for reporters on English-related topics as well as seminars for teachers and students. Court Reporting: Bad Grammar/Good Punctuation, her best-selling reference text, and the Workbook that accompanies it are available at margieholdscourt.com. In addition, she has published Word Pares, Pears, Pairs, a reference work of 2,000 word pairs with definitions, examples, and idioms for the words and is currently writing a grammar text. She has also written a drill book series for improving accuracy: Practice Really DOES Make Perfect. Her latest book, All Things English, is a bit of a departure from the others. It is one vocab word, one spelling word, one idiom, one word pair, and one fun English fact each day for 120 days. Margie operates “Margie Holds Class,” her online school, for both live and recorded classes and writes her blog, “All Things English,” at margieholdscourt.com. Margie has two grown sons and lives with her husband, Bill, in Culver City, California.

Wednesday, June 20, 2018 (continued)

12:00 – 2:00 LUNCH

Provided in Dogwood/Magnolia 2:00 – 3:00 Human Resources:

Retirement and Other Benefits Presentation on employee benefits with a focus on retirement, with Q&A by our own AOC experts.

(1 CE hours, .1 CEU’s)

3:15 – 3:30 BREAK

Refreshments Provided in Dogwood/Magnolia

3:30 – 4:30 Technology Services:

JUNO, nccourts.org & Other Online Tools

Training on the use of LexisNexis, JUNO, nccourts.org, and other online tools with Q&A by our own AOC experts.

(1 CE hours, .1 CEU’s)

Vendor-Specific Training Didn’t get enough from the group training? Schedule an hour with your software system representative for some one-on-one training time.

(1 CE hours, .1 CEU’s)

Manager Training

Schedule an hour with the Court Reporting Manager for some one-on-one training.

(1 CE hours, .1 CEU’s)

BONUS OPTION: One-on-one training

Thursday, June 21, 2018

8:30 – 9:00 Late Check-In/Registration

Refreshments Provided in Dogwood/Magnolia

9:00 – 10:30 “Court Reporters Pay Taxes, Too”

Melissa McCallop, Esquire, MBA McCallop Law, PLLC

A tax attorney, Melissa specializes in pass through entities (like court reporters who pass portions of their income to contractors and subcontractors) and will offer insights into how recent changes will affect how we pay taxes on our transcript income.

(1.5 CE hours, .15 CEU’s) A licensed attorney since in North Carolina since 2016, Melisa received her Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from Wichita State University in 2001, going on to earn her MBA with an emphasis in Management from Mid-America Nazarene University in 2008. She received her Juris Doctor from Ohio Northern University in 2015 and will start her Master of Laws in Taxation at the University of Boston in July 2018. She started her own firm in January of 2017, practicing tax law, including: tax preparation, tax resolution, tax expert witness testimony, and business formations.

Melissa started preparing tax returns when she was 17 years old. Her father had his own business, and he was over-paying in taxes to the extent that he wanted to close his business because of the tax liability that the business created. It was hard for her to understand because she has five siblings and felt like he should not be paying as much in taxes as he was. The CPA he was working with was not familiar with tax strategies for pass-through entities, and her father’s business suffered the consequences. That year she prepared her father’s return, and he actually got a refund that year instead of paying. Melissa has been preparing her parents’ return since then.

It became her mission, at 17 years old, to ensure that no one ever paid more in taxes than their fair share, specifically for pass-through entities. Her passion is to create prolific tax strategies for individuals and pass-through entities by thoroughly evaluating a business’s financials, processes, and future plans.

Thursday, June 21, 2018 (continued)

10:30 – 10:45 BREAK 10:45 – 12:45 Self-Help Collaboration

A favorite session of past conferences returns again. Led by members of the Committee for Excellence in Court Reporting, we’ll break into groups, by software or method or category of questions to be addressed, and draw on each other’s insight and experience to address issues facing individual reporters.

(2 CE hours, .2 CEU’s)

12:45 – 1:00 End of Conference Announcements & Farewell David E. Jester, CVR-M, Court Reporting Manager

1:00 – 2:00 LUNCH (on your own)

2:00 – 5:00 CONCURRENT SESSIONS: Option #1: Eclipse/Advantage Software Group Training & Updates Option #2: CaseCatalyst/Stenograph Group Training & Updates Option #3: ProCAT/Winner Group Training & Updates Option #4: [Other Systems] Group Training & Updates

If you missed the opportunity on Tuesday, here’s one last chance to meet with representatives of your realtime reporting equipment/software provider and receive training on the latest updates on improvements made and efficiencies found within the systems to make your work, and life, easier!

(3 CE hours, .3 CEU’s, if not received for Tuesday’s session) Option #5: “The Realtime Experience” (Follow-Up Session)

With the work of providing realtime for Thursday’s sessions over, mentors and trainees will meet together again to review and evaluate their experiences. What went well? What went wrong? What did you when that happened, and how well did it work? What should you have done? Finally, how will this experience translate into doing the same thing in a courtroom next week?

(6 CE hours, .6 CEU’s, when combined with follow-up training on Thursday)