Have you been wondering about where NCRA, our association, is going? And how it’s getting there? I know several members have been wondering, and I have been, too. I would hope we all recognize the need to change, to adjust to a changing environment. How change comes about and what it results in are very important.

Over the past several years, NCRA has endeavored to evolve with changing times. There have been several efforts, through task forces, committees, study groups and the like, to keep pace with a changing environment.

One of the reasons for these activities is the decline in student enrollment, which began in the mid-nineties, and has been precipitous. This naturally resulted in a steep downturn in student members, and the concomitant loss of revenue to NCRA. The efforts to obtain Federal funding for schools to help meet the captioning mandate have been successful. But still the student enrollment has not grown significantly.

With the actual number of members decreasing, and student membership declining, the result is fewer dollars in the coffers. All this, while there is growing demand for programs and services from NCRA to meet the needs of the members in the captioning sector, and the needs of the reporter members to address the declining demand in the courts and private sector.

Over the past several years, there have been numerous efforts to rebuild or remake NCRA. Some of these efforts were: Blue Ribbon Commission On Voice Technology (full disclosure: I chaired the Commission); Futures Task Force; Building Community Task Force; Part-Time Professionalism Task Force; ROSE Project, which stood for resources, opportunities and services evaluation; SONAR (State Of The Nation Activities Report); Membership Offer and Value Proposition; ER Task Force, and now Blue Ocean.

According to the JCR, "…a Blue Ocean Strategy seeks to altogether redefine the market it is serving by emphasizing the simultaneous pursuit of superior value and lower cost. Conceptually, the emphasis is on creating new market space (blue ocean) rather than competing in the current market space (red ocean)." Interesting concept, but I’m wondering just what it means, and how it has been, or will be, implemented. And at what cost.

And I’m wondering just what has been the result of the aforementioned task forces, committees, etc. Student enrollment and membership continue to decline.

NCRA has been dealing with the ER issue for more years than most of its members have been alive. It has information on costs of ER; failures of ER; how to deal with the introduction of ER in your court system; the weaknesses of ER; and strategies for combating ER. I’m wondering how to reconcile the conflict between these activities and the President of NCRA advocating for the inclusion of all methods of making the record, including ER operators and transcribers. And I’m wondering how to reconcile that advocacy with the NCRA goal to serve its "core membership." And I’m wondering why ER operators and transcribers would want to join an organization that has been such a strong and vocal critic of the methodology for so long.

And I am wondering, since all of these projects, task forces, and committees cost money and time, whether they really have been fruitful. And if not, I’m wondering if it’s time for new direction and new thinking in NCRA. The strategies of the past few years haven’t significantly boosted school enrollment, nor slowed the decline in membership.

I’m wondering, and hoping, that new leadership in NCRA will bring about the results we need.

John J. Prout, CCR-RPR, FAPR
NCRA Past President