Mad Dog's Briefs Workshop

Note: There is no cost for this workshop, precisely so that you can spend your participation dollars on resources that will serve and improve your court reporting skills for a long time. Although a sample demonstration will be offered, to get the maximum benefit out of the course, it is highly recommended that you obtain the required materials listed below.

COURSE PREREQUISITES:

AN ACQUAINTANCE WITH THE PREMISE OF USING BRIEFS IN THE BUILDING OF SPEED AND ACCURACY, by visits to the following websites: Mark Tod Kislingbury, CSR, RMR, CRR 21-year career, 18 years freelance court reporter, 6 years broadcast captioner First Place, National Realtime Contest, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002 First Place National Speed Contest 2001, 2002 First Place, Texas Speed Cup, 1995, 1996, 1998 Author My System: The Road to Realtime Excellence http://www.rtexcellence.com/Store.asp?m=5152321431&n=14&k=1885&s=Student+Page Charles A. Boyer National Speed Contest Champion 1971, 1972, 1973, 1977, 1980, 1983 California Speed Contest Champion 1969 Karla Boyer National Speed Contest Champion 1987, 1991, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2004 USCRA Speed Contest Champion 1992, 1993 http://pages.prodigy.net/karlawollinboyer/ Chuck Cady http://www.cadyreporting.com/index.php Three-time winner of the Ohio Cup for court reporting speed and accuracy, reporting for 22 years, owner of Cady’s Reporting Services. Teaching his technique of formulating briefs on the spot through NCRA, current offering in Oct of 2004 is "Train Your Brain to Brief on the Fly” http://www.ncraonline.org/calendar/ViewEvent.cfm?eventID=505&month=2

Books and software on the use and easy recall of conflict-free briefs by Laurie Boucke http://www.white-boucke.com/courtreporting.html Purchase at: https://secure.white-boucke.com/cart/categoryDetail.cfm?id=3 See the five-star-rated book reviews below Categorically Speaking (book) A thorough reference work and study guide designed to facilitate the learning of briefs, phrases and conflict resolution techniques for realtime writing. $37.50 Brief Encounters, Third Edition (book) A professional dictionary of over 30,000 conflict-free, mainly one-stroke briefs and phrases for realtime writing. Briefs are easy to remember and compatible with common writing theories. $55.00 Briefs Encountered (CDRom) load searchable database of briefs and phrases on your computer, based on the book Brief Encounters $75 Medical Briefs (book) comprehensive dictionary of easy to remember medical briefs $75.00 Medically Briefed (software) searchable databse of medical words/phrases, load onto your computer to use in conjunction with your writing software $85.00

COURSE SUPPLIES: Bring the following items with you: your laptop/notebook loaded with Briefs Encountered, Medically Briefed your textbooks, CATegorically Speaking, Brief Encounters and Medical Briefs a mini computer keyboard and transmitter available from Gyration, and a metal and velcro keyboard tray that piggybacks on your steno machine.  The trays are available from Stenograph or from JM Steno in Phoenix.  (Learn more about this keyboard, go to the Application FAQs ) do not bring your writer

A must-have for court reporters doing ANY medical work, September 1, 1998
Reviewer: marge201 from Fort Lee, NJ
I tried to be first person to get my mitts on Medical Briefs by Laurie Boucke. I couldn't wait to get it. And I was not disappointed. That's an understatement. I was thrilled to see how extensive it is. It is so good that while scoping or editing, this book suffices for a medical dictionary, but it goes one HUGE step further. It gives you fabulous writing ideas for these words, so that next time on this job or a similar job, these wonderful outlines might very well pop into your mind. Just a few examples that are worth the price of admission alone: shortness of breath = SHORB fibrillation = FIBLGS atrial = TRAL atrial fibrillation = TRABLGS dypsnea = SPAOE cyanosis = SNOSZ or SNOESZ (snows = SNOEZ) cyanotic = SNOKT or SNAUKT Actually Laurie gives multiple choices for these words. I've just given my choice. A wonderful book to have on the shelf for those anoying times when a word is driving you NUTS. The accompanying book, Volume 2, is a fabulous listing of prefixes and suffixes, in both steno order and English order. So, my dear fellow court reporters or court reporting student or anyone looking to buy a great gift for one of us, this is a great idea. I would *not* want to be without mine!

WOW, WOW, WOW!!! I think this book should be required reading for EVERY court reporter. Ive been reporting 21 years, have all my certifications, but Id have to say I feel like I have just now "turned the corner" after incorporating some of these briefs! Curious? How about MOINGS for "among other things," AEFM for "African-American," and my favorite, the 40+ pages of "is" phrases including STHR-LGS for "Is there anything else." Youll want to make space in your carrying case so you always have this reference with you!

I cant say enough good things about Lauries books for court reporters. BRIEF ENCOUNTERS should be on every reporters and students reference shelf. This book contains one- and two-stroke briefs and phrases for everyday reporting and is full of ideas which you will want to incorporate into your dictionaries. Some examples:
HOUB = how about HOUBT = how about the HOUBZ = how about these HOUBS = how about those HOUF = how far HOUFT = how fast HOUM = how many HOUFM = how many of them HOUMZ = how many of these HOUMS = how many of those
The consistency of Lauries outlines makes it very easy to adopt new briefs and streamline your writing. Get it -- you wont be disappointed!

Laurie Boucke has written a few dynamite books for court reporters, one of which is Brief Encounters. Are you hearing the same words over and over and writing them out and falling behind and your hands hurting as a result? Well, forgetaboutit! Check out Brief Encounters for a totally sensible one-stroker for tons and tons of often-used words.
Some examples that are worth the price of admission:
regurgitate = GURJ kidnap = KIP stretch of the imagination = STREJ
And on and on and on. I say get this book and her two other books, CATegorically Speaking and the newest one, Medical Briefs.