Tag: scopist

Connection Magic is a Tool – Meeting the Demands of Clients

Teri Gibson, Court Reporter
Eclipse Screen & Paperwork.

We have valuable skills!  We are court reporters, scopists, and proofreaders.

When working with Connection Magic, we are “On Air.” Connection Magic has been a great tool in helping with producing daily copy. We need to keep some things in mind when working on daily copy transcripts as court reporters, scopists, or proofreaders. I hope this article will be helpful to improve working as a team.

  • Pace yourself.
  • Take Breaks
  • Eclipse and Connection Magic are Tools
  • Stay committed when you accept a job.
  • You are part of a team.



We aim to work quickly but don’t let this cause you to work too quickly with audio in the Eclipse Software that you miss words.  In my experience, if I listen to audio higher than 110, I will miss the small words.  So I don’t put the speed higher than 110 unless the lawyer and witness are slow speakers.

I appreciate everyone who works with me on daily copy jobs so that I can meet the deadline.  Lately, I have been having trouble getting help, and then people bail out when they commit if they are the third or fourth person.  The reasons for bailing out, they got a better offer or think they are not needed, which is far from the truth.  After receiving the work from the scopist and proofreader, I must spend time on the transcript.  I don’t just put the index together and send it to the agency.  I make the final corrections from the proofreaders, check trouble spots, create the index, and billing.  This takes time, and I often find that I am up from 1AM to 3AM to provide the daily copy transcript.

“Connection Magic is not just a tool to make money!”

Photo by Ivan Samkov on Pexels.com

There seems to be a focus on scopists accepting Connection Magic jobs so that they can earn top dollar in a day and that working on just 30 pages is not worth their time; that is unfortunate because this will limit opportunities to work on Connection Magic.  Connection Magic is not just a tool to make money.  Connection Magic is a tool to help court reporters meet the demands of clients. Connection Magic also gives court reporters time to rest, spend time with family, and/or go to bed at an appropriate time.  We cannot do this without a committed team.  

Reporters have a variety of work.  Every job is not a daily copy or expedited transcript.  This may be why it’s hard to create a team because scopists only want to work on expedited or Connection Magic jobs.

Photo by Monstera on Pexels.com

Listen, I would like to add people to my team.  I expect full audio editing on all jobs, editing at a pace that will allow for excellence. I expect my team to take breaks to relieve stress when they are tired.  When breaks are not taken, errors happen.  I am talking from experience!  I take more breaks now and have fewer errors as a result! Also, I can work longer hours when I take breaks. Let’s work together to provide great services to agencies and the end client, the attorneys.

Opportunities:
Join me in Connection Magic – Join my team.
Eclipse Training, let’s chat! Click here.

Bio of Writer:
Teri C. Gibson, Court Reporter & Eclipse Trainer
Started court reporting in 1981 & Eclipse Training in 2016.
Blogger and Life Coach.

Eclipse Training – Meet your trainer! Facebook Connection: Click here.

Hobbies: Quilting & Quilt Design Patterns, Sewing.
Some of my embroidery and quilt creations: Unique Quilt Designs by Celeste

Contact Info:
Teri Gibson, Court Reporter & Eclipse Trainer
Email: terigibson76@gmail.com

Stenography by Teri C. Gibson

Stenography by Teri C. Gibson

Court Reporting!

So many ways to use our stenographic skills – CART Provider, CART Captioner, CART Broadcaster, scopist, (trainer of software), and verbatim reporter. My first aspiration was to become a verbatim reporter! I saw the potential of this skill when I was in high school at Chicago Vocational High School. I enrolled in the class – 3 weeks late! I am so grateful that I found this profession and now 37 years later, I am still working as a court reporter but have added on the skill to work also as a CART Captioner – providing CART Services for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Community.

I am now continuing to add to my skillset – course builder, trainer, and now writer! “Where do you find the time,” you say. Well, using a proofreader and scopist frees up my time! And then of course as a freelancer, we have days when we are very busy and days where we are looking for work. But of course, I didn’t have this desire to be a trainer and writer in my early days as a reporter.

After writing the words of others for over 35 years, you get to a point where you want to be creative! So now I have found a way to take my professional skills and my work as a Sunday School teacher for over 25 years and some additional training and have gotten in the life coaching business which has actually improved my skills as a trainer. “Retire” is not in my vocabulary!

If you are still reading this… if you would like to learn stenography or have a solid foundation in using the Total Eclipse Software, contact me. Yes, I have room for you on my calendar.   In our Gibson Skill Development and Training Center, we have Strategy Session, courses, webinar memberships, eBooks, special offers – all to help YOU!

The skill is stenography and we use Total Eclipse Software to produce verbatim transcripts.  This software allows us to produce transcripts instantly in real-time mode or expedite transcripts!

Check out our offerings and we would be glad to work with you.

Teri C. Gibson, Professional Court Reporter
Author, Course Builder, Life Coach, and Trainer.