For the Record - The Story

The idea for For the Record was born in 2009 after I had a brief conversation with Mark Kislingbury, the fastest court reporter in the world (certified by Guinness).  He mentioned to me that he wanted to break his own record and write 370 to 400 words per minute.  Would I be interested in promoting his record attempt?  I had been working in the court reporting industry for almost 15 years at the time, teaching and promoting my own "stuff."  The quick answer - no - just too much on my plate.  

 

A year passed.  

 

I was having a conversation with my father about the court reporting industry.  He asked the same questions I'd heard a thousand times before - "Court reporters are still around?  Can't a machine do that now?"  My own father!  And it wasn't just me facing those questions.  Reporters everywhere answer those types of question all the time.  So I felt it was time to answer those questions on a larger scale.

 

I knew it wouldn't be enough just to capture the Guinness record attempt.  I wanted to capture the steno culture - share its history - its future.  There's an irony in the court reporting industry:  If a court reporter is doing their job well, they go virtually unnoticed.  The goal is to capture the record without becoming a part of it.  The irony - that very ability means that court reporting flies under the radar.  It's not an industry that naturally self promotes.  You can see a teacher teaching - a trash collector collecting - you can easily define what they do.  That's not the case with court reporters.  For the Record aims to define what they do and introduce the general population to this still-thriving occupation.