Dues: To Pay or Not to Pay? That's the Question.

It’s getting to the end of the year again, a time where we pay our dues for membership in our state and national reporting associations.  At one point, we were paying dues to three associations at three different levels:  State, National and Federal (It hurts just thinking about it).
Oftentimes, we’ve debated over not paying dues at all.  They just keep going up and up with no end in sight. (A lot like taxes . . . ).

Some Benefits:

• We, of course, enjoy the networking opportunities each association provides.  We’ve gotten many referrals for depositions, trials and hearings from our out-of-state friends and associates.  It’s also nice to stay in touch by social media sites and hear of their latest successes and/or trials & tribulations.

 

• The seminars and classes for our CEUs.  How they keep thinking of and presenting relevant material for the masses is a feat in and of itself.

 

• The exhibit halls demonstrating the latest and greatest technology available.  And without this technology, we wouldn’t be able to offer many of the cutting-edge services we provide, i.e., realtime reporting, internet streaming and audio conferencing,

 

• Membership in committees benefiting our fellow reporters.  We’re presently on the Membership Committee for the National Court Reporters Association and enjoyed working in their Phone-A-Thon.  (Now we know how telemarketers feel 🙂 )

We here at All Good Reporters recognize the many benefits of membership each year and dutifully send in our checks and hope you do, too!