In our continuing series of profiles of the ORR's business members, we visited with Atlanta RealTime Court Reporting's Wanda Robinson. We asked Ms. Robinson what the biggest changes she had seen in her field, what was coming, and if she had any advice for those aiming to break into it any time soon. Here's what she told us.

I've been court reporting for more than thirty years. I do enjoy it. I have a lot of clients who are law firms large and small in the Atlanta area for whom I take depositions on a daily basis.

There have been many, many changes in this field over the last thirty years. The biggest and most important is the computerization of court reporting, beginning about twenty years ago. We used to have big mainframe computers that would take up a whole room. Now we can go out and take depositions using a laptop computer, and it comes out in real time. My firm's name is Atlanta RealTime reporters because I specialize in real time transcription.

When I came into the field there was a large demand for court reporters. I won't say there isn't a demand at this time, but it is a very demanding job. You have to put a lot of work into it, there are a lot of deadlines you have to meet. I guess I'm kind of used to that. But there are young people who don't want to go into this field because of those demands. It may be that a lot of young people don't want to put in the time, the energy and the effort it takes to be a top notch court reporter.

But as long as the law is out here, there are going to be court reporters taking these depositions for attorneys.

Another part of this field that has appeared over the last few years is captioning, which is widely used in television. That captioning is done by court reporters, in addition to what we do at depositions and in courtrooms. So there are a lot of opportunities opening up now outside the legal field for court reporters.

Businesses and churches have marched hand in hand for years, I don't think you can disconnect that. It's kind of a circle. Black entrepreneurs have to work harder, they cannot give up, they have to strive harder. They have to put out their businesses, what services and products they provide outside the black community too, Your consumer might not just be in a black community, that person or business might be in a Hispanic community or a Jewish community. We have to get out of the mindset of looking for our customers only in the black community.

I heard about the ORR from one of my clients, Herald Alexander, who has headed it for quite a while. I was one of its first members and have attended most of its events, galas and such. I think it's a great opportunity to network with other business people, to exchange ideas. For those reasons, I'd highly recommend it to everybody.

Nobody doubts that these are tough times indeed. Not every business enterprise succeeds, but yours can be one that survives and thrives in this difficult times.

The Business Alliance of Cascade UMC invites you to its annual retreat, Business Strategies in Tough Times, beginning this Saturday at 11AM.

The keynote speaker is George Fraser, America's networking guru as noted by Black Enterprise Magazine. A panel discussion will follow featuring Marvin Arrington, Jr. Esq.; Daryll Griffin, President of Accolades, Inc.; Rob Wilson, business talk show - Solutions & Remedies - at WAOK FM Radio; and a few other prominent local business owners.

Registration for the day is $15.00, which includes a continental breakfast and lunch. For more information about the Cascade Business Alliance 2008 Business Fair & Retreat, contact David Walters at 678-933-2312.