A scopist is also not perfect. Every transcript needs to be proofread. A second pair of eyes is essential! We feel that the last eyes to see the transcript should be those of the reporter, who was there, knows what was said, and whose name goes on the transcript. If you don’t use a scopist, then use a proofreader.
Many reporters have trouble relinquishing control to a scopist. Is it easy to give up that control? No. All relationships have a division of control. If a reporter can get comfortable with relinquishing a little control, a scopist can be a real asset. What? Let someone else see my notes? That's a big hurdle to overcome. If you can read them, so can a good scopist. Scopists are not looking for perfect notes, but readable notes! Too perfect notes are boring. Many scopists have said they like steno to keep their mind engaged with what they’re reading. Everyone has bad days, and that’s to be expected once in a while, and a qualified scopist will help you muddle your way through to producing a good transcript.
How can you trust a scopist not to make "good" mistakes that won't be caught in proofreading? Scopists should know when and how to flag. "Flagging" is a skill, in fact, that is on the first Certified Professional Scopist test which was given this year for scopists. In a reporter-scopist partnership, your scopist won’t hesitate to flag something they want the reporter to check. Perhaps it's a misstroke or it translates plural, but it's not as clear-cut as it should be.
It just takes a moment of the reporter's time to scan to those flags and make the determination. The longer a scopist and reporter work together, the more comfortable they become in communicating and knowing certain things that a reporter might consistently do, which should become second nature for the scopist to spot easily.
