Notable Meetings: Put Down the Pen!

One of our prospective clients recently commented to me that she has been after management for six years (yes, six years!) to have their weekly staff and sales meetings transcribed, as well as their online conference calls. She knows that notes have to be taken at the meeting, but finds it hard to participate if you are constantly looking down at your paper hurriedly jotting down all that is being said.

Folks, you've got to give up the pen! Rather, bring a digital recorder to the meeting so that you can participate fully. When the meeting is over, simply upload the recording to you computer and email it over to us to be transcribed. In a few short hours you'll have a professional quality document returned to your inbox in MS Word .doc format. All of your meeting notes in an easy-to-use document. It is that simple.

What if you are online holding a meeting? Simply hit the record button and then send the file over to us, or let us know where the file is and we will be glad to retrieve it and get started on your transcription.

And if you are on the telephone? Be sure that we are the first call you make before you bring other parties onboard. Just dial into our server, put in your access code, and the system will start recording. Now all you have to do is dial the other party/parties and just hold your meeting as normal. When you are finished, hang up and we will get started right away transcribing your call.

So, do you want to make the most out of you next meeting? Then put down the pen and participate! Record your meeting, send it to us, and we will do the rest.

Creating Great Audio Recordings

Soft or muffled voices, words mumbled or spoken quickly, people speaking at the same time, background noises. Things that occur over and over again in everyday conversation, many times when we aren't even aware of it. Yet in everyday face-to-face conversations and meetings the essence of what is being said can often be understood by the accompanying body language or written materials. Understanding can come in spite of challenges from voice projection, speech articulation or background noises because of contextual clues. With audio recordings, however, the opposite is true. The more difficulty with voice projection and articulation the speakers have, the faster someone talks, the more often people speak at the same time, the noisier the environment, the farther away someone is from the microphone - the less understandable the audio is since there are no contextual clues. To help ensure a successful dictation and transcription project and to achieve optimal audio recordings, TTE's CEO Terry Thompson offers the following six tips:

1. Pick a quiet area to record your meeting or conversation andminimize background noise.
2. Give all speakers individual microphones or use a Polycom unit with large group recordings. Individual recordings can be done with transitional phone handsets. For optimal recording, speakerphones should not be used, since they only clearly pickup the voices closest to the microphone.
3. Speak clearly and slowly.
4. Have only one speaker at a time. If several people are on the line at the same time, do not talk over each other.
5. If you are using a cell phone, you will get the best results speaking in a quiet room and not using the speaker function of your phone. Driving in a car while being recorded is not recommended; it is not only hazardous, but does not pick up well.
6. Send any company-specific terminology that might be used with your transcription request.