Using Transcription: Focus on Interviews

Are you a human resources professional interviewing candidates for a job, performing an exit interview or disciplinary warning to an employee; a market researcher interviewing focus group participants; a news journalist interviewing interesting people about the latest news story? Whatever your industry background, interviews are important for gathering strategic information to help you make decisions. So, how do you get this information out to the decision makers within your organization? Have the interview transcribed.

Transcription offers you a word-for-word written account of what the interviewee said, allowing you to use the information in many ways. Do you have multiple managers in multiple departments spread throughout several offices? Just email each a transcript of the interview. Need to meet a story deadline? Just cut and paste parts of the transcribed interview into your story line.

Recently, a nursing association started using transcription when interviewing candidates for upcoming board memberships. Each current board member needed to interview several candidates. The problem: the current board members were spread throughout the country and could not meet with each candidate. The solution: each individual interview was transcribed and sent to all board members, allowing them to analyze each candidate's responses.

How can you best use transcription during your interview process?

Telepresence Systems Pay For Themselves Quickly

A recently released study produced jointly by AT&T and the Carbon Disclosure Project found that telepresence systems pay for themselves in as little as 15 months as reported in a Light Reading posting. By using telepresence to replace travel, U.S. and U.K. businesses could save as much as $19 billion by 2020.

This study showed the results of 15 Global 500 companies (sales of $1bn or more) implementing four telepresence rooms. Over a one-year period, an individual company can cut over 874 business trips on average. Carbon dioxide emissions are reduced by approximately 2,300 metric tons over a five-year period, the equivalent of removing 434 passenger cars from the roads, according to the Green IT Report.

Is Speech Recognition Dead?

In his recent blog post, "Rest in Peas: The Unrecognized Death of Speech Recognition," Robert Fortner posits that the accuracy of speech recognition software peaked in 2001 at 80% and, as of 2006, had still not progressed beyond that level. In contrast, a human can transcribe at an accuracy rate as high as 98%.

Many pundits in the speech recognition industry argue that their software currently has a 98% accuracy rate. If you take a closer look at those numbers, you will find that these accuracy rates are based on learned responses similar to those used in automated attendants. In over three decades of research, no parser of unrestricted text has been developed. No machine has established a fundamental understanding of our spoken language.

The bottom line is: to ensure that your speech is accurately transcribed, you need a human. Only humans can understand the nuances of the spoken language. Only humans can ensure that your transcription of conversational speech is 99% accurate or better. And, as an added bonus, you do not have to train a human to understand your voice - just record your speech and give the audio file to your transcription company.

May speech recognition software rest in peace.

The Power of Transcription: Making Your Past Speeches Work for You

So, you have given many, many speeches and you have all these recordings stored on CD's or taking up space on your hard drive. How can they benefit you now?

You can put your speeches to good use by having them transcribed. Transcription not only allows you to have a written record of your presentation, but gives you the flexibility of editing redundant information or mistakes. Once you have edited the content in the transcript, you can copy the information and publish it as an e-book or a white paper. You can even make it a part of an online curriculum. Best of all, you can charge for your publication and create an additional revenue stream.

If you have given a number of speeches on various topics, you can publish the transcripts on your website as a bonus to event attendees who want more in-depth information or would like to read your thoughts on other matters. These readers may then quote you directly (and accurately), straight from your transcript, giving you even more exposure and a larger audience. As your popularity grows, so will your number of invitations to speak in other venues, and your business will continue to grow too.

Special Delivery: How to Get Your Audio to Us

Have you ever wondered how to transfer your audio files to us? Many times we are asked how to best deliver audio files to us for transcription and if we can accept uploads or email attachments. The good news is: we can accept both, plus we have additional options for you.

Email Attachments:

If you have a small audio file, say around 5MB, you can attach it to an email and send it to our operations department at transcriptionrequest@ttetranscripts.com. Be sure to include your contact information, a descriptive title for your audio, and the turnaround time you are seeking. Your email and the attached audio file will be sent to our entire operations staff to ensure that your request receives timely attention.

File Uploads:

Any audio file you have can be uploaded to us via our ftp website. Just point your browser to www.tteintranet.com/customerupload.aspx and fill out the convenient form. Click on the "Choose File" button to locate your stored audio file and select the file you wish to upload. Once the form is completed, just click submit and your file is on it's way to us. Our system will automatically notify the operations manager that your file has been uploaded.

Direct Dictation:

You can have our digital dictation system record your conversation, meeting, conference or blog updates by dialing directly into our servers. Just add us as one of your participants in your conference call or dial our number from your conference phone or cell phone, enter your customer pin number and our system will immediately start recording your call. Once you release the call, our system will store your audio and submit it to our operations crew for transcription. We will complete your transcript within the turnaround time you set when you create your account. You can change your turnaround for any audio file by submitting an email to us at transcriptionrequest@ttetranscripts.com.

Snail Mail:

Do you have audio stored on dictation or regular cassette tapes? Just place them in an envelope and send them to our Huntley, IL office. Our mailing address is:

TTE Transcripts Worldwide

10317 Fair Lane

Huntley, IL 60142

If these solutions do not meet your specific audio file delivery needs, be sure to contact us at 847-592-6211. We have a solution for you.

Tips for Great Audio Recordings During Your Conference Call

Poor audio quality on conference calls can seriously impact the quality and the cost of your transcription. Here are several tips to keep in mind when hosting a conference call that will result in the best possible audio for transcription:

1. Electronic devices (such as iPhones, Blackberries, cell phones, other hands-free devices and laptops) can interfere with line quality by adding static if located too close to the phone. Make sure that you place such items at some distance away from the phone you are using for the conference call.
2. If you are conducting a call using a conference room phone, microphone or speakerphone, be aware of its location at all times and speak directly into the device to ensure the best audio quality. When making an operator-assisted conference call using these devices, be sure to test the volume and line clarity with the operator prior to starting the call.
   
3. For optimum clarity, use a headset or telephone handset. Avoid using a speakerphone. Speakerphones should only be used in very quiet locations.
   
4. Be sure to avoid background sounds like music, coughing, eating typing or shuffling papers by using your mute button.
5. If you must leave your conference for a short duration, be sure to mute your line instead of placing it on hold. Any hold music or messages will play into your call if you place it on hold.
6. Avoid using three-way calling to add other participants to the bridge for it degrades line quality.
7. Be sure to ask your participants using mobile phones in airports, computer rooms or other noisy environments to mute their phones to stem background noise.
8. Use the "presenter mode" for larger calls to automatically mute all participants to ensure audio clarity.
9. For small conference calls (25 participants or less), simply ask that all participants mute their phones to improve audio quality.
10. Be sure to turn off call-waiting on your cell phone or home phone to avoid beeps or blaring signals from being recorded.

Update Your Blog on the Go

In her latest post "7 Ways to Get More From Social Media in 2010", blogger Lisa Barone states that you must make time for social media and plan for it in order for it to be effective. However, many SMB owners and managers are too busy running with the day-to-day activities of their business to find the time to update their blog.

Let us lend you a hand. Use our IdeaScribe service to update your blog on the go. By simply dialing in and recording your thoughts, ideas, rants or praises onto our dictation servers, we can supply you with a written transcript in MS Word .doc format sent back to your email when you need it most. IdeaScribe is ideal for the busy businessperson on the go; whether sitting in traffic, traveling to a convention, or multitasking, you can now use our technology to keep your social media projects up-to-date. Try IdeaScribe and let us know what you think.