If you conduct group interviews for market research or attend regular meetings for business, group interview transcription is the way to go! Having your meetings transcribed can be a useful and effective way of keeping a record of events. Meeting transcription ensures that all discussion and outcomes are accessible to everyone involved. Transcripts can be edited and used online either on your company website or on social media. They can even be translated if you plan to publish to different countries.
How to Record a Group Effective Meeting for Transcription
Recording a group interview or meeting for transcription isn’t as easy as it sounds. Generally more attendees mean it’s harder to get a high quality recording. Issues like background noise, over speaking, interjection and obstruction of speech often occur. It is unrealistic to expect a perfect recording if there are multiple speakers or the session is particularly lively. However, there are things you can do to improve the quality of audio when recording a meeting or event.
How to Record a Meeting for Transcription
Here are my top five tips for recording a meeting to send to a transcription services company. Following these guidelines will give you the best chance of producing a high quality recording. This will produce a more accurate transcript and a more productive meeting. Weprovide recording services for meetings, group interviews and focus groups, if this is something you need.
For Accurate Transcription – Record your Meeting in a Quiet Space
Prepare the area you intend to hold your meeting or group interview ready for transcription. Choose an area without a lot of traffic (inside and outside). Ensure that the room doesn’t have a lot of echo and if it does, it’s worth adding cushions, to absorb some of this. These things will add to the quality of your recording and make the audio much easier to hear and transcribe.
The Best Microphone Placement for Optimum Sound Quality
Microphones are a big topic and we’ll discuss them in our next blog. When it comes to microphone placement there are many things to consider. The size and shape of the room, the number of speakers, even the furniture in the room can affect the recording. Ensure that air conditioners, heaters or any noisy machinery is not switched on . If this is unavoidable, place your microphones away from them. An omnidirectional microphone is probably the best choice if you carry out a lot of meetings and don’t want to shell out on a lot of recording equipment. Roving microphones and lavalier microphones are great for conferences, interviews or large events.
Participant Introductions for Transcription
Getting the group participants or attendees to introduce themselves at the beginning of a discussion is a great way to make speakers feel more at ease with each other because it helps the transcriptionist identify who is speaking. Group interview transcription services, can be a challenge due to participant identification. Bear in mind that the typist has never met your participants and can only go by the sound of their voice to identify them. Having each participant speak briefly about themselves at the start of a discussion is key. A good introduction allows the typist to sample the tone, pitch, volume and accent of the speakers. This makes identifying them in the transcript much easier.
Make Use of a Good Group Moderator
A good group moderator will brief the participants of a meeting or group discussion beforehand to ensure that they stick to certain house rules. At very minimum they should ask their speakers to limit interjection. The group should listen and be respectful while others are speaking. They should avoid over-speaking and limit eating or drinking during the discussion. This is because excess noise makes it much harder for your typist to hear what is being said.
How to Make a Clear Meeting Agenda
Having a clear meeting agenda beforehand means that you can get the most from your participants and keep discussion relevant. This is because without proper planning, large groups of people can easily go off on a tangent. Meaning you have a less productive meeting and possibly waste money having a longer, less relevant discussion. Meaning a less useful interview transcription.
If you would like to know more about interview transcription services, would like us to record your meetings or would like to know more about what recording equipment is best for you. Call or email for live captioning, subtitling services, translation services and video dubbing.
For reviews on different types of microphones and how they might help, visit this useful website.
