The shortcut that saved my city council meeting notes

I was spending 3 hours every month typing up city council meeting notes for our neighborhood group. Then I tried using the voice memo feature on my phone and a free transcription app called Otter. It cut my time down to 45 minutes but I missed some inside jokes and sarcasm in the transcripts. Has anyone else found a trick to capture the real flavor of these meetings without losing your whole Sunday?

2 comments

2 Comments

vera30815d ago

Honestly, I feel you on missing the sarcasm and inside jokes. Otter is great for getting the words down, but it totally flattens the vibe. I started adding a quick 10 minute "flavor pass" right after the meeting where I go through the transcript and sprinkle in the jokes or tone cues like "(laughing)" or "(dry sarcasm)" in brackets. It's a small extra step but it really brings the notes to life for anyone who wasn't there. Tbh, it's annoying to do but worth it if your group likes the real talk.

walker.max15d ago

@vera308 did you ever try training Otter to recognize your sarcasm by feeding it old transcripts with notes?