If you’ve ever attended a meeting for school or work, you know how essential meeting notes are. Unfortunately, people rarely volunteer to take notes. Getting accurate meeting minutes can be difficult, and it’s hard to listen and note-take at the same time.

Transcription is a much better method of documenting what happens in meetings. With the right transcription tool, you can get every detail of your meeting. Even fill in those who couldn’t attend or prevent knowledge loss if the person leading the team suddenly leaves the company.

Here’s the best method to record and transcribe the meetings in your life. You may be surprised at how this tip for recording meeting minutes can save time, too!

Step One: Record the meeting

Before you can get an accurate transcription, you must provide a quality audio or video file. There are many tools available to get this file for you. You may already be using one to connect meeting attendees virtually. They include Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Skype. iPhone or Android phone apps can easily record your voice, as well.

Be sure to test your audio quality before the meeting starts. Will the majority of the speakers be in the room with you? Use a multi-directional microphone that can capture all the voices clearly. Spend a few minutes before the meeting begins to troubleshoot any audio issues. Remember, the quality of your audio recording determines how accurate your final text to speech file will be.

Whether the meeting is virtual or not, get everyone’s permission to record before you begin. Let them know when the meeting is officially in progress.

Step Two: Create an audio recording file

After recording, you will end up with an audio file, video file, or both file types. While you could play back these files and transcribe them on your own, this is very time-consuming. Your time is probably better spent doing other things, so outsourcing the transcription services is highly recommended.

Step Three: Create the Transcription file

For easy automated transcription with up to 80% accuracy, consider the Rev AI transcription tool. Rev accepts most file formats, allowing you to easily upload the file directly to the checkout page. You can also paste in the direct link to your file location. (Just be sure the link is public!)

If your meeting has many people talking, possibly even over one another, a human transcriptionist will likely work better. AI offers this, too, with up to 99% accuracy. Human transcription creates a better product for meetings with varying volume levels and heavy accents or dialects, as well.

Choose your transcription type, checkout, and be done! Create meeting notes in minutes, impressing your boss or students and making sure you don’t miss a word of the meeting. From there, creating action items — while the meeting is fresh in your mind — is recommended.

Transcription files stay stored in your Rev account, so you can download or share them, as needed. You’ll never have to worry about losing notes (or taking poor ones) again.

Interested in taking minutes manually? Check out our meeting minute templates to simplify the process.