Google Meet is the premier online video conferencing platform that has become increasingly popular for remote work, online classes, and virtual gatherings.
Google Meet comes with various tools to maximize productivity while you’re using it. But one of the lesser known features of Google Meet is its built-in transcription tool using Google’s ASR (Automated Speech Recognition).
With this feature, you can transcribe spoken words from video meetings and convert them into searchable, easy-to-reference text documents.
Here are the reasons why you should convert your Google Meet sessions into written documents, along with steps to generate the best possible transcripts for your meetings.
With the dominance of virtual communication in our fast-paced digital world, the prevalence of virtual meetings between colleagues, friends, and families is a growing trend. While these verbal exchanges are now more frequent and important than ever before, a notable shortfall in Google Meet is accessibility.
That’s where transcripts can help. Google Meet transcripts are a textual record of a Meet video conference event. These transcriptions can then be used to make meetings accessible for individuals with auditory disabilities, record-keeping, generating notes for absentees, and more.
Here are some important aspects to know about transcripts and elements that significantly improve their usefulness.
Here are five major benefits of transcribing Google Meet sessions that will make your virtual meetings more efficient and inclusive.
Transcripts significantly improve the accessibility of your meetings for participants who are deaf or hard of hearing, ensuring they can fully engage with the session’s content. Additionally, transcripts help those who may experience poor audio quality, face language barriers, or prefer reading to listening. This inclusivity fosters a more equitable environment where every participant can contribute meaningfully.
A written record of meetings enables participants who were absent to catch up efficiently. It also allows attendees to revisit and reflect on the discussions at their own pace, enhancing understanding and retention of the information shared. This continual engagement with the content ensures that valuable insights and discussions are fully utilized and not forgotten once the meeting ends.
Transcripts allow participants to quickly skim through the documented discussions to pinpoint key points, decisions made, and subsequent action items. This saves considerable time compared to rewatching videos and helps maintain the momentum of project progress. Efficient review of transcripts can significantly shorten follow-up times and accelerate task completion.
Transcripts can be shared easily among team members, clients, or stakeholders who need to stay informed but may not need to be present at the original meeting. This practice ensures that everyone is on the same page and can contribute to ongoing projects with a clear understanding of prior discussions. Sharing these transcripts helps maintain continuity and alignment across diverse teams and departments.
The content of your meetings can be leveraged beyond the immediate discussion by repurposing transcripts into various formats, such as blog posts, customer support documentation, internal wikis, or training materials. This extends the life and reach of the information discussed and maximizes the return on the time invested in hosting these meetings.
Google Meet has a built-in transcription feature for certain types of accounts. To check if your account has access:
Here’s everything you need to know about transcriptions in Google Meet
Google Meet supports both closed captions and transcriptions. Closed captions are essentially subtitles for your live meeting that can convert speech-to-text in real-time.
The Transcription feature generates a document of the conversation it has recorded and emails it to all attendees after the meeting has concluded.
You can find a copy of your Google Meet transcriptions in a follow-up email after the meeting is finished.
Alternatively, you can also find a history of all your saved transcripts in the “Meet Recordings” folder on your Google Drive.
If you use Google’s transcription feature regularly, you might want to start renaming the transcripts after every meeting. Their naming scheme is extremely vague and only includes the meeting link, time, and timezone.
The saved transcript can be edited and reformatted as needed using Google Docs. You can then share it with others or attach it to the calendar event.
While Google Meet’s transcript feature is a handy tool for converting your meeting to text, their accuracy is far from flawless.
The accuracy for Google’s ASR is approximately 85%, but our testing showed accuracy much lower than the claimed percentage.
Not to mention, transcription in Google Meet only supports English.
If you’re looking for accurate transcription with wider language support, you’re going to have to consider third-party transcription services.
We did a test for accuracy by reading the start of one of our blogs. Here are the results from Google’s ASR and Sonix, which transcribed a video recording of the Meet session.
Not only did Google’s ASR make several mistakes where it misunderstood the words being spoken, but it also did a poor job at punctuation and other grammatical nuances. Sonix, on the other hand, delivered a flawless transcription with proper wording and zero punctuation mistakes.
Transcribing your Google Meet sessions with a third-party tool like Sonix is a straightforward process that can greatly enhance the value of your meetings. Here’s how you can leverage Sonix to transform your audio or video files into accurate, easy-to-read transcripts:
Here are a few benefits of using Sonix over Google Meet’s own transcription tool.
Sonix offers exceptionally high transcription accuracies that are consistently up to 99% accurate. This accuracy level is unparalleled in the AI transcription industry and makes Sonix an industry leader in creating impeccable transcriptions with AI and machine learning.
Furthermore, Sonix also gives users various customizability options. Users can add custom vocabulary, which is particularly useful for industries with specialized terminologies, such as legal, medical, or technical fields.
Furthermore, Sonix allows for manual corrections post-transcription, which the AI uses to learn and improve over time, ensuring that each transcript becomes more accurate than the last.
The strength of Sonix lies in its remarkable compatibility with a wide range of digital platforms, including Google Meet. This transcription service effortlessly handles common file types, such as MP4 for video and WAV or MP3 for audio, ensuring seamless integration. After the transcription is completed, Sonix can generate the transcript in various formats like DOC, TXT, PDF, SRT, and VTT and can even burn in the subtitles to your recording with automatic synchronization.
Sonix has extensive language support, accommodating over 39 languages and dialects. This capability makes it an invaluable tool for global companies and teams that operate in multilingual environments. Sonix significantly reduces language barriers, fostering better communication and understanding within diverse teams.
Looking to transcribe your meeting with 99% accuracy? Sign up with Sonix and get a 30-minute free trial. No credit card required.
While there are tools like Sonix that promise high accuracy, it’s important to remember that your final output will only be as good as your initial input.
Here’s how you can create good-quality transcriptions for your meeting.
To maximize the quality of your transcripts, all meeting participants must speak clearly and deliberately. Encourage everyone to take turns speaking and limit background noise. Clear articulation enhances the transcription’s accuracy and makes the content easier to understand and follow.
Background noise and simultaneous conversations can severely affect transcription accuracy, especially since tools like Sonix are also meant to label speakers. To ensure the transcription tool captures each speaker’s words correctly, ask participants to mute their microphones when not speaking and avoid speaking out and interrupting someone else. Google Meet’s hand-raise button is great to avoid cross-talk.
After the meeting, share the initial transcript with all participants and invite them to review and make edits. This collaborative step helps correct any inaccuracies the AI may have introduced and ensures the final document accurately reflects the discussed topics. Allowing participants to verify and amend their statements also enhances the transcript’s reliability as an official record of the meeting.
While Google Meet offers basic transcription capabilities, third-party services like Sonix provide superior accuracy and additional functionalities. Features such as advanced speaker identification, timestamping, and adding custom vocabulary are invaluable. These tools improve the transcripts’ precision and offer a more streamlined, user-friendly experience.
Choosing a service like Sonix can transform your transcriptions into valuable assets for documentation, compliance, and review.
Google Meet’s transcription feature is a simple tool for capturing and leveraging the content of your video meetings. While its convenience is undeniable, its accuracy and lack of language support reduce its usefulness as an effective transcription tool.
By choosing a tool like Sonix, you can significantly improve the reliability and quality of your transcripts. With Sonix, you’re investing in a tool that will elevate the efficiency and productivity of your team. Whether it’s saving time through fast transcription, enhancing the clarity of communication among team members, or ensuring that every meeting is accessible to all participants, Sonix stands out as a leader in transcription technology.
Transcribe your Google Meet records effortlessly with Sonix and unlock the full potential of your meetings. Sign up for your 30-minute free trial today. No credit card required.
Basic transcription features may be included with Google Meet, but advanced options might require a subscription.
Google Meet’s transcription accuracy is about 85% under ideal conditions.
You can use Google Meet’s built-in feature or a third-party service like Sonix for more advanced needs.
Google Meet supports transcriptions in English only.
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