This tool can transcribe your Zoom meeting in real-time
What's the story
From students to remote workers, everyone knows the pain of trying to take down notes while attending a virtual meeting. The problem has been around for a long time but has become more prominent in the wake of lockdowns and remote working conditions enforced to fight the novel coronavirus pandemic. Now, finally, we have a way to deal with it. Here's how.
Tool
Otter.ai integration with Zoom
According to a report in The Verge, Zoom, the tool being used by 300 million people for virtual meetings, can be integrated with a transcription tool called Otter.ai. The program works automatically during meetings and transcribes everything spoken by the participants - in real-time. So, as the participants speak, you will get the written version of the conversation, complete with punctuation.
Advantages
Live transcription makes editing easier
Given that Otter.ai's service works automatically, you do not miss any part of the meeting in the transcribed version, which was a major problem for Zoom users when they tried jotting things down manually during the meeting. Secondly, the live working of the tool ensures that you get a chance to edit, annotate, or highlight important sections when they are fresh in your mind.
Working
How the tool works?
Once the administrator of a Zoom account sets up the "Otter.ai Live Video Meeting Notes" plugin, any participant in an ongoing meeting can click on the "Otter.ai Live Transcript" button on their Zoom window to begin the transcription process. The option opens up the Live Video Meeting Notes on Otter.ai's site and real-time transcription of the conversation starts appearing.
Requirement
You need to have a paid plan for using Otter.ai
While the service is really interesting, it is worth noting that you will not be able to use it without a paid plan of both Zoom and Otter.ai. Specifically, you need to have a Pro or higher tier of Zoom as well as Otter for Teams subscription, which costs $20 per user per month, with the first two months being free.