We've written minutes for more than 1,500 hours of public meetings since 2021. Express Transcriber is the tool we built from that work. Here's what happens to one meeting, from the moment you upload it to the Word file you put on the next agenda.
You bring two things: the recording and the agenda
The recording is the file your meeting system already saves: audio or video, up to 5 GB. A recording straight from the system beats a phone on the dais every time.
The agenda matters almost as much. Every agenda item becomes a section of the minutes, so the agenda is what gives the draft its shape. Upload the packet as a PDF or Word file, or, if your body works from a short list, type the items in one per line.
You also check off who attended. The body's members and staff are already listed. You uncheck whoever wasn't there. That one step means every vote in the draft lists the right people.
The transcript, split by agenda item
The recording comes back as a transcript in blocks, one per speaker turn, with the recording playing beside it. Click any block to hear it.
Two things happen before you touch it:
- Agenda sections are suggested. Express Transcriber finds where each agenda item starts. You check a few, and accept the rest in one click if they're right.
- Motions are found. Every motion, second and vote goes on a motion list, with the procedural ones your body doesn't record already skipped.
Your part is naming the speakers. Name a voice once and every block it spoke updates. Fix the odd block credited to the wrong person, and you're ready for a draft.
A draft laid out like your own minutes
Generate minutes writes the draft from the transcript, the agenda, the attendance and the motion list. It's laid out like the example minutes you gave it: your heading block, your agenda numbering, your way of writing a motion and a vote.
You edit it like any document. If something is wrong all the way through, such as how votes are written, you ask for the change once instead of fixing every paragraph.
Checking the draft against the recording
This is the step we built Express Transcriber around. Verify compares the draft with the recording and shows you:
- motions in the recording that aren't in the draft,
- parts of the meeting the draft doesn't cover,
- paragraphs it can't find a source for,
- anyone heard speaking in an official role who isn't on your attendance list.
Click any of them to hear that moment. If a part of the meeting belongs in the minutes, Add to minutes drafts a paragraph for it and puts it in the right place.
A clerk has always had to check a draft against the recording. Verify tells you where to look.
The Word file
Export to Word or PDF. The Word file keeps your template's fonts, spacing and letterhead, so last edits happen in the program you already use, and the minutes go on the next agenda for approval.
Try it on a real meeting
Your first meeting is free and doesn't need a card. Start with one meeting, or read Getting started first.