Work-from-home and work-from-anywhere arrangements have been normalized for employees across a wide array of industries. That momentum also shows few signs of slowing down. 77% of remote workers say that they’re more productive when working from home, which makes it easy to understand why major corporations like Twitter and Slack have decided to permanently offer their employees the option of working remotely.
As the percentage of employees working remotely continues to grow, so does the task of keeping teams connected. To bring teams together outside of daily meetings and quick virtual huddles, many are turning to lectures and virtual events. These lectures are being led by both internal leaders and guest speakers. They’re invited to educate and motivate workforces around exciting and relevant topics.
Lectures are excellent for business leaders looking to gather their remote workforces, but ample thought must be given to the accessibility and efficiency of how they’re being offered.
Business leaders hosting lectures need to keep inclusivity top-of-mind, and lecture transcription is one method being used to support accessibility of their events. Providing lecture transcriptions can not only improve accessibility for attendees during the event, but can serve as a valuable and efficient record-keeping tool after the fact.
If you’re hosting town halls, guest lectures or virtual gatherings, here’s why transcripts can be helpful assets to you.
What is a Lecture Transcript?
There are a few different options when it comes to lecture recording transcription. Some of them may be dependent on the platform you use for hosting your lectures.
Automatic options: There are Zoom transcription and Microsoft Teams transcription tools available within the platforms to generate automatic transcripts of streamed content. However, while these automatic transcription services may be convenient, they are entirely powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and often produce transcripts with a high number of errors. It’s important for companies to prioritize the accuracy of their transcripts in order to meet the standards set by the Americans with Disabilities Act, as well as to avoid publishing anything embarrassing or even inadvertently offensive, such as misspelled names.
Manual options: It is certainly possible for individuals to manually transcribe audio and video content. However, this process can be extremely time consuming, even for professional transcribers. These professionals tend to be expensive to hire, and those companies that attempt to cut costs by hiring in-house staff members to manually transcribe content often encounter similar accuracy problems to those outlined above.
Professional lecture transcription services: A professional transcription provider like Verbit, however, offers fast and accurate transcription by combining artificial intelligence with editing done by professional transcribers to generate high quality transcripts at scale. Verbit’s platform is also fully integratable with popular virtual meeting platforms and media hosting sites like Zoom, Webex, YouTube and many more, which saves companies additional time and money throughout multiple steps in the production process.
How to Transcribe Lecture Videos
For those looking to transcribe a lecture using its recorded video, the process is fairly straightforward. With Verbit, you can simply upload the video you would like to transcribe to Verbit’s platform. The in-house software will generate a transcript of the spoken text. This transcript is then reviewed and edited by professionally trained human transcribers before being provided to you in a file format compatible with the platform you’re using, such as YouTube and Vimeo.
Verbit also offers live transcription of meetings, lectures and events held on platforms like Zoom and Webex through streamlined software integrations. Verbit’s technology and a human transcriber can connect live to your session and go right to work, so the transcripts can be seen on screen in real-time. Verbit’s live transcripts are more accurate than those generated automatically through these platforms since they incorporate a human touch. Plus, they allow the user to highlight important terms, as well as search within the transcript for added use value.
How Do I Convert Audio Lectures to Text?
Transcripts of audio lectures are just as important as those of video lectures. Users are able to transcribe audio to text using many of the same upload or connecting processes already discussed.
Audio transcription can also rely on the technology, automatic speech recognition. It’s the same technology that powers commonly used voice assistants like Alexa and Siri. The right transcription partner can use this ASR technology to provide highly accurate, nuanced transcripts of audio content. Verbit’s ASR software is highly adaptive and can even differentiate between different speakers, dialects and accents. However, Verbit will continue to employ its human transcribers to edit the ASR’s work to ensure the quality and accuracy are high.
Staying Ahead of the Game
Based on recent trends, it’s fair to say that remote work isn’t going anywhere any time soon. Companies looking to engage their diverse workforces, motivate internal employees as well as host potential customers, can further increase their productivity and accessibility by hosting lectures and providing lecture transcription along with them.
Working with a trusted lecture transcription service like Verbit can help businesses take their audio and video content to the next level as they continue to navigate changes in the workplace.
Verbit’s transcription tools can be used in conjunction with closed captioning, audio description and translation to further improve the reach of your company’s audio and video lectures. Plus, these solutions can ensure you put your brand forward as one that is committed to inclusivity for all.
Reach out to learn more about how Verbit can support your company with its internal and external events and guest lecture needs with helpful accurate transcripts, captions and more.