It is increasingly difficult to get someone to sit in on meetings to take the minutes, so why not record the minutes and have them transcribed by King Audio. Draft minutes can then be sent to you via email attachment.

Like a focus group, if everyone takes a minute or so at the beginning of the meeting to introduce themselves this will help the transcriber to create a voice map of the participants. Obviously it would be useful if the Chair keeps a tight meeting and only allows one person to speak at a time and annouces when a person seconds a suggestion e.g. 'seconded by Mrs Smith' etc.

See also focus group transcription for more useful tips on recording round table discussions / meetings.

Recommended Recording Equipment

Our current favourite recording setup for the budget-conscious is a MiniDisc player with external microphone (although the cheapest recorders should be avoided if they lack a microphone jack). MiniDisc also needs to be used carefully to ensure directory information is saved or recordings will be lost.

Equipment should be tested to ensure the microphone will pick up all the speakers clearly. Bear in mind the transcriber will be listening to the recording through earphones, which can sound very different to loud speaker.

Turn off voice activation.