Technical transcription has always had huge demand from corporate entities.

1. How to Make Technical Meetings Productive
Technical transcription has always had huge demand from corporate entities. In day-
to-day running, businesses deal with many kinds of communication involving highly
technical information, which would need to be transcribed for improving business
performance. One of these communications is meetings.
Corporate Meetings are Necessary
If there is one thing companies count on for lubricating the myriad systems and
processes within them, it is meetings. Corporate meetings can help in stock taking,
re-assigning responsibilities, redefining roles and getting the point across to multiple
departments in the organization. Technical issues relating to product or service
development are mostly discussed through interactive meetings rich in multimedia
capabilities.
Unplanned Meetings Can Waste Time
Meetings can also waste time, if they aren’t held professionally. That depends on
how you and the other participants prepare for the meeting, and how they behave in
the meeting. Meetings have been often perceived as a gigantic wastage of time. And
that’s often because the organizers fall short in the planning and execution stages. A
survey by Salary.com a few years back revealed that professionals in the US
believed meetings to be the prime destroyer of productivity.
However, experts such as Professor Albert Mehrabian have always believed that
meetings can provide amazing results which written or telephonic communication
cannot, since the written word can only convey 7% of the intended “meaning and
feeling.” Verbal communication can only convey 38% while the remaining 55% is
reportedly conveyed through non-verbal signals and facial expression.
Keys to Successful Meetings
So meetings can make a positive difference. First of all make sure that the meeting
is absolutely necessary and would actually contribute to dealing with the issue. Then,
follow these logical steps – the 5 Ps of a successful meeting:
• Punctuality
This is important for you, the head of the meeting and the others, the
participants. Not only does failure in this unnecessarily delay proceedings, but
it gives the indication that time really isn’t valued in your company. If you
cannot ensure a meeting takes place on time, how can you make the whole
organization run efficiently and cut short on wastage? It de-motivates sincere
participants.
• Preparation
Getting the homework done well before the meeting takes place is critical. It
really is a no-brainer that failure to prepare can compromise the efficiency of
the meeting and unnecessarily lengthen it, wasting time and resources again.
If you don’t prepare well, it gives the participants – your employees – the
wrong signal, that you just haven’t taken the meeting seriously. It would

2. trickle down to them and they could be coming unprepared for subsequent
meetings.
• Prioritization
Giving participants who have concerns the opportunity to express themselves
first is important. You can address those issues which could have a bearing on
the efficiency of your organization. Prioritizing the happenings at the meeting
based on who has serious concerns is the professional way. You’re holding the
meeting to address issues, and people having issues must be given the
opportunity to present them so that a solution can be found or worked on.
You should ensure that neither you nor any participant dominates the
meeting and discourages others from expressing themselves.
• Purpose
A meeting should always have a clear, well defined reason. And you should
ensure that the concern is dealt with first in the meeting, before going to
other matters. The meeting could be sharing some technical information,
carrying out performance appraisal, or making decisions – whatever the goal
is, it should be reached. So keep an agenda in place to reach the most
important aspects, and never wind up without having dealt with them
satisfactorily, even if more time is being consumed.
• Presence of everyone
It is nearly useless to conduct a meeting without the required participants.
Make sure that announcements and other information regarding the meeting
are properly conveyed to the concerned people. You must also employ
measures against people failing to attend so that attendance is never
compromised at future meetings.
After all these are taken care of, it is important you ensure efficient technical
transcription of all the details. This can keep the entire goings on in the meeting on
record. Without this the meeting wouldn’t serve its purpose.