Transcription for board meetings and minute-taking
Audio in, accurate minutes out. No recording bot in the room, no per-seat licensing, no SaaS contract for the legal team to negotiate. Just upload the recording, get a speaker-labeled transcript, write the minutes faster. $2 per board meeting hour.
No recording-bot in the meeting
Most meeting-transcription tools join the call as a participant or require IT to install software. We just take the recording file. No bot, no install, no IT ticket.
Speaker labels for boards
A 7–12 person board with chair, members, exec team, and counsel produces a multi-voice recording. Diarisation labels each — useful when minute-takers need to attribute motions and votes.
EU-processed, retention-aligned
Audio in EU data centres, deleted 90 days after last sign-in. Aligns with corporate records-retention policies that require board materials to live in the corporate records system, not third-party SaaS.
$2/hour, no contract
A 3-hour board meeting is $6. A full year of monthly 3-hour meetings is $72. Compare to $300+/year per-seat tools — board secretaries don't need a meeting platform; they need transcripts.
From board recording to draft minutes in 3 steps
Record the meeting (any way)
Zoom recording, Teams recording, in-room conference mic — any source works. We accept MP3, WAV, M4A, MP4. Up to 500 MB / 10 hours per file (10-hour limit covers most all-day boards).
Upload to TranscribeCat
Drop the file. We auto-detect language (useful for boards with multilingual members), separate speakers, and produce a verbatim transcript with timestamps. A 3-hour meeting is ready in 8–14 minutes.
Draft the minutes
Search the transcript by topic. Use timestamps to find the exact moment of motions, votes, and decisions. Copy paraphrased motions into your minutes template. Archive the full transcript in your records system.
The minute-taking workflow that survives board scrutiny
Minute-taking has a job that's subtler than "write down what was said": minutes are a corporate record, often subject to discovery, sometimes filed with regulators. They need to be:
- Accurate on motions, decisions, and votes (these matter legally).
- Concise on discussion (paraphrase, don't verbatim).
- Neutral in tone (avoid characterising who was "passionate" or "dismissive").
- Action-oriented on outputs (who is doing what, by when).
A verbatim transcript is the wrong artifact for the final minutes. But it's the right artifact for the secretary who is writing the minutes:
- Find every motion exactly as movedby searching for "I move", "I propose", "motion to" in the transcript. The motion language should be quoted verbatim in the minutes.
- Find every voteby searching for "in favour", "against", "abstain", "passed", "defeated".
- Trace every action itemby searching for "will", "commits to", "by next meeting", "agreed to".
- Verify a contested point by clicking a transcript timestamp and listening to the original audio.
The transcript stays in your records system as the underlying audio record. The minutes stay in the official register. Both are required, and the transcript dramatically reduces the time and stress of producing the latter.
Records retention, confidentiality, and what to put in the corporate record
Most corporate governance policies require board minutes to be retained indefinitely(or for the life of the entity). Audio recordings of the meeting are usually retained for a shorter period — typically 1–7 years depending on jurisdiction and the body's policy.
Where TranscribeCat fits in this hierarchy: we are aworking toolfor the secretary, not the system of record. Once you've drafted the minutes and exported the transcript:
- The approved minutes go in the corporate register (board portal, secured filing system, etc.) and are retained per policy.
- The working transcriptcan be downloaded from TranscribeCat as Word or plain text, archived in the records system alongside the audio, and the local TranscribeCat copy can be deleted at the secretary's discretion.
- The audio is retained on TranscribeCat 90 days from your last sign-in by default. If your retention policy requires shorter or longer, manage in your records system instead — we are not the system of record.
For boards handling material non-public information (MNPI), regulated entities (SEC-reporting, banking, healthcare), or particularly sensitive matters: review your corporate counsel's policy on third-party processors before adopting any AI transcription tool. Our subprocessors and data flow are documented at /trust to make that review easy.
What board transcription actually costs
$2 per hour of board meeting audio:
$2
1-hour committee call
$6
3-hour quarterly board
$72
A year of monthly 3-hour boards
Per-seat board portals charge $300–$1,000/seat/year for transcription as a feature. For most boards, $72/year covers the entire transcription workflow without a portal contract.
Frequently asked questions
Does this work for in-person board meetings?+
Yes. Set a conference mic on the table (boundary mic preferred — Yamaha YVC-330 or similar gives clean speaker separation in a 12-person room) and record to a phone or laptop. Upload the resulting file. For best speaker labels, place the mic equidistant from speakers; for a long table, two mics summed in the recording app produces better diarisation.
What about hybrid (in-person + remote) board meetings?+
Use the recording from whichever conferencing platform the remote members joined (Zoom, Teams, Meet — all have recording features). The platform recording captures both in-room and remote audio through the room's microphone array. Upload that recording to TranscribeCat.
Is this legal in my jurisdiction?+
Recording board meetings is governed by corporate governance policy and (in some places) wiretap law. Most boards already have a policy on whether and how meetings are recorded. TranscribeCat doesn't change that — we transcribe a recording you already have. Verify with corporate counsel before recording if it's a new practice.
How accurate is transcription on a board meeting?+
Boards vary widely. With a quality conference mic and disciplined turn-taking: 92–96% accuracy. With a phone in the middle of the table and active cross-talk: 80–88%. Speaker labels work best when individual voices are easily distinguished — voice similarity (e.g., several middle-aged men with similar voices) is the hardest case.
Can I share the transcript with the rest of the secretariat?+
Yes — set up an Organisation at /org/settings. The whole secretariat shares one billing card and has access to all transcripts. No per-seat fees.
What about MNPI and confidential strategic discussions?+
Audio is processed in EU data centres and deleted 90 days after your last sign-in. We don't train models on customer audio. OpenAI (transcription subprocessor) operates under a zero-retention agreement. For boards handling MNPI, review with your corporate counsel — every board has its own threshold for third-party processors. Full subprocessor disclosure at /trust.
Can I get the transcript with timestamps to align to the audio?+
Yes. The Word export includes per-segment timestamps. Useful for archiving alongside the audio in the corporate records system — anyone reviewing the transcript later can spot-check against the audio at the relevant moment.
Related governance and records resources
Transcribe your next board meeting
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