As a conference organizer, you know how important it is to create a memorable and informative experience for your attendees. But one trick you might be missing out on is the use of transcription at your conferences.

By recording and transcribing your conferences, you'll capture every word spoken and ensure your attendees (and those who couldn't make it) never miss a beat. Not only that, by transcribing your audio content to text, you can reap rewards long after your conference has ended.

In this article, we'll explore the benefits of using transcription services at conferences and how they can help you make your event more accessible, engaging, and valuable for everyone involved - no matter whether it's in-person or virtual.

So without further ado, here are eight ways transcription can improve your next conference!

Jump to:

• Update anyone who couldn't attend

• Eliminate the need for note-taking

• Create subtitles for accessibility purposes

• Translate your conference content for a global audience

• Strengthen relationships with journalists

• Repurpose your content into marketing material

• Use the content for training material

• Boost your SEO

There will always be people who can't attend the event - whether that's because of clashing obligations, travel restrictions, or sickness. By providing a transcription of the presentations and talks, you can ensure that those who couldn't be there in person are still able to benefit from the ideas and insights shared at the event.

People can save time fast-forwarding and rewinding through audio and video recordings, and instead quickly and easily skim-read the written content and search for key topics and moments.

Taking notes during conferences can be a challenge, and can distract attendees from fully engaging with what's being presented. And interestingly, over 82% of B2B marketers report attendee engagement as an important KPI for determining an event's success.

By offering to provide transcriptions after the event, attendees can give their full attention to the presentations, knowing that they'll have a complete written record of the conference to refer back to later.

This makes it easier for attendees to actively participate in discussions and ask questions, which leads to a more engaging, interactive, and rewarding conference experience for everyone involved.

If you're hosting a video conference or filming talks at an in-person event, then it's important to provide a written transcript alongside any video content you share afterwards. This makes your content more accessible for attendees that might be deaf or hard of hearing. It also benefits anyone who may prefer to watch the conference recording with subtitles.

A written transcript alone is a good starting point, but it's quick and easy to go a step further. Simply download the transcription as an SRT file, and use this file to add subtitles or closed captions to your videos.

Find out more about how to add captions and subtitles to videos.

Once you've got a written transcript of your conference, it can easily be translated into other languages. This is incredibly valuable for reaching a wider global audience, as it ensures that everyone can understand and engage with the content being presented at your conference, regardless of language barriers.

With the help of translations, you can share your insights and ideas with people all around the world, expanding your reach and helping to build valuable connections across borders.

If you've invited journalists along to cover your event, give them extra-special treatment by providing full transcripts of key speeches and presentations afterwards. This will give you brownie points, as you'll make their jobs that much easier and help them to include accurate quotes in their coverage.

This is an excellent way to strengthen your relationships with members of the press, which is particularly important if you're looking to generate positive media coverage and build your company's reputation.

Conference transcriptions can be a valuable source of content for marketing material. After all, the event was packed full of interesting and insightful information, so why not use that content to its full potential and showcase the hard work of your company in as many ways as you can?

Once you've got your transcription, turn it into blog posts and white papers that position you as an industry leader. Use it to craft eye-catching press releases that generate that all-important media coverage. Pull out thought-provoking quotes to share on social media. There's no limit to how you can use it!

Find out more about content repurposing.

In a similar vein, conference transcriptions can also be repurposed to use as training material. They can be used to create onboarding materials, training manuals, e-learning courses, webinars, or even podcasts!

This is a great way of providing ongoing training and ensuring that everyone in your organization is up to date on the latest industry trends and best practices, and has the knowledge and skills needed to excel in their roles.

Publishing transcriptions of your conference content on your company website - in the form of blog posts or reports - can help to boost your SEO. This content can target specific keywords and phrases, which can help improve your website's search engine rankings for those terms. This improves the visibility of your website and helps you to reach a larger audience.

So there you have it - eight ways that transcription can help to improve your next conference, making your event more accessible, engaging, and valuable for everyone involved.

To find out more about getting transcriptions of your conferences, check out our guides on how to transcribe audio and how to transcribe video.