Meetings and round table discussions, as well as any other type of transcription with more than three voices such as focus groups, are particularly challenging and will take longer to transcribe. You can make your transcripts more accurate by following the advice below:

	Check with the participants before the meeting or discussion starts that they do not mind being recorded for later transcription. Do this well in advance as if one person objects you may have to abandon the recording.
	If you need to have the different speakers identified in the transcription ask each person to introduce him/herself. Make sure this is more than just saying their name. For example ask for name, position in the company and a sentence or two on what their work involves. This gives the transcriptionist a 'handle' on each different voice before the meeting starts.
	If you have any 'housekeeping' information to give out such as locations of fire exits or when lunch will be served, do this before you turn the recorder on to save on recording time.
	Lay down the ground rules to participants before you start e.g. remind them not to talk over each other as this will cause problems for the transcriptionist.
	Use an external microphone on your recorder. Internal mikes are only suitable for dictation (one voice). Ideally, if you have more than four people, use a series of microphones.
	Record the meeting or discussion in a quiet place. Background noise can drastically reduce the quality of the recording and increase the time taken to transcribe.
	Make sure you use a recorder that has a facility for transferring files to a PC
	Use a file format that is compressed (see our articles page for an article on Digital File Types for Audio Transcription, so that it can be transferred over the internet to us
	Check your recorder is recording before you start the meeting!
	Do not serve food while recording the meeting or discussion, as the noises of eating will obscure participants' speech.

Our standard rates are shown in the table below but please note that this rate will be reduced slightly if you do NOT want the individual participants identified. We will try to identify participants as standard, but if you don't require this please let us know. This will save some time. Each time the speaker changes we will leave three blank lines between paragraphs, but we will not put in any attempts at distinguishing who is speaking, with the exception of the moderator.

Focus Group, Meeting or Round Table Transcription	Price per Audio Minute
Standard rate	£2.00-£2.50 depending on numbers of people etc.
Discounted rate for universities, students, institutions and charities	£1.80-2.30 depending on numbers of people etc.
Please note: This only applies to good quality digital recordings- assuming clear recording with minimal background noise and no strong accents, intelligent verbatim. Our hourly rate for tapes is £20.00 per hour (or £18 per hour discounted rate). Please see the information on tapes and transcription times and type for more information on this.