Why Transcribing Your Presentation is a Huge Value-Add
I think there’s tremendous value in having a transcript of a speech or presentation. Let me list off some of the advantages that a transcript gives you.
1) Quality control. With a transcript, you can read through your speech and see where your strengths and weaknesses are in your presentation. Maybe you have an important point that you felt like you really hammered in, but then you look at the transcript and see that it was really only 2 or 3 sentences. You can see where you repeat yourself unnecessarily, and also where you probably should have repeated yourself to make the point stick. If you get a strict verbatim transcript, you can see where you may have fumbled over a few words, or where your point was obscured by unclear sentence structure. You can easily make edits to word choice or sentence structure that will make your presentation that much stronger the next time you give it.
2) It gives you a product. You can offer to send the transcript of a keynote speech or presentation to audience members. This alone can increase the reach of your message dramatically, getting you and your brand’s name out there. You send people a transcript as part of your post-conference correspondence, and they can quickly and easily share the information in the transcript with their friends, colleagues, and coworkers. Very few people are going to listen to an often less-than-pristine recording of speech or presentation, but they might find that reading the transcript and reviewing PowerPoint slides gives them fresh, exciting insights.
Also, as it relates to creative product, a transcript can be a great tool for search engine optimization (SEO). A one-hour speech will yield roughly 9,000 words when transcribed. Split that up into 500-word blog posts and you just got yourself 18 separate updates that you can post. Or post the entire thing on your website and share it on social media. It’ll give your audience something high-interest, low-commitment to engage with. That’s the problem with audio; it’s so high-commitment. Very content rich, but you really have to devote a chunk of time to consuming it. A transcript is easy to scan and get the gist.
3) A transcript can be a great working reference for a book. Check out these steps: A) Give a one-hour speech (9,000 words) on a topic you’re knowledgeable and passionate about. B) Get the speech transcribed. C) Edit the transcript so it reads naturally. D) Boom, you’ve got the first 30-50 pages of a book. That could be the entire thing if you’re publishing a small e-book. If you do this process once a month, you could complete 12 e-books a year. Self-publish them on Amazon. With some fresh insights and a snappy title, you can make some really good money self-publishing on Amazon, not to mention the advantage of being able to say you published 12 books last year!
Let me know what you think!
-Paul Rogers