This is a chapter from #PRstack: AI tools for marketing, media, and public relations, the latest #FuturePRoof publication. You can buy a copy of the complete book from Amazon in Kindle and print formats. The Kindle version doesn’t include images due to format limitations.
Fireflies by Ann-Marie Blake | Practitioner
Fireflies uses artificial intelligence technology to transcribe and summarise online meetings and audio recordings. Its capabilities go beyond automated note taking to provide detailed analytics and sentiment analysis.
I’ve been using Fireflies for two months and already love it. It’s easy to get started - just go to the Fireflies ai website, answer a couple of basic questions, and choose a plan to suit your needs. I started with the ‘free forever’ plan which gave me 800 minutes per month, but soon upgraded to Pro for more minutes and features.
How it works
Fred, the Fireflies Bot, joins your online meeting as a guest and silently sits in the background recording the meeting and taking notes. It’s compatible with the popular meeting platforms. I’ve used it with Microsoft Teams, Zoom and Google Meet with no issues. Meetings must last between 3 -120 minutes for the ai transcription to work.
As part of the terms of service users must let participants know that the call is being recorded. You can either do this verbally at the start of the meeting or configure your settings so that Fireflies does this automatically.
Shortly after the meeting you will receive an email with a link to:
• A summary of the meeting.
• A timeline with timestamps for easy reference.
• A list of suggested action items for follow up.
Even in meetings where English is not the first language for all participants, I've been impressed with the accuracy of the transcript and summaries generated.
Fireflies can be used for in-person meetings but you’ll need to record separately and upload a recording to Fireflies so that it can be transcribed using the Fireflies transcription tool.
Where it fits within the public relations workflow
Capturing meeting minutes and actions.
Meetings are an essential part of our work in Public Relations but they can often be a source of inefficiency. Whether it’s the time taken to manually type up written notes, or having an extra person attend as notetaker, Fireflies saves time and effort by recording and transcribing your meeting providing you with summary notes and actions within a few minutes.
There’s so much more to Fireflies than automated note taking. Other use cases include:
• Organisational listening/focus groups
Fireflies means you don’t need to split your attention between facilitating focus groups and note taking. You can also quickly find quotes, identify themes and AskFred can help with writing up reports with key findings and recommendations.
• Content creation
You can use the AskFred feature to perform follow-up tasks such as writing emails and blog posts. Asking questions about what happened during the meeting makes it easier to identify themes and insights for report writing.
• Creating transcripts from podcasts or Town Hall meetings
The ability to upload MP3 and MP4 means you can transcribe audio content created outside Fireflies quickly giving you a low cost way to make your content inclusive and accessible.
• Improving team meetings
Fireflies can identify who is speaking, the level of contribution from each participant, tone, and sentiment in the conversations. You can use this insight to uncover how your team interacts, who is driving conversations, and the overall sentiment in discussions. Future meetings can be structured to optimise teamwork, productivity, and engagement among members.
• Streamlining CRM
Fireflies integrates with workflow tools such as Asana, Monday.com and Salesforce making it easy to send meeting notes directly to your CRM system.
Downsides
The app joins as an added attendee, requiring manual admittance to some meetings. For online training sessions, attendees receiving full transcripts could potentially reveal intellectual property.
Overall, Fireflies delivers tremendous opportunity to enhance productivity, collaboration, and insights.
Ann-Marie Blake, co-founder, True
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ann-marie-blake/
Ann-Marie Blake is co-founder of True, a strategic communications agency. She is on the Executive Board of the IABC (International Association of Business Communicators) and founder member of PRCA Race Ethnicity and Equity Board.