Complaints committee hearings in person, online or hybrid: a full record without taking the minutes yourself
Whether your complaints committee holds its hearings in person, online or hybrid, the record can be written up for you. A common concern: "we hold our hearings in the room, so what use is software like this to us?" The answer: a great deal. A platform like Adminio does not decide how you meet. It takes the record off your hands, whether the hearing is in person, online or hybrid, so nobody loses another evening to the minutes.
The misconception: a digital record means a digital hearing
Words like "recording" and "transcript" quickly conjure up a video call. That is understandable, but it confuses two things that have nothing to do with each other: how you hold the hearing and how the record is produced. The first is your choice: in the room, online or a combination. The second is the work a platform takes over.
In fact, the gain is greatest at an in-person hearing. That is usually where someone sits taking notes by hand, only to spend hours afterwards writing up the record. That is exactly the work that disappears.
One recording, four ways to meet
Whatever the format of the hearing, the principle is the same: there is one audio recording, and the write-up follows from it. See how that works for each format.
The write-up (transcript, summary and each party's position) is the same in all four cases.
What the write-up gives you
After the hearing, there is no blank Word document waiting for you, but a complete write-up: a transcript, a summary of the discussion, and each party's position set out clearly. Everything is searchable: anyone who later wonders exactly what a party said can find it without listening to the whole recording, and can ask the assistant, which points to the relevant passage.
The chair stays in control: checking, correcting where needed and approving the record. The technology provides the draft. The committee decides what is accurate. How to prepare and chair the hearing itself is covered in our guide to preparing and chairing a hearing, and how the record feeds into the decision in writing complaints committee advice.
Frequently asked questions
No. Many committees prefer to hold their hearings in the room, and that can stay as it is. Adminio changes nothing about the hearing itself. It takes over the work afterwards and turns the recording into a written record. If you want to keep meeting in person, you simply carry on.
With a laptop or phone on the table, through the browser. You start the recording at the beginning and stop it at the end. Nobody else needs to do anything. If you would rather use a different recorder, you upload the recording afterwards and Adminio writes it up in the same way.
A transcript, a summary of the discussion and each party's position set out side by side, all searchable in the case file. The chair checks the write-up and approves the record. Nobody has to spend hours writing up the record any more.
As a rule you may record a hearing for the purpose of the record, provided your rules of procedure allow it and everyone present knows in advance: mention it in your invitation and announce it at the start. The recording and the record are stored in the case file in line with the GDPR, within the EU, according to the retention periods your committee applies.
The transcript is an aid, not a final verdict. The chair checks it and corrects it where needed before approval, and the original recording is kept. If there is any doubt about exactly what was said, the passage can always be played back.
In the room, online or both: Adminio writes up the hearing and keeps the record searchable in the case file. Ask us to show you how that works in practice.
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