Potok transcribes Russian speech; this site has been translated into English for convenience.
Meeting notes are made not from memory but from a recording of the conversation: send a file or a link to the Potok bot (potok.now) @potok_now_bot, and it will transcribe the speech, and the “Summary” button will collect the main points and tasks by speaker. Speaker labels and timecodes can be turned on in the settings in advance. Only Russian speech is recognized; 60 minutes per month are free.
After an hour-long meeting, few people have the strength to listen to the recording again and write out who decided what. It is more reliable to build the notes from the transcript text than from memory.
How to record a meeting so that you can make notes later
The quality of the future notes is laid down at the meeting itself:
- record in a single file, with no pauses or restarts, so the transcript does not fall apart into pieces;
- put the phone or voice recorder closer to the speakers, not to a speaker or a window, since background noise drowns out quiet voices;
- if the meeting is in Zoom, Telemost or another calling program, turn on recording right in it: the bot does not join the call itself, it needs a ready file. The difference between such a transcript and ordinary voice input of text is covered in the article “transcription and voice input: what is the difference”;
- if the speakers change during the meeting, keep the order of speeches in mind: the bot tells them apart by the numbers “Speaker 1”, “Speaker 2”, not by names.
How to get meeting notes from a transcript
A sent recording turns into notes in a few presses. First the recording file or a link is forwarded to the Potok bot: a short transcript comes as text right in the chat, a long one is saved as a file. Then under the text there are ready buttons: “Summary” collects the main points and tasks for each speaker, “Tasks and deadlines” separately lists who has to do what and by what deadline, and “Ask” lets you put your own question to the bot about the content of the recording, for example what was decided on a specific agenda item. If the ready buttons are not enough, you can create up to five of your own with a preset prompt, for example a “Minutes” button, into which you write your own wording of the request to the text. If several people took part in the meeting, it is worth turning on speaker labels and timecodes in the bot settings in advance, and then the summary and tasks will show who exactly said what. The bot does not shorten or retell the transcript text itself: punctuation, capital letters and obvious recognition errors are fixed, and the meaning stays as in the recording.
Where the meeting recording is stored
The audio recording of the meeting and its transcript stay on Potok servers in Russia, not in Telegram itself and not on someone else's server abroad. You can open them again in the My recordings section at any moment, without transcribing again. If the meeting involved personal data or commercial secrets, this is worth considering before sending the recording anywhere: cloud recognition is also a place where the content of a conversation ends up.
When the bot does not fit for notes
The bot will not transcribe a meeting that is not in Russian: it has no translation and no recognition of other languages. There will be no real names of participants in the notes: they can be told apart only as “Speaker 1” and “Speaker 2”. Recording a meeting on the fly while it is going on will not work either: the bot needs a ready file, not a connection to a current call. It does not accept links to Instagram and TikTok; a file or an address on YouTube, VK Video, RuTube will do. And without the internet the bot does not work: it is cloud-based, recognition runs on Potok servers in Russia and not on the device itself. A broader comparison of transcription services shows options besides the bot if none of the points here fit.
Frequently asked questions
You can create your own button with a ready prompt, for example “Minutes”: you word the prompt yourself, and the bot will apply it to the transcript. The bot has no ready-made minutes buttons by default, only “Summary” and “Tasks and deadlines”.
With Potok you can dictate the minutes live, speaking them during or right after the meeting. Transcribing an already recorded audio file of a meeting (a finished Zoom or Telemost recording) is a separate transcription task: such a file can be sent to Potok's Telegram bot @potok_now_bot.
Yes, several platforms have built-in meeting transcription: Zoom for cloud recordings, Microsoft Teams during the meeting, Google Meet on Google Workspace plans. The alternative is to record the sound and process it with a separate transcription service after the call. The Potok app does not do this kind of transcription, it is for live dictation; a call recording can be sent as a file to Potok's Telegram bot @potok_now_bot.
Voice input is real-time dictation: you speak and immediately get text in the active field. Transcription turns an already finished audio or video recording (for example, a meeting recording) into text after the fact. The Potok app handles the first task, live dictation; finished recordings in Russian are transcribed by its Telegram bot @potok_now_bot.
Voice input is real-time dictation into the active text field. Transcription turns an already finished audio or video recording (a lecture, a call, a podcast) into text after the fact, often with diarization (splitting by speaker).
Download Potok
Works with a single key in any program. 14 days of full access, then Free with 2500 words per week or Pro at 690 ₽/mo (499 ₽/mo paid yearly). Potok is a cloud service: speech is recognized on servers in Russia, and it does not work without the internet.
Download PotokA voice message from a messenger or a call recording can be forwarded to the bot @potok_now_bot, and it sends back the text. The bot is part of the same subscription as the Potok app.
Primary sources: yandex.ru · vc.ru · speech2text.ru · audio-2-text.ru