The undeniable explosion of social networking and homegrown journalists points to the need -- more so the necessity - for programs to issue an "Official Instant Transcript" of the press conferences they might hold.
See how ASAP Sports, CoSIDA's official instant transcript provider, can assist your needs.
What was the real story with Urban Meyer at the University of Florida? Was the NCAA tournament expanding to 91 teams? Was Pitino really looking at the Nets?
Such rumors, along with the undeniable explosion of social networking and homegrown journalists, point to the need -- more so the necessity -- for programs to issue an "Official Instant Transcript" of the press conferences they might hold.
According to Jeri Gargano, vice president of ASAP Sports, which produces instant transcripts of coach or player press conferences, media and fans alike can report anything, any time, on the internet. "Without the presence of an instant official transcript, these sources will report ‘rumors’ or ‘probabilities’ on the web," she says. "Therefore, it's critical nowadays to get the transcript out the way you want it to be told."
SEC Associate Commissioner of Media Relations Charles Bloom agrees. “With the advent of social media, media relations professionals need to be on the front end of a story. ASAP Sports’ official instant transcripts allows you to tell the story rather than react to it,” he explains. “In this day and age where the news cycle changes constantly, instant transcripts is a great service to you as well as to the media.” Bloom states.
While programs have historically kept the job of typing up quotes among their internal staff, Gargano explains that the internet has necessitated immediate turnaround of transcripts. "Your media team will continue to do an excellent job transcribing for you," Gargano explains, "but if the transcript doesn't get out immediately when a story breaks, it's already old news in today's instant environment," she says.
Gargano adds that, nowadays, schools increasingly need to be their own news service.
"With blogs, Twitter and Facebook, today's SIDs and conference communicators don't just need to disseminate news to their target media. Indeed, they need to place that news directly onto the internet, onto their program's Facebook or Twitter page, she says. An official instant transcript is more critical than ever.
While media relations departments are working to minimize their expenditures, the relatively small upfront investment in transcription will allow programs to use their personnel to deliver content rather than type it up.
"The last thing programs want now is another expense, but the small upfront investment in instant official transcripts will allow you to stay in control of what the internet rumor mill might be saying," Gargano explains. "Using staff to deliver content rather than create it is a cost-effective decision to get the message out -- your program's message -- on the web and to journalists, instantly
and officially," she concludes.
For more information on ASAP Sports, CoSIDA's official instant transcript provider, please visit
www.asapsports.com. If you are interested in viewing the latest transcript provided by ASAP Sports for the CoSIDA membership, see
OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT, ARCHIVE AUDIO of May 11 CoSIDA conference call with NFL PR leaders