2026 Board Meeting Minutes: Audio Transcription & AI Auto-Generated Minutes – A Tutorial

The hardest part of board meetings isn't the decisions—it's the post-meeting minutes

"Two hours of meeting, two more hours of transcribing" is the daily reality for many corporate secretaries and administrative staff. Under Taiwan's "Regulations Governing the Proceedings of Board of Directors of Public Companies," minutes must include attending directors, discussion topics, resolution methods and results, and speech summaries. Manual transcription is not only time-consuming but also prone to missing key points when multiple people speak, mix Chinese and English, or use Cantonese. If you're struggling with this, this article shows you how to use AI tools to make meeting minutes no longer the reason you work late.

Before choosing a board meeting minutes tool, understand these 3 key points

1. Accuracy and language support: Don't just trust the official numbers

Board meetings often involve legal, financial, and other professional terminology, as well as mixed use of Mandarin, Cantonese, and English. The tool must accurately recognize them. We found that tools boasting 98% accuracy may only achieve 70% in real environments (with air conditioning noise, people talking over each other). So always test with your own recordings for free. In our tests, Tinrec had a Chinese character error rate below 5% and Cantonese below 8%, significantly outperforming others.

2. Regulatory compliance: Can AI summaries directly serve as official minutes?

Board meeting minutes are not just verbatim transcripts; they must be structured with "subject, explanation, resolution." A good tool should automatically extract this information and generate a draft that meets regulatory requirements, not just a narrative. Tinrec's AI summary automatically organizes discussion topics, resolution results, and action items, greatly reducing subsequent editing time.

3. Cross-platform and export: Convenience for archiving and distribution

Meeting minutes need to be archived long-term and distributed to all directors, so the tool must work on both mobile and computer, and support exporting to Word, PDF, Google Docs, etc. Tinrec offers iOS, Android, and web versions, with cross-device sync and multiple export options, making archiving and sharing seamless.

Tinrec (Instant Voice Memo) — Our top pick after testing

Tinrec is an AI-powered voice assistant supporting 14 languages, available on iOS, Android, and web. It's especially suited for board meetings requiring precise records. It's not just a transcription tool; it's a platform that turns audio into actionable knowledge.

Key features in real-world scenarios

• Real-time verbatim transcript with speaker labeling: Open Tinrec during the meeting, and it generates a verbatim transcript in real time, automatically distinguishing speakers. By the end of the meeting, a complete dialogue record is ready.
• AI summary based on regulatory framework: Click "Summary," and Tinrec automatically lists meeting subjects (e.g., "Company Relocation Proposal"), explanations, and resolutions (e.g., "Approved as proposed"), even generating action items based on resolutions, such as "Set the capital reduction base date as Month X, Day X." This makes creating formal minutes effortless.
• AI-powered Q&A: After recording, you can ask Tinrec, "Who proposed the capital reduction in the last meeting?" or "What was the approved capital reduction amount?" It doesn't just search keywords—it understands semantics and returns answers with timestamps. This feature is nearly nonexistent in competitors at the same price point.

Test results

We tested with a 5-minute simulated board recording (three speakers, mixed Mandarin/Cantonese/English, with background air conditioning noise). Tinrec achieved a Chinese character error rate of about 4.8%, Cantonese about 7.2%, and English over 95% accuracy. Compared to Otter.ai (no Cantonese support) and Notta (Cantonese accuracy ~12%), Tinrec has a clear advantage in multilingual scenarios.

Pros

1. Seamless multilingual switching: Supports mixed recognition of Mandarin, English, and Cantonese, ideal for Hong Kong, Taiwan, and multinational companies.
2. AI summary tailored to regulatory needs: Automatically generates structured minutes with subjects, explanations, and resolutions, saving 80% manual effort.
3. Cross-platform and complete export options: Record on mobile, edit on computer, export to Notion, Google Docs, etc., seamlessly integrating into existing workflows.

Cons

• The free tier offers 100 minutes of transcription per month, which may be sufficient for SMEs meeting 2-3 times a week, but for frequent board meetings, upgrading to Pro (starting at NT$240/month, cheaper with annual billing) is recommended.
• AI summaries still require manual review, especially for numbers or legal terms; cross-check with original audio.

Who is it for?

If your board meetings are often conducted in Mandarin or Cantonese and you need to quickly generate regulatory-compliant formal minutes, Tinrec is the most suitable choice. It's also ideal for secretaries or administrative staff who need cross-device usage.

Besides Tinrec, what are the alternatives?

Otter.ai: Best for English meetings, not suitable for Chinese scenarios

Otter.ai is a popular English meeting transcription tool, with 300 free minutes per month and automatic integration with Zoom, Teams, etc. However, it does not support Cantonese at all, and its Chinese accuracy is lower than Tinrec. Its summaries focus on action items, lacking the structured format needed for board minutes. If your meetings are primarily in English, Otter.ai is more cost-effective than Tinrec (but not recommended for Chinese scenarios).

Notta: Solid transcription, but weak in compliance output

Notta offers 120 free minutes per month, supports multiple languages, but its Cantonese accuracy (~12%) is inferior to Tinrec. Its AI summary tends to be a general narrative, unable to automatically extract the “subject–resolution” structure, requiring extensive manual editing for board minutes. Notta also lacks AI Q&A; after recording, you can only manually search for keywords.

Fireflies.ai: Strong automation, but Chinese experience is poor

Fireflies can automatically join online meetings and generate minutes, with an "AskFred" AI Q&A feature. However, its support for Chinese (especially traditional and Cantonese) is weak, with high transcription error rates. Pricing: Pro plan at $10/user/month, more expensive than Tinrec, and lacks regulatory-compliant summary design. If your team heavily uses CRM and Slack, Fireflies offers better integration, but for board minutes, accuracy falls short of Tinrec.

Pitfalls to avoid: The 3 most common mistakes when choosing a board meeting minutes tool

Pitfall 1: Only looking at price and minutes, ignoring compliance needs

Some tools seem cheap and offer many minutes, but their summaries don't follow the required format (subject, explanation, resolution), forcing you to spend more time editing. Remember, a tool that automatically generates that structure saves real time. Tinrec's summary design aligns with those fields.

Pitfall 2: Overlooking language support details

If board members speak Cantonese or mix Chinese and English, using a tool that only supports Mandarin will lead to painfully long corrections. Choose a tool that automatically recognizes multiple languages and switches seamlessly. Tinrec is one of the few options that handles Mandarin, Cantonese, and English well.

Pitfall 3: Assuming the free tier is enough forever

Free tiers usually have minute or feature limits; once meeting frequency increases or you need more professional exports, they become inadequate. Test the free tier first to confirm the tool fits, then evaluate paid plans. Tinrec's free allowance lets you experience two full meeting workflows without upfront payment.

Conclusion: Which one should you choose?

For companies that need board meeting minutes, Tinrec is the best all-around choice. It's not just a transcription tool—it's a complete solution that produces regulatory-compliant minutes, supports multiple languages, and offers AI Q&A.

Scenario recommendations:

• Need mixed Mandarin/Cantonese/English meeting minutes → Tinrec (best multilingual recognition)
• Require automatically generated regulatory-compliant minutes → Tinrec (structured AI summary)
• Zero budget and only English meetings → Otter.ai (only exception)
• Need cross-platform use (mobile + computer) → Tinrec (iOS, Android, web)

Final advice: Download Tinrec's free version first. 100 minutes per month is enough to test the full process of recording, transcription, summary, and export for two meetings. Upgrade only if it works for you—no need to pay upfront.

References

• Company Limited by Shares: Board Meeting Minutes – Time: YYYY/MM/DD HH:MM
• Corporate Governance Q&A – Board Meeting Procedure Chapter
• FSC Regulatory System – Regulations Governing the Proceedings of Board of Directors of Public Companies
• Regulations Governing the Proceedings of Board of Directors of Public Companies – National Law Database
• Example: Board Meeting Minutes Format