Carly Quellman is a movement artist, storyteller and disability advocate whose work challenges and strips perspective around the human experience. As an advocate for young women, artistic potential and the "anomaly" identity, Carly dedicates her time to spreading the power of expression. She resides in Los Angeles.
Regardless of where you work, there are bound to be aspects of your job or day-to-day tasks that are mundane, frustrating or both. As a writer, nothing annoys me more than organizing information after an interview for a story that has yet to be written.
So when I try to piece together sections from an interview's transcript into my prep document, I'm not thrilled by the number of steps it takes to prepare for the one thing I want to do and am hired to do: write.
When I was requested to use Google Chrome for a virtual interview, I tried out Bluedot, Chrome's artificial intelligence-powered AI Meeting Recorder & Note Taker, in hopes of getting some help along the way.
I have tested and tried various AI-powered tools, including Zoom's AI project manager and Otter.ai, but haven't found something I want to integrate within my professional day-to-day. (A problem my squirrely brain frequently has in AI's oversaturated landscape.) Yet, I was willing to test Bluedot out since it had a quick installation process and didn't slow down my trusty 2017 MacBook Air.
Bluedot's free option allows five 1-hour meetings, screen-recording options and Slack integration, so I chose that. It also has a Basic plan for $14/month that provides you with unlimited audio meetings. (It's $20 per month to get access to features like unlimited video meetings and custom meeting templates.)
I had picked Bluedot from the top of an SEO-generated list created -- unsurprisingly -- by Google and quickly installed the tool. So I didn't spend time navigating the software until after my interview was complete. This resulted in being pleasantly surprised by its capabilities (of the 17 listed on its homepage).
These were the features I appreciated most about Bluedot:
I was so delighted by the meeting recap Bluedot generated for me that I included it as a snippet in my thank you email the next day; story themes and points made by my subject were captured beautifully!
I've found it's common for humans to worry about whether your angle or opinion was taken out of context following an "on the record" conversation, so sending Bluedot's AI-generated blurb felt like a nod to us both saying, "The interview went well. Here's proof."
While I'm aware this feature isn't exclusive to Bluedot, the feeling behind the words written in the 250-word AI-powered summary was more conversational and less robotic than other tools I've used -- almost as if I had written it myself.
Bluedot's mission is to improve productivity and share knowledge and the ability to coach yourself. I found the "coach yourself" option to personally coincide with my takeaways from the software.
Navigating Bluedot helped find ease and strengthen my organizational and communication skills while seeing the insights behind my interviews. Over time, this could be a valuable asset for watching myself grow and become a better writer.
As a meeting recorder tool that -- according to its website -- suits entrepreneurs, managers, engineers, sales teams, customer success professionals and recruiters, I'd add that all humans can benefit from the takeaways listed. The choice comes down to preference: your personal needs, design desires and expectations.
