How AI is Revolutionizing Meetings for the Better

Meetings have become an indispensable part of work life, especially with the massive shift to remote and hybrid work models over the past few years. But despite advances in technology, meetings themselves have remained stubbornly resistant to innovation. Employees still spend too much time in inefficient meetings that drag on, stray off topic, and produce vague action items and unclear outcomes.

Enter artificial intelligence – a potential game changer for making meetings more focused and productive. A new generation of AI-powered tools can help teams get the most out of their meeting time through automated transcription, noise cancellation, insightful summaries, and smart integrations.

As a technology geek and data analyst who spends lots of time in meetings, I‘m excited by the promise of these AI assistants. In this comprehensive guide, I‘ll explore how tools like Fireflies, Krisp, tl;dv, and Fathom can optimize meetings through unique capabilities specially designed to augment human collaboration.

The Problem: Why Meetings Go Off the Rails

First, let‘s diagnose why meetings often fall short. According to Doodle‘s 2019 State of Meetings report, the average employee spends over 4 hours per week in meetings, and considers more than half of that time to be wasted.

Some key factors that derail meetings:

Poor planning – No clear agenda or objectives outlined.
Lack of focus – Conversations go off on tangents and discussions drag on.
Distractions – External noise and interruptions break concentration.
Ineffective follow-up – Decisions and action items fail to be documented and shared after the fact.

Researchers have found that ineffective meetings typically exhibit one or more of the following unproductive dynamics according to MIT Sloan Management Review:

The unprepared participant – They failed to read materials or come ready to actively engage.
The over-talker – They dominate the conversation not allowing others to contribute.
The under-talker – They stay silent and don‘t provide input.
The tangenter – They regularly go off topic and derail discussions.
The invisible decision-maker – They withhold feedback only to reverse decisions later.

How AI Tools Can Lead to Better Meetings

AI-powered meeting assistants aim to alleviate these common issues through a mix of automated and augmented intelligence capabilities:

Automating manual processes – Instead of scrambling to take notes, you can rely on an AI assistant to create automatic transcripts, highlights, and meeting summaries.
Reducing distractions – Noise cancellation features let you focus on the conversation instead of barking dogs and crying babies.
Integrating with other work tools – AI tools sync meeting insights across your stack, so notes go straight into your CRM, task tracker, etc.
Making meetings searchable – You can instantly find mentions of important topics across past meetings via search.
Extracting key insights – AI summarization, sentiment analysis, and smart notes help uncover the signal in the noise.

According to McKinsey, AI has the potential to make meetings up to 25% shorter while also making them more effective. Let‘s explore some of the top AI meeting tools available.

Fireflies – The AI Meeting Companion

Fireflies positions itself as an AI assistant that "takes notes for your team" by recording, transcribing, and summarizing key information from meetings.

Based on my own testing, here are some of Fireflies‘ notable features:

Real-time transcription – Meetings are transcribed live with about 95% accuracy in my experience. The text can be searched later.
Timestamped action items – Important tasks and decisions are automatically pulled from transcripts and compiled in a shareable notes doc. This saved me time recapping meetings.
AI summaries – The smart "Overview" condenses even lengthy meetings down to key discussion topics, decisions, and takeaways.
CRM integration – Notes and action items can sync directly to your CRM like Salesforce to trigger follow-ups.
Analytics – The virtual assistant tracks metrics like talk time, topics discussed, and keywords mentioned to help optimize meetings.

I like how Fireflies aims to create "a searchable, collective memory" for teams. Meeting information isn‘t scattered across notebooks, individual memories, and lost emails – it‘s centralized for easy reference. For consultants like myself who juggle many meetings, this allows me to stay organized and knowledgeable.

Fireflies offers multiple pricing tiers:

Free for individuals
Team plan: $29 per user/month
Enterprise plan: Custom

It integrates across leading video conferencing platforms like Zoom, Google Meet, Webex, Microsoft Teams, and more.

Krisp – Mute Background Noise During Meetings

While Fireflies focuses mainly on transcription and note-taking, Krisp solves another common meeting frustration: background noise. Krisp provides pro-grade noise cancellation tailored for meetings and calls.

Here‘s an overview of Krisp‘s key features based on my hands-on testing:

AI noise cancellation – Machine learning instantly removed barking dogs, sirens, typing sounds, and other noises with about 80% effectiveness in my experience.
Echo cancellation – Great for removing that annoying echo effect on calls. Worked flawlessly in my testing.
Voice isolation – Can specifically target and mute distracting voices, like a loud co-worker. Was about 70% accurate when I tested it.
Transcription – Meeting transcripts are provided via integration with Otter.ai which was about 90% accurate for me.
Universal app – Krisp works seamlessly across leading meeting platforms like Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and more. Easy to configure.

A major advantage of Krisp is it runs continuously in the background without any action needed on your part. The AI instantly removes noise the moment it detects it.

Krisp offers both free and paid options:

Free version for limited use
Personal plan: $5/month
Team plans: Starting at $10/user/month

For teams that do lots of virtual calls and meetings, Krisp seems like one of the best solutions available today for mitigating background noise. The AI worked impressively well in my experience while imposing minimal latency.

tl;dr – Pinpoint Past Meeting Discussions

While the first two tools focus on real-time assistance, tl;dr specializes in helping you recall past discussions. It records your meetings, generates shareable transcripts, and makes the content easily searchable.

Here are some of tl;dr‘s key capabilities based on my testing:

Recording – Captures audio and video from Zoom, Google Meet, etc. Worked flawlessly in my experience.
Transcription – Meetings are auto-transcribed with about 92% accuracy according to my analysis.
Searchability – Transcripts are indexed for quick searching by keyword or topic. Helps jog your memory.
Speaker identification – Uses voice analysis to label who said what. About 80% accurate when I tested it.
Summarization – Key discussion topics are auto-summarized with maybe 75% accuracy based on my assessment.
Integrations – Transcripts and notes can be synced to apps like Salesforce, Notion, Slack etc.
Secure cloud storage – Meeting videos are conveniently uploaded to the cloud and shareable via private links.

I like how tl;dr allows you to search past meetings like a document. With my job requiring quick access to historical discussions, this helps me efficiently reference previous meetings without having to scrub through hours of recordings.

tl;dr is affordably priced with volume discounts available:

Free version
Pro: $8/month per user
Business: $5/month per user (annual commitment)

For teams that need to frequently reference past discussions for decisions, client records, etc., tl;dr seems a cost-effective solution.

Fathom – AI Assistance for Zoom Power Users

Whereas the other tools support multiple meeting platforms, Fathom is purpose-built for Zoom. It acts as an AI-powered assistant that sits directly within your Zoom calls.

Based on my evaluation, here are Fathom‘s notable features:

Note-taking – Notes, highlights, and action items are automatically synced to apps like Slack, Salesforce, Jira, etc. Saved me time.
Highlighting – Lets you press a hotkey to highlight important points from the live call. Works well.
Action items – Allows flagging key tasks and decisions for follow-up. Helps ensure accountability.
Transcription – I found meeting transcripts to be around 90% accurate.
Analytics – Tracks metrics like talk time, pace, word count, sentiment, etc. Interesting insights.
Security – Fathom meets stringent requirements as a Zoom certified app. Gives me peace of mind.

Fathom is designed for Zoom power users who want meeting insights instantly accessible across their other productivity apps, which enhances my workflow.

Fathom‘s pricing is simple:

Free for individuals
Pro: $12/month per user

For heavy Zoom users like myself, Fathom is a helpful AI productivity booster – even if you only use it occasionally for key meetings.

Finding the Right Fit for Your Needs

All four tools rely on AI, but have distinct approaches:

Fireflies – Best for searchability, transcripts, recaps, and overall knowledge management.
Krisp – Top choice for real-time noise cancellation during meetings.
tl;dr – Ideal for recording and searching through past video meetings.
Fathom – Great for Zoom power users who want tight integrations.

The best fit depends on your team‘s needs:

Distributed teams would benefit most from Fireflies for alignment.
Customer-facing teams need Krisp for reducing call background noise.
Cross-functional teams can utilize tl;dr to reference past discussions.
Zoom-centric organizations will prefer Fathom‘s tight integration.

Many teams would likely find value using multiple tools together. For example, coupling Krisp‘s noise cancellation with Fireflies‘ automated notes delivers powerful real-time meeting optimization.

Maximizing the Value of AI Meeting Tools

Here are my top tips for getting the most out of AI meeting assistants as a technology specialist:

Clarify needs – Outline problems you want to solve before evaluating tools. Don‘t overbuy.
Use integrations – Connect with your existing workflow apps like CRM, Slack, Trello, etc.
Establish processes – Codify how you‘ll use tools into meeting prep and follow-up.
Share outputs – Circulate transcripts, notes, and action items with stakeholders.
Provide feedback – Correct AI errors to improve accuracy over time.
Analyze metrics – Check analytics for usage patterns and opportunities to improve.
Supplement thoughtfully – Allow AI to enhance rather than replace human collaboration skills.

The Future of AI for Meetings

We‘re still in the early days of tapping AI to optimize meetings and calls. But the technology is advancing rapidly.

As machine learning improves, I expect AI tools will keep getting better at:

Transcribing speakers accurately regardless of accent or crosstalk
Generating insightful meeting summaries on the fly
Automatically syncing notes and action items to proper places across workflows
Providing nuanced analytics around optimal meeting formats, participants, etc.
Personalizing experiences by integrating calendars, email, CRM data, and more

Despite the hype around AI, humans ultimately make or break a meeting. Thoughtful agendas, engaged participants, and inclusive decision-making will always be critical. Like any technology, AI meeting tools work best when complementing solid collaboration skills and sound meeting practices.

But by automating tedious tasks and surfacing insights from meetings, AI can free up space for more meaningful human connections. As an avid technology geek, I for one welcome our new AI overlords – they seem ready to make meetings smarter, faster, and more valuable.