“I always thought a transcribing tool like Trint would be perfect for our department to modernize the way in which we listen to and type up audio.”
Rohan Johal, Communications Manager at Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, is talking about the benefits of using transcription software to help stay on top of reviewing interviews and media appearances undertaken by players and staff.
Tottenham players are known across the world and are spokespeople for the club when being interviewed. As communications manager, it is crucial for Johal to make sure that players and staff are fully briefed on the questions or topics before an interview.
“On matchdays we could have a large number of broadcasters on site and selected players taking part in a number of interviews, which we’d listen back to and type up to review,” he says.
“But with Trint, we now have the immediacy of having these transcripts and can quickly summarize a story to share with others if required.”
Founded in 1882, Tottenham Hotspur is a professional football club based in North London, England. Often referred to as Spurs, the club has a name recognized across the world and is known for competing in the top tier of English football – the Premier League. A reputation that keeps the media spotlight on the club.
“Football is very much 24 hours so day-to-day is never really the same,” explains Johal. “During the season we manage players’ media commitments, whether that’s contractual and in line with the club’s media obligations or part of any of their personal appearances.”
On match days, Tottenham’s communications team helps players navigate these contractual interviews both before and after the game, as well as fielding questions from any media on site.
With the vast amount of interview content happening across the club, Johal was interested in finding a way of streamlining the process to create and review transcripts. A problem that Trint’s automated transcription tools could solve.
“I saw the other organizations that Trint works with and thought it must be a reliable tool,” recalls Johal. “So we did a trial and every person definitely saw a way they could use Trint to speed things up.
“We also have a thorough process here at the club in terms of tools that we take on board. Having an understanding of the security measures that Trint has in place was definitely a huge factor in us choosing Trint.”
Since integrating Trint into its workflow, the communications department at Tottenham has seen a significant improvement in how they keep track of interviews and repurpose quotes for new content.
“Typing up and summarizing interviews has always been part of our process, which is very useful if you ever need to refer back or double check something the manager or a player said in the past,” Johal explains.
“If you’re not the quickest typer, it may take a while to transcribe longer form interviews. Whereas with Trint, you can just do it in the background and spend more time getting on with other stuff. Which for me personally and other people in our team has been very helpful.”
Trint’s mobile app is also helping the communications department do more on the move by uploading recordings and reviewing interview transcripts to get an understanding of what was said.
“After an interview is done and the players have gone, I just put on my headphones, press play and watch it all through,” says Johal.
“If you click somewhere, Trint takes you to that second where the quote’s been said. Which is a huge help because with normal voice memos you have to scroll to find a moment. Whereas now we can find it very quickly.”
Trint is also solving problems with traveling to and from away games. Allowing Johal to upload audio into Trint before driving back home, with the transcript ready to review on arrival back in London.
“When we travel to away games you could have a late finish and a long drive home, which gives minimal time where you can actually sit down and go through audio. But now Trint can just be doing its thing in the background so it’s ready to go through by the time you get home. That’s definitely something we saw huge value in straight away.”
Tottenham have a range of players from different nationalities who conduct interviews in languages other than English. This can present a challenge for the club’s communications team to be aware of what a player is saying in the moment.
“These players can have maybe 45 minutes worth of interviews during a week that are all in say Spanish or Italian. Now we can put that audio into Trint and get a good understanding of what's being said in the interview.”
With so much happening on matchdays, Trint’s transcription and translation tools are helping Tottenham’s communication team stay in the loop with every interview. Ensuring the content of each interview is understood and reviewed.
“Everything happens so quickly on matchdays. But with Trint, we can be transcribing interviews in different languages while other interviews are going on. That gives us an understanding straight away of what was said.
“We've got an Italian goalkeeper and when he speaks English Trint picks up almost everything word for word, which is brilliant.”
