How I read through 16 hours of public meetings from 5 countries in just under half an hour

Discover how I used Closer Meeting to transcribe, translate and summarize 16 hours of public legislative meetings to understand them in under half an hour.

Mar 15, 2024
In our fast-paced world, staying informed about global events and legislative decisions is crucial, but finding the time to sift through hours of public meetings can be daunting. As someone who values staying updated on international affairs, I recently faced this very challenge. However, thanks to a revolutionary new tool called Closer Meeting, I was able to tackle this task with unprecedented efficiency.
Closer Meeting is an AI-powered platform that can transcribe, translate, and summarize public meetings (or any type of meeting) in real-time. Equipped with this innovative tool, I embarked on a mission to review and comprehend public legislative meetings from five different countries and congresses: the USA, Mexico, Colombia, the Philippines, and Brazil. What would have taken me days to accomplish manually, Closer Meeting condensed into just under an hour.

How I did it:

The only thing you need for Closer Meeting to start working for you is a recording of the meeting. It can be audio or video, it can be recorded directly from the app with a microphone or directly from the app through any other app (Zoom, Meets, Teams, etc.). You can easily insert any recording you want to, label it however and start working with the transcript/translation/summary features. This is a very powerful AI meeting tool. Additionally, Closer Meeting’s transcripts feature complete diarization, the possibility to name each speaker for the entire transcript, great punctuation, a bullet-point view for every part of the transcript and much more!
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The results:

Now, let's delve into the insights gathered from each country's public meetings:

México

From the hearing:
“Racism in México and Latin América has an exact date of origin, October 12, 1492, and is sustained by the invisibility that the majority of Latin American states do not mention racism in their regulations, policies, speeches or data.”
With Closer Meeting's translation feature, I was able to understand the intricacies of Mexico's legislative process. In particular, I chose a forum/panel from the human rights committee of the chamber of deputies in the Mexican Congreso de la Unión. This panel focused on the pressing issue of racism in México. Some key insights are be the following:
  • Racism is deeply entrenched in Mexican society and its institutions due to the country's colonial history. The narrative of “mestizaje” (racial mixing) has erased and invisibilized the experiences of Indigenous, Afro-Mexican and other non-white populations
  • Recent surveys show that around 24% of Mexicans report experiencing discrimination. Racism most commonly targets those with Indigenous, African or other non-European features. This leads to disparities in areas like jobs, education and health.
  • More data and policies are needed to address the specific needs of Afro-Mexican women and other groups facing intersectional discrimination. Invisibility in statistics makes their lived experiences unclear.
From this forum, we can clearly see the structural nature of racism in Mexico and the multidimensional efforts still needed to effectively combat it. Both legal measures and broader societal transformation were seen as crucial.

Colombia

For this task, I chose the celebratory presidential speech for the beginning of the new legislative period of the Congreso Nacional de la República of Colombia, dated July 20th, 2023 (the country’s independence day).
Some of the major reforms discussed include health care reform, pension reform, labor reform, and education reform. The goal is to improve services and protections for Colombians.
“With the approval of the health reform, the Government of Change aspires to leave a legacy for the country”
The health care reform in particular aims to establish primary care services across the country to improve access to medical care. It will be challenging to pass these reforms, as some political parties and elites may oppose reforms that redistribute wealth and power. Consensus building will be important.
The first year of a new government is usually productive, but the second year is when Congress exerts more influence as elections approach. Overall, the discussion focused on analyzing the political dynamics and challenges around passing the key social reforms this new legislative period. Consensus and dialogue were presented as crucial.
Upcoming local elections could reduce congressional attendance. These and many more insights could be gathered in a very quick fashion.

Philippines

Closer Meeting helped me greatly in quickly deciphering the main points in this regular session of the House of Representatives from the Kongreso ng Pilipinas dated March 11, 2024. Some major topics covered include:
  • House Bill 10026 which proposes upgrading the minimum salaries of public school teachers, higher education personnel, and non-teaching staff. This was referred to the Committee on Appropriations.
“Upgrading the minimum salaries of public school teachers to salary grade 15, teaching personnel in higher education to salary grade 16, and of non-teaching personnel to 16,000 pesos…”
  • Several other bills relating to health services, such as establishing medical centers, converting hospitals, and expanding bed capacity of existing facilities. These were referred to the Committee on Health.
  • Resolutions honoring individuals such as the late actress Jacqueline Jose, MMA fighter Joshua Passio, and calling for various investigations. These were referred to the Committee on Rules.
And many others (get with Closer Meeting to find out the rest easily!) In general, the meeting covered various agenda items within the committees' jurisdictions handled through the standard parliamentary procedures. Deliberations were conducted comprehensively and respectfully by the members.

Brazil

Closer Meeting enabled me to access a public joint meeting from the Brazilian Congresso Nacional dated 4th of October 2023. This meeting featured mainly deputies and one senate member.
The point was to discuss some special projects and vetoes. Several lawmakers argued that certain projects like PLN 19 were not properly approved by the Budget Committee as required and should not be voted on. The session president overruled these objections and said the matters were included in accordance with Congressional rules.
“The fact that PLN 19 was not assessed by the joint budget committee, it was not approved by the joint budget committee”
Others argued for transparency around congressional budget allocations and amendments, criticizing the use of amendments to gain political support. There was a back and forth debate over proper procedures.
The meeting involved procedural disputes but ultimately focused on passing specific budget and funding bills according to a pre-agreed agenda, while postponing other outstanding matters to a later date in order to allow progress within established parameters. Debate centered on priorities and adherence to proper legislative procedures and transparency.

USA

Finally, from the USA, I was easily able to find the recording for the senate judiciary committee’s hearing on social media’s impact on teen mental health, dated Nov. 7th, 2023. The main object in the hearing was Arturo Behar’s testimony.
Arturo Behar, a former director of engineering at Facebook who worked on user safety, testified before a Senate subcommittee about the harms of social media, especially Instagram, on children and teens. He shared research from Instagram that found 1 in 8 teens aged 13-15 experienced unwanted sexual advances in the last 7 days. He warned top Facebook executives like Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg about this but they took no action.Behar recommended changes like being more transparent about harm data and reducing trauma for teens, but Facebook ignored or rejected his recommendations.
“And that you have brought to this committee today is something that every parent in America needs to hear. The numbers are stunning in that 1 in 4 teenagers, minor children will experience sexual solicitation on Meta’s platforms at some point”
Some back-and-forth was had, but ultimately the overwhelming nature of the testimonies led to senators pledging to finally pass legislation like the Kids Online Safety Act to impose oversight on social media and protect children as other industries are regulated. They thanked Behar for his bravery in whistleblowing.
 
Closer Meeting revolutionized the way I engage with public meetings from around the world. By providing accurate transcriptions, seamless translations, concise and quick summaries, this innovative tool allowed me to stay informed about global events and legislative decisions. As we continue to navigate an increasingly interconnected world, tools like Closer Meeting are essential for staying informed and engaged with international affairs.