Our-Hometown Webinar Replay: Covering Local Public Meetings with Quorum Scribe

In this Our-Hometown (OHT) publisher interview webinar, Matt Larson, President and CEO of Our-Hometown Web Publishing, hosted guest publishers Chuck (Piedmont Journal Recorder, VA) and Shelly (East Aurora Advertiser, NY) to discuss their hands-on experiences beta-testing Quorum Scribe. Quorum Scribe is an AI-assisted journalism tool engineered to help resource-constrained community newsrooms monitor lengthy public meetings—such as city council, board of supervisors, and school board sessions—by transcribing recordings, generating clickable timestamped topic outlines, and producing initial draft articles. Chuck detailed his "draft-first" methodology, explaining how he refines AI drafts in Word, adds historical context, tightens headlines, and splits complex meetings into separate breaking news articles (such as an environmental consent order or a surprise resignation) while vigilantly verifying proper names and voting tallies. Shelly shared her "source-first" workflow for school board coverage, where she uses the timestamped chapters to bypass ceremonial agenda items, jump directly to relevant debates or public comments, and transcribe exact quotes directly from the source video. Matt demonstrated the backend WordPress tool, highlighted how agenda matching surfaces unlisted subtopics (such as a local dog kennel debate), and previewed upcoming capabilities including the Named Entities Database for persistent spelling accuracy and an athletic counterpart called "Sports Scribe." The session concluded with an interactive Q&A addressing custom AI training, audio recording quality, and steps for publishers to join the beta program. Timestamps: 00:00:09 - Introduction and Background of Guest Publishers 00:05:28 - Overview of Quorum Scribe and AI Meeting Coverage 00:08:35 - The Quorum Scribe Technical Workflow 00:10:44 - The "Draft and Edit" Approach: Chuck's Workflow 00:11:51 - Quality Control: Correcting Names, Voting, and Context 00:14:19 - Splitting Meeting Coverage into Breaking and Follow-Up Stories 00:16:12 - The Role of the Journalist: Supervision and Editorial Judgment 00:18:04 - Processing Delays and Technical Challenges with Live Feeds 00:21:47 - The "Source First" Approach: Shelly's Workflow 00:26:24 - Agenda Matching and Subtopic Extraction: The Kennel Discussion Case Study 00:30:14 - Key Takeaways and Panelist Advice for Publishers 00:36:05 - Expanding AI to Sports Coverage: Sportscribe Preview 00:37:39 - Getting Started with the Quorum Scribe Beta Program 00:44:11 - Q&A: Correcting Errors with the Named Entities Database 00:46:16 - Q&A: Audio Recording Quality and Environmental Challenges 00:49:20 - Closing Remarks and Next Steps