Speaker Labeling Procedures

Speaker Labeling

Speaker labeling is BY FAR the issue that results in the most client complaints in GCs. It is essential that you understand the speaker labeling policies set forth below and be able to apply them in any GC you may receive.

Type of Group Conversation	Labeling Procedure
Interview with two speakers only	Identify the interviewer and interviewee by name (if given) or by Speaker 1 and Speaker 2. If a name is given for either speaker at any point during the audio, that speaker should be labeled by that name. If only one speaker is identified by name, it will be used to label that speaker, and the other speaker will be identified as either Speaker 1 or Speaker 2, as appropriate.
Interview with more than two speakers	Identify the main interviewer and interviewee by name (if given) or by Speaker 1 and Speaker 2. (Follow the same procedure as listed above for a regular interview.) Label all other speakers who interject as Other Speaker. Even if there are several different additional speakers, they will all be labeled Other Speaker.
Interview with multiple consecutive interviewees/witnesses	Identify the main interviewer by name/number as explained above. Once you have identified and labeled the main interviewer for a GC, that's the only interviewer who will be individually tracked throughout the job. Anyone else asking questions will be Other Speaker. Identify the interviewee/witness by name/number. When that interviewee is excused and a new person is questioned, treat it as a new interview, now labeling the original interviewer and the new interviewee as the two individually labeled speakers. You may, but are not required to, start a new page for the new interview. Everyone else is Other Speaker. NOTE: This only applies when the witnesses/interviewees are being questioned one at a time. If multiple interviewees are being questioned together as part of a group, see above.
Non-Interview with two speakers only	Identify the two speakers by name (if given) or by Speaker 1 and Speaker 2.
Non-Interview with more than two speakers	The first voice should be labeled as Speaker (only the first time they speak). After that, every speaker is labeled Next Speaker.
Non-Interview that starts with two speakers and additional speakers join later.	Switch to the labeling rules for a non-interview with more than two speakers above. Do not go back and re-label the beginning. From this point on, everyone is labeled Next Speaker.
Non-Interview with more than two speakers that later becomes an interview	Interview labeling supersedes non-interview labeling, so if any part of a GC is an interview, use interview labeling. Label the main interviewer and main interviewee by name (if given) or by Speaker 1 and Speaker 2. For formatting general conversation before or after an interview, please see Scenario Examples.

On this page, all bolding is for emphasis only. Speaker labels should never be bold (unless a client or template indicates it).

Speaker Labeling Reminders

The first two voices in a GC are not necessarily the two voices that should be labeled. If it is an interview, it should be the main interviewer and main interviewee that are labeled.
A job with more than two speakers can still be an interview. Many times, multiple speakers will be introduced at first, but then an interview begins with a main interviewer and interviewee. In this case, interview labeling should be used.

Help Ticket

When you are unsure of how to label a GC or if you cannot distinguish between multiple voices, please open a Help Ticket.

Including Titles in Speaker Labels

Avoid utilizing long titles in speaker labels unless the client requests them. For example, when a speaker introduces herself as "Senior Claims Examiner Margaret Thatcher", the speaker label should just be Margaret Thatcher. Only include titles in speaker labels if:

The client instructions include the speaker's title (ex. First speaker is Investigator Luke Wilson.)
The speaker only identifies themselves by a short title and a last name (ex. My name is Investigator Dawson.)

Including long titles when not requested results in the client being overcharged, sometimes excessively.