More Than AI: How Tassel Delivers Name Announcements for Graduation

Graduation is a once‑in‑a-lifetime moment. Hearing your name called clearly and correctly, in front of your family, your peers, your community is important. Tassel takes that responsibility seriously.

Every Name Deserves to Be Said Right

Tassel’s approach combines advanced AI technology with a long‑standing team of professional voice artists to help ensure graduates hear their names the way they are meant to be said. Graduates remain in control throughout the process, and any name needing extra attention is personally reviewed and recorded by a human voice artist.

The goal is simple: no graduate should have their moment diminished by a mispronunciation.

For more than a decade, Tassel relied entirely on professional voice artists to manually record graduate names. During tight 4–6 week graduation timelines, those artists recorded thousands of names, often needing to make educated pronunciation decisions along the way. While graduates could provide phonetic spellings or audio recordings, they were not able to hear the final pronunciation before the ceremony.

As technology evolved, Tassel saw an opportunity to improve both scale and accuracy while also giving graduates something they had never had before: the ability to preview and approve their name before walking the stage.

To support this, Tassel partnered directly with its professional voice artists, compensating them to create AI‑assisted versions of their voices for graduation announcements. These are not generic digital voices. They are broadcast‑quality recordings built from the voices graduates and schools have trusted for years.

When a pronunciation needs additional attention, professional voice artists step in to create the final recording using guidance provided directly by the graduate.

How the Process Works

1. Schools Upload Graduate Names

During registration, schools securely upload graduate names into the Tassel platform.

2. The System Generates a Pronunciation

Tassel’s pronunciation system uses a database of more than 100,000 phonetic name components alongside third‑party pronunciation datasets containing over one billion pronunciation records to generate an initial pronunciation.

3. Graduates Review and Approve

Graduates can listen to how their name will sound during the ceremony and either approve it or request another attempt. The system can generate up to three pronunciation variations.

4. Human Review When Needed

If the pronunciation still is not correct, graduates can submit their own pronunciation recording. A professional voice artist then creates the final stage‑crossing announcement using that guidance.

5. Ceremony Day

By ceremony day, every graduate has had the opportunity to review, confirm, and refine how their name will be announced, helping ceremonies run smoothly while preserving each graduate’s moment.

What This Means for Graduates

Names carry identity, culture, family history, and personal meaning. For graduates whose names are often mispronounced, whether because they are uncommon, culturally specific, or simply unfamiliar to others, having the opportunity to review and approve their pronunciation matters.

Graduates hear their name ahead of time, stay in control, and walk the stage with confidence.

Common Questions

Will names sound robotic?

No. The announcements are based on cloned voices from our professional voice artists, so they sound natural, confident, and broadcast‑quality — not like a generic text‑to‑speech system. Still not sure? You can play our AI Name Game at tassel.com/name‑announcements to hear for yourself.

Can graduates hear and approve their name before the ceremony?

Yes. Every graduate has the opportunity to review their name announcement during registration. You can approve it or ask the system to try again, up to three times. If none of those work, the graduate can record your own pronunciation and a voice artist will create a new recording based on your guidance.

What if a graduate never logs in to review their name?

The name will still be generated and reviewed through our quality assurance process. That said, we strongly encourage graduates to log in. You know your name best.

Is this a move away from professional voice artists?

No, our voice artists are still part of the process. Their voices are the foundation of the AI system, and they step in to record any name a graduate isn't satisfied with. This approach actually reduces the burden on them during an already demanding season.

Why not just have someone read names live?

Live reading at large ceremonies often leads to inconsistencies and mispronunciations, with no opportunity for graduates to catch errors in advance. Our process gives every graduate a chance to review and approve before the ceremony, regardless of class size.

Who should graduates contact if they have a concern?

Graduates should reach out to their school's graduation coordinator. They work directly with Tassel’s team and can address questions about your name or the announcement process.