Call conference benefits and mistakes
 |
| Call conference benefits and mistakes |
What is call conference?
A conference call is a telephone call in
which someone talks to several people at the same time. The conference calls may
be designed to allow the called party to participate during the call, or the call may be set up so that the called
party merely listens into the call and cannot speak.
Why need call conference?
Conference call services are an indispensible telecommunications
tool in today’s business world. No matter what the size of your business, if
you regularly require contact with clients or business partners using
conference calls is both a hassle free and cost effective way to coordinate
your business operations and hold important meetings. What follows are five of
the main benefits and advantages of conference calls.
1. Ease of use: conference call services can be set up with
incredible speed and ease and are very simple to use. In no time at all a group
of 30 people can be linked together over the phone for an important meeting. If
you need to quickly inform your colleagues or clients of important
developments, promotions or issues needing fast solutions you can do so with
efficient speed and effectiveness with everyone present via the conference call
service. Technological advances have vastly improved conference call services
and simplified their controls for optimal ease of use.
2. Cost effectiveness: many conference call service providers
offer an extremely competitive flat monthly rate with no hidden fees. Your
company’s conference call service can usually be accessed via a local number,
meaning that no matter what the duration of the call or what time it is made
the cost will be minimized by avoiding premium rates. Naturally, corporate
travel costs will also be minimized by negating the need to travel by linking
clients and business partners near and far through the conference call service.
3. Eco-friendliness: with the widespread raised awareness of how
pollution is causing global warming and businesses eager to live up to their
corporate responsibility and play their part in reducing their carbon footprint
to tackle the problem of climate change, the green advantages of a conference
call service are obvious. By linking clients and business partners together the
need to travel is removed and therefore energy is saved and pollution from fuel
usage is reduced. Because they are conducted over a phone line or internet
connection conference calls also do not use any paper and therefore do not
produce any waste material which needs to be recycled.
4. Enhanced mobility: the conference call service can be
accessed from any online interface, meaning they can be scheduled and organized
from anywhere with internet capabilities (which in this day and age is
practically everywhere). Likewise, meaning rescheduling and re-organization of
meetings can be done on the move if necessary should unforeseen circumstances
arise which causes a change to the day’s, week’s or month’s work plan. Again,
because of there being no need to travel, meetings will not be disrupted by
traffic jams or any travel service strikes which can regularly occur in the
city and cause a great deal of problems and loss of productivity.
5. Reliability and security: conference call services are
accessible 24 hours a day and can be accessed from mobiles and from abroad with
no loss of communication quality. Conference calls are also extremely secure,
using a personalized security code and encryption for all calls and the ability
to block outside lines once your conference callers are securely locked in for
the meeting.
The 7 Most Common Conference Call Mistakes
Mistake of call conference #1: Not having an agenda
It may
be tempting to be spontaneous with a conference call, especially if it’s a
regular weekly meeting or a casual brainstorming session. Even if you have an
agenda for how you want to host the call and what you want to accomplish, you
may not think to distribute it to your guests ahead of time, or not want to give
away that information before the call itself.
Solution: Make and share a detailed agenda that breaks down
the parts of a call, the approximate timing for each part, and what you expect
to get out of the call overall. Distribute this to your attendees in your email
notifications and reminders. You can still keep certain information, like
special guest speakers, secret by billing it as a surprise. An agenda will show
your attendees that you value their time and will help keep everyone on track.
Mistake of call conference #2: Failing to remind attendees
You
might think sending out one message about your conference call is enough to get
attendees to show up. Unfortunately, this overestimates anyone’s ability to
recall one email from the many that they receive every day. Even the most
enthusiastic and time-conscious guest might not save the date and time of the
call to their calendar right away, and the email gets quickly buried in their
inbox and forgotten.
Solution: Send out three reminders for the best
chance for your attendees to show up—and show up on time—to a conference call.
The first should be sent out a week in advance of the call, the second goes out
the day before, and the third is sent out the morning of the call. Each reminder
should include the date and time (including time zone), access information, and
an agenda for the call.
Mistake of call conference #3: Not using quality equipment
On the
go in your car and need to dial in to the conference call from your cell phone?
Accessing the call from your desk at work in a busy open office? While these
methods are convenient, unfortunately they are not conducive to the best
conference call experience for anyone. Factors like background noise, cell
phone usage, speakerphone mode, and using VoIP services all create extra noise
and sounds whenever you are speaking or don’t have your line muted.
Solution: Use a reliable landline with a headset or a
handset without speakerphone on. Dial in from a quiet location where you won’t
be disturbed for the duration of the call. We recognize that these conditions
can’t always be created, but it’s particularly important for a call host or
other main speakers, and especially if you are recording the call. If you’re an
attendee who won’t speak for much of the call, just make sure your line is
muted until you need to speak.
Mistake of call conference #4: Not providing ground rules
It’s easy to think that once you have a quality service for phone
conferencing and you know how to use it, it will be simple for
attendees to call in and enjoy the call without a hitch. You may forget to
inform or remind them about simple features like how to mute their line, reach
an operator, or lay down any other rules you may have for the conduct you
expect on your call.
Solution: Provide detailed information about how to access
the call, perform functions like muting one’s line or dialing an operator
during the call, and even some troubleshooting for common issues they may run into.
You can give out this information in your email reminders as well as verbally
at the beginning of your call. These measures should prevent common problems,
reduce tardiness, and keep your calls on track.
Mistake of call conference #5: Failing to use conference call etiquette
As an
attendee, you can dial into a conference call from anywhere, whether it’s your
sofa, the car, or a coffee shop. This creates a level of casualness that might
lead you to be a little more relaxed, distracted, or negligent than you would
be during a regular in-person meeting. You might be tempted to eat or drink on
the call, dial in from a noisy location, or be distracted by your
surroundings—all while leaving your line unmuted for all to overhear.
Solution: Do your very best to call from a quiet location
where you won’t be distracted. Arrive on the call on time or even early, avoid
eating and drinking on the line, and make sure you know how to mute your line
so you can anticipate and avoid any background noise that could interrupt other
callers’ experience. Be respectful, listen closely, and value the time of the
other attendees and hosts just like you would at an in-person meeting.
Mistake of call conference #6: Failing to take notes or record
In all
your planning for a conference call, you may not think to assign someone to
take detailed minutes or notes of the call, or simply use the recording feature
to save the audio for later. You may think that that you shouldn’t provide a
recap if you want more people to attend the live call itself. However, it only
hurts you and your attendees to lose the valuable information shared on your
conference call.
Solution: Use the recording feature for every conference
call! Or, assign someone to take good notes of the call to type up and
distribute later. You don’t have to expressly advertise ahead of time that
there will be minutes or a recording of the call available later, but you
should certainly distribute the notes in an email or make the recording file
available for a couple days afterward. You and your attendees should be able to
revisit the information, or catch themselves up if they missed it.
Mistake of call conference #7: Not soliciting feedback or testimonials
As a
host, if you don’t hear about problems from your call attendees, it must mean
they are enjoying every second, right? Unfortunately, probably not. If you host
regular calls, you could be missing out on valuable feedback from your
attendees if you don’t ask for it. There could be issues or room for
improvement that guests don’t think to tell you on their own.
Solution: Set up a quick survey for every call, which
attendees can quickly take online or over the phone to give their feedback.
This allows you to continually improve the experience on your calls. Also, for
attendees that have been on your calls for several months, ask if they’d be
willing to provide a testimonial to help encourage and grow your attendance and
reputation.
At Conference Calls Unlimited, we provide phone and web conference call technology that you can count on for a quality experience, but it’s up to you, as a host or attendee, to make those calls a real success. Avoiding the common mistakes listed here will put you on the path to easy, efficient conference calls that attendees truly want to dial into every time.