Key Success for a Audioconferencing

Embrace your natural speaking tone

Conference calling has long been a key facet of corporate work life but, for many, conference calling can still be a large source of frustration. Conference call technology has improved over the years; so why are we still suffering through bad audio conferences?

The problem lies in user error. Sometimes conference call best practices go against our natural tendencies. In the heat of the moment, it’s easy to forget to tweak your speaking manner and behavior to optimize the conference call experience for all involved.

An Agenda

Every person with an active role should know in advance what their role is and be prepared. Use the agenda to keep participants focused and cue them that relevant segments are coming up soon.

Keep Calls On Time

Setting and following your agenda is the first step in running an efficient call. The second is to stay on schedule. Start your conference on time “When you start late, you inadvertently penalize the punctual and reward the tardy.”

One way to help minimize lateness is by using easy-to-remember permanent IDs so callers won’t have to look up random access codes. To get participants into an audio conference more quickly, use shorter, personalized, and permanent access IDs. Ever-changing, hard-to-remember, and difficult-to-enter long access codes cause delays of 1-3 minutes about 15% of the time because digits are entered incorrectly. Not only is it frustrating, but these delays cost your organization time and money.

Avoid Disruptions

It’s difficult to stay focused on the content or ideas of the meeting when background noise comes through. Fortunately, you can automatically mute non-speakers, which attendees can remove if they need to talk. Or, for calls with presentations, hard mute cannot be overridden by participants, ensuring there will be no disruptions.

Discussions & Decisions

Conferences are a quick, efficient way to keep people connected, get feedback, and collaborate on new ideas, but they can easily get off track. Prevent this by focusing on updates and discussion pertinent to decisions. Avoid general updates – people can catch up on those themselves.

Summarize To-Do’s

We recommend keeping track of action items created and summarizing them at the end. (Web conferencing tools can record them on your behalf.) We also suggest using on-the-fly recording to record the summary for later reference.

Check Progress

Some meetings seem productive, but still nothing gets accomplished. This may be from a lack of follow-up. Be sure to check that progress is being made.

Don’t let your conferences turn into time wasters! Whether you’re using a web, video, or audio conference, be sure your hosts are following these 6 pro tips to add real value.