Conference Call Etiquette - The Do's and Don'ts of Great Conference Calls

As more and more people begin using conferencing as part of the standard way to conduct business---the question is poised, what are the do's and do not's of conducting a conference call?  Yes, I do mean conference call etiquette. We seem to have business etiquette for introductions, making presentations---but for those who are venturing into webinars and demos via web conferencing---how can I ensure a professional call and experience?

Like any meeting the key is to practice and prepare ahead of time.  If you are using a new audio or web service for the first time-make sure to test out your dial-in number and passcode, check your equipment (speaker phone, handset or web cam) and of course make sure that you have all your documents or presentation materials ready (if you are conducting a demo or sharing). 

Here are our first official 5 tips (we will post another 5 tips tomorrow before the holiday weekend).

1. Plan ahead for an efficient and effective meeting. In the conference invitation, inform participants of the purpose, agenda and time limit for your meeting.
2. Forward the Audience Invitation to each individual invited to attend. This will provide them all the information they need to quickly and easily enter you're audio and web conferences.
3. Dial in to your conference 5 to 10 minutes before the start of your meeting to prepare yourself and to prevent your guests from waiting for you on hold.
4. Start the conference with a roll call to confirm attendance and inform all participants of who is on the conference.
5. Advise participants who are not actively speaking to mute their phones in order to eliminate background noise.

Please email or comment to provide your top tips and suggestions for ensuring a professional audio or web conference call.  We will work on assembling this list over the next few weeks and share our top 25 list both on our website and blog.  Please visit www.flyconferencing.com for more information.

Web Conferencing Basics

Web conferencing can be done with attendees located in the same building or anywhere in the world. They allow workers and business partners to gather online to discuss ideas and strategies, brainstorm solutions to problems and perform job applicant interviews from afar.

Benefits

Web conferencing makes it easier to schedule conferences on short notice. For instance, conference rooms are often booked when an unexpected situation arises. Workers are no longer forced to crowd into a single office. Instead, each member can join a web conference in a virtual meeting. This allows everyone to gain full access to the information presented, rather than peeking over the shoulder of another worker.

Tools

There are many tools used in web conferencing that make the meetings even more beneficial. For instance, attendees can share files and applications, use a virtual whiteboard, send instant messages and playback the meeting. These tools make tasks like training, brainstorming and interviewing easier to perform, with the ability to reference the material later.

Sharing

File and desktop sharing makes conferences easier in many ways. One of the most useful ways to use this feature is in training meetings. The moderator can demonstrate how to initiate a process or use a new software program and then hand control over to an attendee so he or she can try it out under supervision. This makes it easier to ask newbie questions and quickly learn new information.

Whiteboard

Whiteboards make it much easier to brainstorm. Because control of the desktop can be handed around the virtual conference room, each attendee can add to the whiteboard without disruption to others. Everyone in the virtual conference can see the board and contribute to it, allowing for more effective brainstorming.

Messaging

Instant messaging is another helpful feature of web conferences. In a traditional boardroom, great ideas become trapped in the mouths of attendees as they listen to the moderator. Even if they write the ideas down, they may never get a chance to express them. With instant messaging, an attendee can easily add useful ideas without disrupting the speaker.

Interviews

Interviewing is made better and cheaper by web conferencing as well. Video interviews save the cost of flying high-level executive recruits to the company for an interview. They also make it easy for other human resource decision makers to use play back and see the interview whenever time allows.

With these valuable web conferencing tools, web conferences are sure to become more common in your business. Even when a boardroom is available, web conferencing offers many features that make it preferable. You may even wish to present all your meetings this way because of the playback feature.

Using Web Conferencing for Staff Training

Imagine you are CEO of a small software company in Belgium, and you have just successfully sold warehouse-management software to a firm in Seattle. Your next task is to train the Seattle firm's team in the use of your software.

To do that, you will have to send a couple of staff members to Seattle. That means two round-trip, business-class plane tickets, four- or five-star hotel rooms for a few days, taxis, and some nice meals. The cost can be many thousands of dollars. Who pays? Either the customer, in which case it will significantly increase the cost of the software; or you do, in which case profits take a beating. The organization required for such a training session is also significant. Secretaries have to book planes and hotel rooms. The timing must be carefully coordinated as once an event is booked, there is no turning back. If the trainer is sick, he will probably still have to board the plane because it is too complicated to cancel.

Costs don't end just with the flights. There are hidden costs for the software company. Trainers may perform other roles -- indeed, they could be among the most-productive programmers or managers in the company, and sending them to Seattle means losing their invaluable input for days. Not to mention the jet lag that follows.

Web conferencing is becoming a popular solution to this problem, and it has led to a new word: "webinar" -- a web-based seminar. The savings offered by on-line training is significant, and there are fringe benefits such as enabling you to train people at more then one location and use trainers who might not otherwise be available. Training courses can be recorded, so they can then be replayed by the customer or those providing the training. The organization is far simpler -- and cancellation, should it be required, has less of a downside, so staff can be more flexible when arranging the web-training event. The savings involved in time, cost, and organization mean that, where necessary, it is possible to extend web-training and devote more time to repeat lessons or maintain contact with trainees over a longer period of time.

Using web conferencing for training is different from a face-to-face approach, and you need to take that into account. If you invite too many people to attend the conference, then there will not be enough time to answer everyone's questions. If you are dealing with highly-specific issues (as opposed to an overview), then you may find that some kind of personal contact is still necessary.

Overall, the benefits of web-based training are so great that this has become a major growth area in the field of web conferencing.

Differences Between Web Conferencing and Video Conferencing

The denizens of hi-tech like to throw around buzz words. Thirty years ago hardly anything was called "high-tech" or even "hi-tec," but now it seems even kid's toys have embraced technology and trademarked buzz words. High-tech, once an obscure buzzword itself, is now so commonly in use that it has a nickname (hi-tec) that we all take for granted.

Web conferencing is no different. Once you swim in the world of computerized long-distance meetings, you start to forget that terms that are now completely obvious are actually double-dutch to many people. You find yourself looking at sites talking about web-conferencing, video-conferencing, and audio-conferencing and wondering, "What does it all mean?" "Doesn't web conferencing also involve the use of video?" "Doesn't web conferencing also involve the use of audio?"

This is my point. While both video-conferencing and web-conferencing use video, they are far from being the same thing. But in the world of Internet buzzwords, the two often get confused -- and you can start to wonder why the same thing is being given different names. Video conferencing does just what it says: video and, if you manage to wire things correctly, audio will also get transmitted, and people in different places can talk while pretending to be Hollywood directors.

Web conferencing however, goes beyond that. In web conferencing, you can take control of someone's screen and make them spend five minutes watching Timmy try to hold a cup in his bath while sending them text messages at the same time. Unlike video conferencing, the video they watch need not be live, it could be a recording of your holiday in Jamaica. The best part of web conferencing is that it does not have to be a video -- it could be an Excel chart, a PowerPoint presentation, or five minutes of you trying to find Jamaica on Google Earth. That is the great advantage of web conferencing.

Yes, it is similar to video-conferencing -- but the point is that it can do a whole lot of things that video conferencing cannot. It is -- quite literally -- on a higher plane. If you wish to worship at the altar of high technology, then video conferencing is simply not sufficiently hi-tech. What you need is web conferencing. And the beauty of the whole thing is that video-conferencing frequently involves far more complex and expensive machinery. This is one of the wonders of our modern, technological age -- it is not the size of your tool that counts but the simple, flexible purposes for which it can be used. And quite often, the small (or even Microsoft) is truly beautiful.

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Web Conferencing and the Modern Family

We live in the age of the post-nuclear family. People marry, have kids, divorce, remarry, and have more kids. The family explodes outwards as they move from city to city and country to country, and before you know it, staging a family get-together becomes extremely expensive. Cost is not the only problem. Try coordinating convenient times with a hoard of former spouses, some of whom have yet to forgive the affair, the enormous cost of alimony, and who cannot even agree on the time of day, let alone whether Timmy should leave the country for a week in January. As luck would have it, when you finally arrange to meet at Susan's wedding or David's bar mitzvah, some volcano erupts and spreads its ashes over your family's plans in Europe.

Web conferencing provides a simple solution to the family get-together. Yes, it's no substitute for gathering under the mistletoe, but it's probably the next-best thing -- and it means the family can chat once in a while without requiring the services of a full-time social secretary and a private airline. These days, some families need web conferencing just to meet over dinner. Everyone sits in his room with his private laptop, TV, and phone. For families who prize reduced carbon emissions, it also saves a lot of fuel, and if you really cannot abide being in the same room as Aunt Edna -- well, you you do not need to. If it is really bad, you can just cut her camera off.

People are becoming more computer-savvy, and features that were once exclusive to the computer are spreading to the mobile phone. Web conferencing is now becoming possible over the phone, and many families are learning to use web conferencing as a facility for keeping the family together. Well -- at least in touch.

Like business web conferences, family web conferences still require some organization: someone will need to be the focal point of the meeting, and a little organization may be necessary to coordinate times (though far less than for physically transporting people). Using laptops and wireless technologies, web conferencing now means distant families can see tours of new houses and get views of new family members. In some countries, social services have begun using web conferencing as a way of helping children in care keep in touch with their families.

So, if you haven't yet staged a family web conference, maybe now is the time to give it a try. It probably won't be simple at first, but it is not very difficult -- and in no time, your family will be chatting round the computer.

Don't forget: "Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family. Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one." -- Jane Howard

Learn Web Conferencing Etiquette

While web-conferencing performs the same basic function as physical meetings, there are critical differences. It is important to be aware of the distinctive etiquette of holding a web conference. Broadly speaking, web-conferencing etiquette can be divided into things you do before the meeting (preparation) and manners or rules of behavior during the meeting.

Before the meeting.

Test your web-conferencing software, and make sure all participants are able to run it. Unfamiliar software will normally have teething problems -- and if you don't test it beforehand, your meeting is likely be spent figuring out minor issues.

Consider the setting. Even in a web meeting, there are things behind you, noises being made, people moving in and out, blinding sunlight from the window, or strange pictures of optical illusions hanging on your wall. Make sure that the location from which you are transmitting will enable both you and those watching you to participate in the meeting without distractions and that nobody will disturb you during the meeting. Unlike regular meetings, web conferences may be less obvious to outsiders, so interruption may be likely.

Check any files that you are planning to transmit. Will they display on other people's machines? Could they contain viruses? Do they hold secret information that you don't want transmitted out of the building?

Prepare an agenda as well as a list of those attending the meeting and send them to the participants so everybody knows what you are going to be doing and who will be there during the meeting.

During the Meeting.

If you are the meeting's organizer or coordinator, you need to be online at least ten minutes before the meeting starts so that people can connect to you and ask any questions. Start on time and, if possible, introduce everyone at the start of the meeting. As with regular meeting, remember to turn off your cell phone.

Dress for a meeting. Don't assume that you are absolved from looking the part because images are relayed through a camera. When you speak, look into the camera. This gives a better impression than a side view of the speaker. Avoid excessive use of your hands or off-camera motion. Don't put your face too close to the camera.

It might be worth muting your microphone while you are not speaking to prevent noise from distracting other participants, but remember to switch it on before you speak. Avoid off-topic activities during the web conference as this will prevent you from following what is happening and irritate other participants. If you are typing or engaging in any noise-inducing activity while other people speak, you definitely want to mute your microphone. Eating and drinking during web conferences is inadvisable, especially if you haven't muted your microphone. You don't want people distracted by the sound of you chomping.

If you're addressing a question to someone, make sure you say their name so that everyone knows to whom the question is being addressed.

Even more than in regular office meetings, those attending a web conference can all too easily tune out and start doing other things. Therefore, it is essential to adhere to etiquette and to ensure that meetings are conducted with the appropriate gravitas.

Why Web Conference? The Benefits of Web Conferencing

In the current recession, many traditional businesses are struggling to survive, but one sector is flourishing: the Internet. That's because moving activities to the Web can cut costs significantly while making your business more efficient at the same time.

Web conferencing is an important part of the process in which modern business is moving on-line. Instead of flying people around the globe at great expense and length of time -- or even driving across town -- they can meet without leaving the office. Conferencing can occur more frequently than in the past, it can happen at a fraction of the cost, scheduling is easier, and there is no loss of valuable time in airports and traffic jams.

While executives may miss their perks, the rest of the staff can benefit: lower-level conferences between staffs in different companies are far easier to arrange and can take place without anyone leaving the building (or even his cubicle). Collaboration becomes easier and more effective. The files you need are no longer in another country, city, or building -- and you can access them immediately. Just think of all the suppliers and customers with whom you interact and how much simpler life would be if you could meet them more frequently -- and record the meeting.

Still, web conferencing doesn't have to be with other companies. Staff can meet without ever leaving their homes. Companies could give everyone a day to work at home and still hold conferences in which all those at home participate. The kid's sick? Well, mom can still take part in a conference without leaving the house (even though junior may bounce around in the background).

Finally, there is an environmental payoff. A company's carbon footprint will be significantly reduced as well while the firm saves money.

Web Conferencing Lingo Explored

While Web conferencing can offer a number of benefits for the nonprofit or the small business, it can be a confusing to understand the technology option and even industry lingo. You may understand that Web conferencing uses the Internet to allow for the transfer of audio, but maybe a closer look at different features and lingo will help you navigate the Web conferencing maze.

Let’s take a look at just a few of the different issues that may come into play when trying to facilitate Web conference sessions:

IM – instant messaging is something that can come in handy during a Web conference session. If a participant needs to communicate directly with another attendee or the presenter without including others, sending an instant message allows a note to be sent without visibly interrupting the conference.

Shared Desktop – how effective would all of your meeting be if you could allow the attendees to not only see your desktop computer, but also move around within the applications? Web conferencing is much more effective when all attendees have total access to desktop applications.

Telepresence – this term is often used to refer to top-tier conferencing systems available from such providers as Cisco Systems. For the small business or nonprofit, such systems are more than is necessary to conduct effective Web conference sessions. As for the meaning of this term, it simply means you are able to project your presence through telecommunications technologies without physically being in another location.

Webcams – there are few surprises with webcams as they serve exactly the purpose for which they were named. A webcam is either a separate peripheral that is placed on top of a computer monitor or it could also be built directly into the monitor. Either way, it is used to transfer captured visuals to an application on the computer or over the Internet.

Don’t Forget Security

One of the main questions that can arise when considering Web conferencing solutions is whether or not you are putting your company at risk. In truth, any online activity presents certain risk to the organization, demanding that you have specific protections in place. Keep in mind that when you add new software or platforms to your network, it creates new risks. As a result, you must make the necessary changes to your firewall and virus protection to keep the system healthy.

Web Conferencing Makes Global Training More Cost Effective

With the technology options available today, students can earn a college degree without actually stepping into a physical classroom, individuals can visually and audibly interact with a boss while working on the other side of the world and organizations can train new employees or even volunteers without requiring the trainer be in the same location. All of these things are made possible by offering seminars through Web conferencing.

Any organization that needs to train individuals who may be spread across the country or even the world can face exorbitant costs in delivering a physical person to train on location. While there are some scenarios where this in-person training is a must, it is no longer the norm throughout most industries. These organizations can now use robust Web conferencing solutions to get the job done while still protecting the bottom line.

There can be certain aspects of Web conferencing that seem daunting to the trainer. If only audio is in place and the trainer or facilitator cannot see the faces of participants, they may feel pressured to figure out how to keep attendees engaged. Without the benefit of gauging reactions to information, a trainer may also easily push ahead into new information before an acceptable level of understanding is reached.

To be sure the trainer can deliver an optimal training experience for all involved, there are a few things to keep in mind when developing a Web conference training session. Let’s take a look at these considerations and what they mean for the organization.

The Training Platform – it is important to understand what you need from the Web conferencing solution before you implement the one you will use for training. Do you want your trainees to be able to interact with you and with each other? Do you want to be able to see them? Will you allow questions throughout the Web conference or will you allow time at the end? Do attendees need specific software on their desktop in order to participate? By answering these questions and more, your organization can select the platform that best fits your training needs.

Preparation – if you do not prepare your attendees for how to participate in the training and what to expect from the experience, you will waste a considerable amount of time on the day of training via the Web conference. It is quite possible online training through Web conferencing technology is a new thing for them and proper preparation is a must. Send clear instructions for logging on; provide a link for testing the compatibility of the browser; provide technical specifications for the Web conferencing system; send out a copy of the presentation; and encourage attendees to sign on early if technical support is needed.

Technical Assistance – anytime new technology is used in a new way, a need arises for technical assistance. If you are not ready to provide that assistance by having a staff member available to provide help, you will find yourself splitting time between facilitating and trying to solve the problem, which can severely affect the quality and continuity of the training.

Keep it Interactive – people often get bored if they must just sit and listen. If you design the conference to be interactive and engaging, your attendees will find themselves more drawn into the material and gaining more benefit from the experience. Invite questions from your attendees; provide activities to be done that make use of the training material; encourage interaction between the attendees – even if they cannot see each other.

As this world continues to become more global, the demand for Web conferencing solutions will continue to grow. They will only deliver benefit to the organization, however, if they are implemented properly. By following these few tips for training via Web conferencing solutions, your trainers will be equipped to deliver a quality, virtual experience.

Audio Conferencing Recording Applications for the SMB

As the demand for audio conferencing continues to intensify throughout the global marketplace, one of the key elements that stands out in the list of benefits of this communications strategy is the ability to record the conference. This is one area that stands out as an advantage audio conferencing has over face-to-face communications for the small- and medium-sized business (SMB).

Ease of Recording

A robust audio conferencing solution should allow the recording of the conference with the simple click of a button. This can be implemented within corporate strategy to make it standard that all audio conference sessions are recorded for archiving, or it can be simply used on-demand whenever recording is necessary. This option is important as some industries must abide by regulations that demand recordings of conversations, while others record only those that must be available for recall.

Ease of Access

The ability to recall the audio conference must be as easy as the recording process itself. Many solutions will provide an email to the moderator automatically after the conference has ended. This email will contain all information necessary to access the recorded call. The file is often provided as a digital recorded file and should be supported by standard applications. Call participants can also receive a link to the digital audio file that can be kept indefinitely.

Ease of Call Playback

Simply gaining the ability to listen to a recorded audio conferencing session is only half of the benefit this feature should provide. The application should also allow you the ability to skip backward and forward throughout the content of the call to find specific information. Certain applications may also provide a text version of the call, which can then be searched for specific information.

Value of Recorded Information

Whether the SMB operates in an industry that demands call recording or not, simply archiving such calls can be an important step for a number of reasons. If the audio conference involves a sales professional and his or her customer, capturing the exchange ensures the company delivers exactly what the customer expects.

If the audio conference involves a supervisor and subordinate, it captures the direct dialogue to ensure there is no confusion later. If a conflict were to arise over information exchanged during the audio conference, the information can be recalled later to easily settle the dispute.

The applications for recorded audio conferencing sessions far exceed the few explored here, but even those mentioned above can make a substantial impact for the SMB. As companies operating in this sector all over the world continue to demand roust audio conferencing solutions, recorded information is soon to be established as a standard.

Diligence in Security a Must With Audio Conferencing

As small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) continue to drive the demand for audio conferencing solutions, there is an increased need for security for those who have implemented conferencing as part of their communications strategy. Internal business property, whether it is business plans, a new business model or operational details, must be protected as information shared between colleagues through audio conferencing could be at risk.

Depending upon the technology the SMB uses to communicate with partners, colleagues and customers, there may or may not be proper audio conferencing security measures in place. A number of different corporate phone systems offer audio conferencing features, but do not provide the proper security to ensure that the only participants in a call are those who have been invited.

Security Should be Inherent in Robust Audio Conferencing Solutions

A robust audio conferencing solution should protect audio conference access through the use of conference IDs, unique Personal Identification Numbers (PINs) and passwords. Application Service Providers (ASPs) will typically provide conference user hosts with the ability to access a list of participants at any time, while also allowing for the ability to lock the conference to prevent unwanted or unauthorized attendees.

Conference facilitators may also prefer the configuration of entry and exit announcements and the ability to eject participants who enter an audio conference uninvited. If VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) is in place, the audio conferencing solution should be placed behind the firewall to take advantage of existing corporate IP security already in place.

The use of dynamic bridge numbers can also be an effective method for controlling the participation in audio conference calls. If a number were to remain the same for every interaction between key corporate players, the information being shared on the call is at risk. If Web conferencing is being used, proprietary information and other data could also be vulnerable.

Vulnerability of Networks

Whether the SMB relies on Web conferencing or audio conferencing to help drive effective communications in a global environment, it is important to remember that networks are inherently always open and security is always vulnerable. The SMB should already have specific technologies in place to protect information. Those technologies should be evaluated in their relationship to conferencing to ensure the proper protections are in place.

Security diligence conducted by the SMB and the audio conferencing provider helps to ensure the company does not put itself or its information assets at risk when conferencing is used as a key communications tool. Audio conferencing can only deliver expected benefits when risks are mitigated.