Organizing Your Conference Calls
Posted by Kathleen S on Wed, Jul 01, 2009 @ 02:10 PM
Conference calls can become cluttered and confusing when there are more
than three or four attendees. To keep things orderly and productive,
the moderator needs to take a leadership role and lay down some ground
rules. Introductions go a long way in keeping things running smoothly.
The
first thing to do when moderating a conference call is to help members
keep track of who is in the “conference room”. In person conferences
allow meeting members to see each other’s faces. A similar means of
identification can be accomplished in a conference call by setting up a
“clock” in the beginning of the meeting and assigning locations to new
arrivals as they enter the call.
“The Clock” is a well-known device
for frequent conference call moderators. It allows the participants to
create a visual representation of the other conference call members.
Assign each attendee to a different time position on the clock. If you
have more than twelve members, use ½-hour times as well. When each
person is assigned, introduce yourself and then have the members
introduce themselves in clockwise order.
If attendees are late
entering the meeting, simply pause the meeting and assign a position to
the new attendee so that those already in the meeting can assign a
visual location to the new person. Ask the new member to give a short
introduction and quickly state his or her purpose in the meeting. In
order to minimize the disruption, simply allow to call to continue
rather than going through introductions again.
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