Tips for Maximizing Your Conferencing Solution

  

  

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Audio conferencing solutions can make great fiscal and productivity sense for any size corporation. For those who are operating in the non-profit sector, a solution that can drive maximum collaboration in real-time and at a low cost can be an extremely attractive solution. Here, we’ll provide you with a few tips on what you can to do maximize your conferencing experience.

Tip #1 The Moderator

Ensuring there is a moderator in place during every audio conferencing call is essential to the success of the call. The moderator ensures that everyone who is supposed to be on the call is actually on the call; that the agenda items that need to be covered receive the necessary attention; and that one caller is not able to dominate the conversation when collaboration and teamwork are the main goal.

It is certainly possible to conduct a conference call without a moderator, but call participants often find that a clear focus and a specific goal are very difficult to achieve if there is not a definite leader in the call. The role of the moderator can easily be filled by a normal member of the conference call, as long as this is clearly defined ahead of time.

Tip #2 The Agenda

How often have you been on a phone call that tends to drone on without a clear focus or direction? Conference calls are especially at risk of such haphazard activity and pointless babble if an agenda is not clearly formed and distributed to all conference call participants before the time of the call.

Keep in mind that people who view meetings and conference calls as simply time wasters that detract from their normal work duties tend to take a negative approach to their own participation. If they receive a well constructed agenda ahead of the call time and the agenda is followed during the call, that perception can easily be changed.

Tip #3 The Record Option

While the information on your conference call is important, it may interfere with pre-set appointments or present other scheduling challenges. When this happens, moderators can take advantage of the Record Option. This function allows you to record the call so that all information can be disseminated later by those who were unable to participate in the live call.

Even if all intended participants are able to take part in the conference call, the Record Option serves as a permanent record of the conversation. Whether you need to support a verbal contract, contribute to the resolution of a dispute or merely to recount specific details, recording the call will provide the backup information you need.

Tip #4 The Follow-Up

Finally, follow-up with those individuals who were able to participate in the conference call to gauge their perception of the success of the call. Note their observations and evaluate whether or not you can make changes in the future to improve the conference call experience.