Operators are standing by...

All of our services have operators standing by to assist in the unlikely event of an unwanted and uninvited guest caller or music-on-hold from one of your caller's line or dog's barking in the background or even the occasional, but valid, technical problem. They're an easy *0 away to help you make your conference call a success.

Theresa and Cindy, aka TCW, our customer service mavens talk about this tip, why it's important and how easy it is to use in this their first podcast recording on their new podcast channel: A Day in The Life. You can subscribe to the podcast here with an rss reader:

 

or

listen to the MP3 version of their recording here.

Conference Calls and Public Speaking Don't Mix

The best place from which to join a conference call is a quiet, secluded, private setting. Your office (if you can bar the door), your home if you can keep the kids out, your car (if it's really quiet and you're not prone to dialogue with the other drivers).

Your other participants will hear most if not all of the background noise in your setting. If you're a guest participant, you can mute your individual line to minimize that distraction for your other participants. If you're a host, you need to arrange to call from a quiet location with no distractions.

Conference calling and public speaking don't mix. Call from a quiet location.

Prepare for the Role of Conference Call Host

Theresa and Cindy, our Customer Service Mavens, host their 3rd podcast in their series called A Day In the Life. They discuss the importance of being prepared when you host a conference call. Some of the points they cover include:

1) Arrive on time. That means at least 5 minutes before the start of the conference call.

2) Know the features*. Each conference call service has a number of different features that allow a host to insure the quality and quantity of interaction on their conference call.

3) Know how to use these features.

You can listen to their discussion here in MP3.

You can subscribe to this podcast series with this link.

* Contact Cindy or Theresa at Customer Service for a list of the features with your service:

* Phone: 877-227-0611, ext. 3

* Email: [email protected]

Make sure guest speakers are heard

We recently had a reader email me this question:

Do you have any tips for speakers to make sure they speak clearly and loud enough to be heard by our guest participants?

Here's what I answered:

It sounds like you’re dealing with a regular flow of different guest speakers.  You’re faced with regularly repeating the same experience without a solution.
 
Here’s what I’d recommend:
 
TEST BEFORE THE CALL. Ask each new guest speaker to join you on the conference call 10-15 minutes BEFORE guests start arriving. You’ll be on ‘the bridge’ with just the guest speaker and you can make sure their phone settings are appropriate. And there’s enough time to take corrective action if needed.   
 
You can sell this added step as a favor to them. You want to insure their message, their presentation, is delivered with the highest quality sound. And to do that, you ask them to call in a few minutes before the guest callers arrive to test their phone’s settings. They should appreciate that attention to their time and needs.
 
Here’s a few standard procedures we encourage our customers to follow:
 
START WITH HOUSEKEEPING REMINDERS. We encourage all our customer hosts to include a housekeeping or listener reminders that include basic operation details including:  the length of the call, how Q&A (if any) will be handled, expected follow-up steps after the call and courtesy tips including:

GUESTS MUTE THEIR INDIVIDUAL LINES*. Remind your callers to mute their individual lines to help insure there’s no distracting noise from their location heard by the other guests. All phones are very good at picking and sharing surrounding sounds. 

HOST SHOULD MUTE ALL GUEST LINES*. You, as the host, have the ability to mute all guest lines. We recommend that prior to the guest speaker’s presentation you mute all guest lines to minimize any background distractions. Guest often forget and put their lines on hold or they don’t realize the dog barking in the background is heard by all. Mute all guest lines prior to the start of the presentation.

ADJUST THE VOLUME:  Remind your guests at the start of your conference call each listener can adjust their listening volume to fit their needs.
 
I hope this helps.
 
And if we can help in any way with your conference calling needs, please let us know; we’d love, too.