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Useful suggestions to help make your conference calls a success.

As you host and join more and more conference calls, it is important that you keep them professional and productive at the same time.

When you hang up from your conference call, you want to feel that you accomplished your objectives and didn’t just waste 30 minutes of your time. Read these useful suggestions to help make your conference calls a success.

Select Communications offers several web conferencing products that integrate with your conference calls. Add a visual element to your conference calls to enhance productivity and engagement.
Communicate the date, time and time zone of your conference to all participants in a calendar invite. Include instructions for how to access the teleconference by providing the dial-in number and Conference Code. Include in your e-mail or calendar notification the moderator’s name, start/end times, subject and agenda. Also, let participants know of any preparation needed prior to the conference.
Avoid cellular, cordless and speaker phones due to static and additional background noise. Also, keep in mind that some speaker phones don’t allow you to speak and listen at the same time, effectively “clipping off” parts of the conversation.
Consider your participants and corporate culture when scheduling a conference call. (i.e. what time zones are involved? What is the call duration? Etc.) On longer calls, for example, schedule a short recess or allow participants to take breaks as needed. Remind your participants not to place their lines on hold, as many office PBX’s will play music into the conference.
Determine the date, start time and number of participants. Be aware of time zone differences. Contact your Account Manager to schedule an operator-assisted conference.
Avoid the need to shuffle papers/materials when you are speaking. Some speaker phone microphones will pick up these sounds, and it becomes very distracting.
  1. Email Pre-Notification – Remind your callers about the upcoming call to which they have already been invited.
  2. Dial-Out Participants – You can connect each participant personally by utilizing dial-out features. This can be performed by an operator as part of our Virtual Attendant service. This is extremely useful for international callers.
  • When an employee leaves your company, secure your conference calls by disabling the conference passcode that a person used or participated on.
  • Review your call summary report after each conference call to make sure only the people you invited actually attended your conference call.
  • Enable “Name Record” in your settings and use the roll call feature to play each caller’s name upon entering and exiting your conference.
  • Don’t publish your passcode and dial in number online. If you are a public company that is required to advertise your calls to the public, change the passcode and PIN after each call (there is no charge to do this).